Yes, incentives for research are vital, but these might well be better provided by an international fund guaranteeing purchase of successful drugs, viewing health as a global public good, rather than an individual luxury commodity available to those who can afford it. For all its trumpeted importance, the current patent system has resulted in AIDS drugs that have been unaffordable to most of those in need, and has led to virtually no new drugs for tuberculosis and malaria being developed in the past 30 years.

OECD Observer, France
"In the Eye of the Storm"
Brett Parris, Economic Policy Officer, World Vision International
December 03, 2001

Available at:
http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/565/In_the_eye_of_the_storm.html

In their report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, presented recently to the World Health Organisation, Sachs and colleagues have argued that with co-operative arrangements between low- and high-income countries, and additional donor spending of$27 billion a year by 2007 (up from $6 billion now), essential interventions to deal with the major communicable diseases could be put in place with an estimated saving of 8 million lives a year by 2015. An effective assault on the diseases of the poor, Sachs argues, will also require substantial investment in global public goods, including increased collection and analysis of epidemiological data, surveillance of infectious diseases, and research into diseases concentrated in poor countries.

Sydney Morning Herald
"Poverty's Call Demands Dollars-and-sense"
Stephen Leeder
6 December 2001

Brown is proposing that the west doubles its official aid commitments by Dollars 50bn to Dollars 100bn a year until 2015 to meet the international development targets. But the Zedillo team also noted that the needs of the South go much further. While this proposal would be an improvement, if the rich world actually met their 0.7% target, aid would increase from its current Dollars 53bn a year by about Dollars 100bn to some Dollars 150bn a year - Dollars 50bn more than Brown proposes.

If the west paid the extra Dollars 100bn, says the Zedillo report, "it would be possible to pay for global public goods, to provide sufficient humanitarian relief, and not only achieve the UN International Development Goals (on poverty, health, gender and education inequalities) but also provide much more satisfactory levels of official development assistance for the take-off of developing countries".

The Guardian
"Environment: Living on air"
Andy Rowell
5 December 2001

Increased and reliable long-term funding for R&D into neglected diseases is urgently needed. The DND Working Group is exploring sustainable options to support R&D for neglected diseases through legal obligations. Governments can and do mandate industry spending in a wide range of areas. One example of a potential mandate would be an "essential research obligation" that would require companies to reinvest a percentage of pharmaceutical sales into R&D for neglected diseases, either directly or through public R&D programs.

A global treaty on R&D for neglected diseases could provide a framework for such mandates. Such a treaty should correct the imbalance that exists between private sector rights and obligations under present international treaties and agreements (eg, the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property), and provide new legal options to make drugs for neglected diseases global public goods.

"Recommendations for Moving Forward"
Medecins_Sans_Frontiers
09 October 2001

Available at:
http://www.msf.org/content/page.cfm?articleid=A61A94E5-AD64-42CE-BAE30F1A9398AAC4

The replenishment systems on which IDA, the soft loan windows of the regional banks and other facilities depend for their resources are fraught with political hazard. The systems are sensitive more to the economic barometer of developed countries than the scale of the needs that they are designed to address.

Surely we should move to a more reliable, less painful and hopefully more generous system for raising the funds through which multilateral agencies finance development. The Zedillo Panel has at last had the courage to raise the issue of international taxation as a means of generating funds with which to finance a increased supply of global public goods. Whatever the basis for such taxation, should the same system not also be adopted as the main means of funding an expanded flow of multilateral grants by IDA, IFAD and the Global Environment Facility to cut poverty, to

Ensure universal access to adequate food and contribute to the sustainable management of the globe's natural resources?

Financial Times (London)
"Raising development funds more fairly".
Andrew MacMillan
5 July 2001

A high-level panel was set up by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to make recommendations on the topics to be discussed at a Conference and Summit on Financing for Development. The panel also recommends that aid be directed at actually reducing poverty and achieving human development targets, rather than be tied in a way that ultimately benefits the donor countries (through exports and realisation of foreign policy objectives) as 30 per cent of all ODA actually is. It also asks both donor and recipient countries to monitor the expenditure of aid to this effect. The question whether a global currency transaction tax should be levied to raise funds for the creation of global public goods is asked. Development and the creation of global public goods should be financed separately and developing countries should not be expected to borrow to finance the latter.

The Statesman (India)
"Cause alive and kicking"
Soumitro Das
3 July 2001

Surely, profits are necessary to drive pharmaceutical research. But they should not become a major stumbling block to treatment at least in a few, select cases such as truly life-threatening situations of pandemic proportions.

In those cases, measures need to be taken to make medication a global public good. This, after all, is the globalised world of the 21st century. What happens in Africa matters to the rest of the world and will continue to matter in the future.

