Rich Nations
Rich countries must help the poor states to prevent them from sliding into evil states.
In a study, the 2009 International Property Rights Index (IPRI), shows that countries that have good intellectual property protective laws enjoy nearly nine times higher Gross Domestic Products per capital than countries that ignored them. In the study, championed by Hernando de Soto, 54 organizations from six continents joined the Property Rights Alliance (PRA) in Washington, DC to present the results. Kelsey Zahourek, executive director of PRA said that “With regards to private property rights, physical and intellectual property are equally important in nature and must be protected”. He further stressed that “property rights can contribute to increased levels of stability and also provide people with the knowledge and comfort that their property will remain theirs”.
The 2009 IPRI is a composite ranking of three comprehensive areas of property rights: Legal and Political Environment, Physical Property Rights, and Intellectual Property Rights. Among the 115 countries included, the top quartile averaged $39,991 in GDP per capita while the average in the bottom twenty per cent was only $4,341 per capita. It is a known fact that developed countries are trying very hard to safeguard their properties and the less developed countries are trying to play catch-up by ripping off the properties from the rich nations. They might be laws enacted in these offending countries, but these governments usually turn a blind eye to them when it come to enforcement. But in order for the world economy to be viable, the rich countries must lure the poorer countries to come into its fold and to make law the order of the day. There is a real concern that the destitute will fall into terrorist states and bring harm to the world. An example is North Korea and we can’t afford to have more of them now!
Access Denied: Because you can’t pay!
The WHO (World Health Organization) has declared that the virulent A(H1N1) influenza virus is ‘unstoppable’ and each country should do everything to prevent mass spreading as well as they can. Even as the vaccine production is being ramped up, rich countries have already started placing advance orders for amounts that are beyond the supply capability of pharmaceutical firms. Australia, one of the worst hit Asian Pacific country with about 11,000 infected cases, has ordered twenty one million doses, enough to vaccinate its total population if need be. However, the vaccines can only be delivered at the end of the year, and there is no guarantee that the vaccines are efficacious against any new mutated forms of the virus!
How else are the other poorer countries going to get any of the vaccines, even if they got the cash to pay upfront for it? Unfortunately, they are playing a desperate delaying game, hoping against all hope that they won’t be devastated by this scourge or that they hope they could get some donations from the rich countries to buy the needed vaccines. In this respect, the WHO, as the main player, has opened negotiations with the vaccine suppliers to at least apportion some amount of the drug for the poorer countries, or if not, then, sell the vaccines at a cheaper rate. But, if the rich countries collectively have already ordered the amounts that the pharmaceutical firms can hope to supply, there will be very little incentives for the drug firms to even lend a hearing! Or perhaps, allow other pharmaceutical firms to produce the vaccines, sidestepping any intellectual property issues that might arise?
July 16, 2009