Patents and the Global Diffusion of New Drugs
分析了1983-2002年间76个国家642种新药的上市时间，发现专利保护和价格监管显著影响新药在不同国家的商业化速度，专利保护加速而价格监管延迟上市。
Analysis of the timing of launches of 642 new drugs in 76 countries during 1983–2002 shows that patent and price regulation regimes strongly affect how quickly new drugs become commercially available in different countries. Price regulation delays launch, while longer and more extensive patent rights accelerate it. Health policy institutions and economic and demographic factors that make markets more profitable also speed up diffusion. The estimated effects are generally robust to controlling for endogeneity of policy regimes with country fixed effects and instrumental variables. The results highlight the important role of policy choices in driving the diffusion of new innovations.