Some free trader types have argued against patents. Machlup discusses it in some detail in his massive 3 or 4 volume study of monopoly, titled I think, Political Economy of Monopoly. & that was back in the 50s.
The forms of subsidies which capitalists get are, I think, beyond number. For example, Bot's Dots, those bumpy things that warn you when you're drifting lanes on the highway, were invented by a guy named Bot at the DOT (dept of transportation--Bot's Dots at DOT!). One could view this as an R&D subsidy to the insurance industry (in addition to the safety effect).
There are cases too where the private sector in effect subsdizes the govt's acquistiion of information, as for example, the Insurance Institute for High Safety's test crashes which have an influence in govt policy. (as indeed Consumer Reports, which may not be "for profit" but is some kinda private sector).
But Max is referring correctly to the large R&D grants in basic science for the development of medicine on which the govt then doesn't get a decent "take." But perhaps the monopoly profits of the drug cartel aren't sufficient to fund as much R&D as we collectively would like?
gn
Max Sawicky wrote:
>
> >
> > Total return on investment, across all categories of
> > drugs, is what matters, . . .
>
> The joint products/pricing issue is well-taken, as far
> as it goes. But there is also the matter of rents earned
> on patents, and second, the issue of public subsidies
> (e.g., research at NIH) that made the patents possible.
> One could argue that even without explicit benefit of
> public subsidies, a patent in and of itself is a public
> subsidy (akin to corporate limited liability). Property
> rights can be thought of as subsidies, at least in some
> cases. Even in neo-classical economics.
>
> As for stock prices, if somebody hasn't pointed it out
> already, there are the fundamentals stemming from such
> factors as above, but mostly there are the raging
> pecuniary hormones of investors.
>
> mbs
-- Gregory P. Nowell Associate Professor Department of Political Science, Milne 100 State University of New York 135 Western Ave. Albany, New York 12222
Fax 518-442-5298