Economic Benefits and Costs of Biotechnology Innovations in Agriculture
构建评估农业生物技术经济收益与成本的模型，以抗草甘膦大豆为例，发现消费者和创新者获得大部分净收益，并讨论了知识产权保护、消费者抵制、标签和市场监管等政策问题。
The conceptual model necessary for an assessment of biotechnology's economic benefits and costs is outlined, emphasizing the need to account for the proprietary nature of biotechnology innovations. The model is illustrated with an application to Roundup Ready soybeans. The estimated value of this innovation is sizeable, with consumers and innovators claiming the larger share of net benefits. Also, disparities in intellectual property rights protection across countries affect the distribution of benefits. Consumer resistance toward genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the issues of labeling and market segregation complicate the economic evaluation of biotechnology innovations, and a number of related regulation and public policy issues are discussed. Emerging output-trait GMOs are potentially less controversial and may bring more benefits to all participants in the agri-food sector, but this outcome depends crucially on the development of an effective, credible, and internationally harmonized regulatory system.