Bangkok Post
"Analysis/Treating aids: Pricing to a human scale"
Stephan Richter
2 June 2001

There is no doubt that assuring the security of all the actors in international economic life constitutes a fundamental global public good. The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), fulfills front line responsibilities in this regard, whose political character France has long emphasized. I have just gotten back from the CFA Franc Zone meeting in Abidjan, where, with my fellow Finance Ministers from Africa, we have had extensive discussions on these issues. I also had an opportunity recently to meet in Paris with representatives of civil society and NGO's to hear their proposals and thoughts on development. From these discussions, three priorities emerge: the fight against inequality and for poverty reduction; good management of global public goods; successful integration of international trade.

Health is a fundamental public good. In helping others, we help ourselves. For the fight against the great pandemics, in particular HIV/AIDS, I proposed last year in Prague that the international community devote $10 billion to assure access for all to therapy and to disseminate the means for prevention. The UN Secretary General recently defined an amount in the same order of magnitude. It is time for action, for mobilization of all partners–the World Bank, UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, the NGO's.

Laurent Fabius
Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, France
Washington
29 April 2001

Available at:
http://www.imf.org/external/spring/2001/imfc/fra.htm

But the market structure also militates against the development of new vaccines for tropical diseases. For one thing, vaccines are, in the current voguish phrase, "global public goods". They create a pool of immunised people who cannot pass on an infection, giving greater benefits to the world as a whole than to the individuals who are vaccinated. As with all public goods, fewer of them will tend to be produced and used than the world needs. There is also the point raised last week in South Africa. The marginal cost of manufacturing an extra dose of a drug is generally a small fraction - perhaps 10 per cent - of the price the companies want to charge to recoup their R&D investment.

Financial Times (London)
"Inside Track: Prizes for saving lives: Drug companies will not develop
new vaccines unless they are rewarded for it". Ed Crooks.
25 April 2001

In so far as the multilateral surveillance, particularly by the IMF, of the economic and financial policies is concerned, we can go along with the conclusion that it is both a service to individual members and a global public good. Moreover, the Group of 77 and China underlines that practical steps should be taken to promote it in a symmetrical manner, bearing in mind the importance of developed countries. […] The Group of 77 and China strongly supports, in principle, the role of the IMF in providing financial packages before and during crises. These packages play a vital role in providing a fundamental global public good and financial stability. In fact, we consider that enhanced provision of emergency financing during crises should be a pillar of the system to prevent its contagion effect and manage the crisis situations.

Mohammad Ali Zarie Zre
Islamic Republic of Iran
"Speaking on behalf of the G77 and China"
21 February 2001

Available at:
www.un.org/eas/ffd

Another global challenge that the FfD process must address is how the international community shall meet the growing demands for the production and protection of global and regional public goods, and their financing. All countries, both their public and private sectors, should take responsibility for addressing this issue adequately and build capacity to meet these needs. It will be important to identify resources for their financing, including in cooperation with the private sector. This whole issue merits further discussion.

Ruth Jacoby
Head of Delegation of Sweden
"Speaking on behalf of the European Union"
12 February 2001

Available at:
www.un.org/eas/ffd

Indonesia and some other developing countries appeared still to have difficulties in meeting the requirements of global public good applied in America and Europe in protecting themselves against the export of environmentally unfriendly commodities from the developing nations, a high-ranking foreign ministry official said.

Speaking on the sidelines at a conference on Indonesia's environmental protection and sustainable development policies in the reform era in facing the Rio+10 Summit, in Denpasar Tuesday, Mochamad Slamet Hidayat, multilateral operation director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said under the policies other countries can meddle into Indonesia's development activities which were considered not to serve the interest of the general public, especially those ignoring international environmental standards.

Antara (Indonesia)
" Indonesian has difficulties in meeting requirement of global public good"
6 February 2001

The bank appears to be taking on the role of a high-level think tank on globalisation. It coordinates action on issues requiring global governance, so-called 'global public goods' such as the environment, Aids, fisheries and safeguarding local cultures. It also comes up with powerful research on why failing to deal with these issues is economically 'bad' as well as morally unpalatable.

The Observer
"Business: US sneeze risks Asian flu: If America's economy is slowing, developing countries should take cover".
Faisal Islam
4 February 2001

An HIV vaccine is a global public good. The social benefits of bringing one to market will exceed the private gains, which means that private sector companies will underinvest in its development. Those putting money into the technology will be unable to recoup enough revenue to make the optimum amount of investment worthwhile.

