Do stronger intellectual property rights (IPR) increase innovation? Recent decades have seen a global transformation in IPR standards, underpinned by the theory that stronger IPRs spur increased incentives to innovate. This study tests the impact of ever more rigorous IPR systems on innovation through an index of economic complexity of 94 countries from 1965 to 2005. Our results confirm that stronger intellectual property systems engender higher levels of economic complexity. Nevertheless, only countries with an initial above-average level of development and complexity enjoy this effect.

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BackgroundThis paper has set out to map the state of pharmaceutical regulation in the developing world through the construction of cross-national indices drawing from World Health Organization data. The last two decades have been characterized by deep changes for the pharmaceutical sector, including the complete transformation of intellectual property systems at the behest of the World Trade Organization and the consolidation of global active ingredient suppliers in China and India. Although the rules for ownership of medicine have been set and globally implemented, we know surprisingly little about how the standards for market entrance and regulation of pharmaceutical products have changed at the national level. How standardized are national pharmaceutical market systems? Do we find homogeneity or variation across the developing world? Are their patterns for understanding why some countries have moved closer to one global norm for pharmaceutical regulation and others have developed hybrid models for oversight of this sector? Access to medicine is a core tool in public health. This paper gauges the levels of standards in public and private generics markets for developing countries building on national-level pharmaceutical market surveys for 78 countries to offer three indicators of market oversight: State Regulatory Infrastructure, Monitoring the Private Market and Public Quality Control. Identifying the different variables that affect a state’s institutional capacity and current standard level offers new insights to the state of pharmaceuticals in the developing world. It is notable that there are very few (none at the time of this paper) studies that map out the new global terrain for pharmaceutical regulation in the post-TRIPS context.ResultsThis paper uses item response theory to develop original indicators of pharmaceutical regulation. We find remarkable resistance to the implementation of global pharmaceutical norms for quality standards in developing states and in regulatory infrastructure. Human capacity across many developing countries remains limited. Most notably, variation among states is stark. Countries that have been leaders in establishing global norms do not appear to have influenced their neighbors in establishing regional patterns. Finally, in contrast to traditional theories of international norms diffusion, global standard-setters such as the United States or European Union appear to have surprisingly little influence on standard setting across our survey.ConclusionsOur research has implications for the framing of technical support on public health initiatives aimed at strengthening local public institutions in medicine and offers a new methodological approach for analyzing drug regulation systems in developing countries.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12992-016-0208-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Do democratic electoral systems strengthen a country's outcomes in education? Does the degree of inclusiveness of a democratic system matter? This article offers evidence that political competition and the inclusion of marginalized populations in electoral systems transformed education over an 80-year period in Latin America. It finds that democracy has a positive effect on education enrollment and illustrates how current work on democracy and development has overlooked important democratic subcomponents, specifically, who votes and how. Our results deepen current work on democracy, operationalizing the impact of electoral expansion in comparative analysis and showing how democracies respond to specific education demands.

Purpose -This paper fills a gap in burgeoning emerging country multinational company (EMNC) literatures by offering a region-wide picture of changes occurring across one sector: pharmaceuticals. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the entry of Indian firms in the Latin American pharmaceutical market since the late 1990s. Design/methodology/approach -The analysis builds on a multi-method approach. Over 80 interviews with firm managers, policy makers and regulators are informed by a national database showing the relative importance of Indian exports in generics, similares (branded generics), public, and bulk chemical markets. Findings -The paper's findings are twofold: first, contrary to popular intuition regarding developing EMNC activity -which suggests that firms from the developing world have competitive advantages in other developing countries -Indian pharmaceutical firms have learned that operating in a weak institutional environment does not confer specific market advantages. Second, Indian EMNCs have assumed both symbiotic and antagonistic roles, simultaneously cooperating and competing with local firms.Research limitations/implications -The data are drawn from one industry, across one regional market. Future research could extend the approach, to investigate the southern-directed strategies of EMNCs in other industries. Practical implications -The findings of this paper suggest that EMNC managers should not rely on advantages typically described in EMNC literatures. The paper also suggests that public health and regulatory policy in Latin America should take into account the diversification of inputs and strength of Asian bulk chemical suppliers. Originality/value -This paper enriches current EMNC literatures in which there is a dearth of research on EMNC approaches in emerging markets.

When patents expire, are equivalent generic alternatives available to citizens? This article contributes to current discussion on access to medicine in the aftermath of the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The focus is on off-patent or "generic" medicines: their product definitions, quality standards and prescription procedures. Drawing from a survey conducted of seventeen countries across the Latin American region, this article examines the differences in definition of off-patent products and the paradox of their relatively lower consumption across multiple developing states. The findings point to pathways for improving standards, consumer information, and access in off-patent pharmaceutical markets.

The year 2013 set in motion a wave of political protest the scale of which had not been witnessed in Brazil since the early 1990s. While the protests were sparked by the quotidian -an increase in Sao Paulo's metro and bus fares by 7%-they spoke to profound underlying political and economic inequalities. At their peak, the protests involved one million people and spanned a hundred cities. The demonstrators challenged both local parties and the national level PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores) leadership. This article analyzes Brazil's politics in 2013 and focuses on the genesis and significance of the June protests. Impending presidential elections loomed in the background, along with a decelerating domestic economy and the contradictions raised by the emergence of Brazil on the global stage, all of which contributed to a year of social upheaval and legislative action.Key words: Brazil, Rousseff, protest, parties, elections, development. RESUMEN Brasil en el 2013 vivió una ola de protestas políticas a una escala que no se había visto desde la década de 1990. Mientras que las protestas fueron provocadas por lo cotidiano -un aumento en las tarifas de metro y autobús de São Paulo en 7%-se abrió sobre profundas desigualdades políticas y económicas subyacentes. En su apogeo, las protestas convocaron un millón de personas y se desataron en un centenar de ciudades. Los manifestantes desafiaron tanto a los partidos locales como el liderazgo del PT a nivel nacional (Partido dos Trabalhadores

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