The Independent (London)
"Globalisation: Hiv Vaccine Needs Global Intervention".
Diane Coyle
12 December 2000

Included in the new G20 enlightenment is a call to contribute to ''efforts to increase the provision of other global public goods to address serious issues such as infectious disease, agricultural research and the environment, which cut across national borders and require concerted global co-operation. The G20 also agreed to ''promote the design and effective implementation of social safety nets that protect the most vulnerable groups of society in the process of liberalization.'' Though timid, it is still a fairly significant departure from the usual effort by the institutions of globalization - the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank - to limit and privatize the role of government and public services.

The Gazette (Montreal)
"Editorial: Unmasking the G20 Monsters"
Lyle Stewart
27 October 2000

In vogue now are policies that take into account so-called "global public goods" - World Bank jargon for those non-economic issues that even economists now agree can affect a country's GDP growth such as environmental degradation, lack of educational opportunities and poor public health.

Australian Financial Review
"Perspective: The Poor Problem: Now They See It"
30 September 2000

Over at the World Bank, the mood is one of expansion rather than contraction. James Wolfensohn, its president, has pushed forward his long-term project of changing the bank into an overarching development agency rather than a builder of dams of dubious worth.

This week, the bank's shareholder countries issued a gentle reminder hat the bank could not do everything, and that it needed to work out a clearer plan of which "global public goods" - advances in social and technological infrastructure which benefit all developing countries - it was best at.

Financial Times (London)
"Lending bodies seek to define roles"
Alan Beattie
27 September 2000

Obviously international recognition of the desirability of recognising currency stability as a global public good would require an international system that combined incentives for countries discouraging currency speculation while, at the same time, attending to their national interests.

Nations would have to be convinced that, by co-operating in the provision of the global public good of currency stability, they were also helping themselves. That may prove easier than it might seem in the case of speculation against currencies such as the Australian dollar and the euro.

Australian Financial Review
"Opinion: A World View Can Help Curb Predators"
25 September 2000

Clare Short, UK development minister, told the committee: "Until we know more, it is premature to take firm decisions about the World Bank's role. The World Bank should take a selective approach and be guided by its development and poverty reduction mandate." Over the past year, the bank has developed a focus on providing "global public goods" such as developing vaccination programmes against communicable diseases. The development committee's communique was a clear indication that this movement must not be allowed to displace its other work. "We must ensure that a proper focus by the World Bank on these issues does not eclipse other critical development priorities," Ms Short said.

Financial Times (London)
"Policymakers urge focus on core activities".
Alan Beattie
25 September 2000

Extrapolating elements of development theory to world level informs the need for institutions to facilitate and manage the workings of a global market. Robert Mundell, last year's Nobel prizewinner in economics, advocated a global currency. The Paris gatherings to talk about sustainable development were also about setting down the ground rules for globalisation. Jospin called for the creation of a World Environment Organisation to manage protection of global public goods.

The Observer
"Free trade gets a facelift: It is dubbed 'the Third Way for the Third World"
Faisal Islam
2 July 2000

Loin d'être une simple adaptation technique à la ´ société de l'information ª, l'évolution du droit de la propriété intellectuelle est un enjeu politique. Tirant argument de la ´ révolution multimédia ª, certains groupes d'intérêts se sont en effet mobilisés pour demander et obtenir une révision du droit de la propriété intellectuelle allant dans le sens de son renforcement au profit des détenteurs de droits. [....]Garantir la protection d'un ´ domaine public ª mondial de l'information et de la connaissance est un aspect important de la défense de général. Le marché tire d'ailleurs avantage des ´ biens publics mondiaux ª actuellement disponibles, comme les connaissances appartenant au domaine public, ou les informations ou les recherches financées par des fonds publics. Mais il n'entre pas dans ses fonctions de contribuer directement à la promotion et à la défense de ce domaine public. Les organisations internationales, en revanche, seraient bien placées pour ce faire.

Le Monde diplomatique
"La Necessaire Definition D'un Bien Public Mondial. A Qui Appartiennent Les Connaissances?"
Philippe Quéau
January 2000

Available at:
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2000/01/QUEAU/13278

The appropriation of knowledge by private firms is not always legitimate. Both technological research and cultural production feed primarily on knowledge shared by the whole of society. But there are for the most part no mechanisms for promoting and defending the public domain of knowledge, little thought having been given to what might be called "global public goods.

Le Monde diplomatique
"Defining the World's Public Property: a global public good"
January 2000

Available at:
http://MondeDiplo.com/2000/01/12a

In terms of global public good, carbon fixing - which had a major impact in mediating climate change - far outweighed the food output of many farms. What was needed was a system of turning these positive benefits into cash terms to ensure public support, while penalising the harmful activities though a system of regulations and taxes.

The Scotsman
"Continuing Calls For Public Funding Causing Alarm, Conference Warned" Vic Robertson
17 November 1999

The ministers of telecommunications brushing shoulders in Geneva should indeed have been accompanied by their ministers of trade and education, to match technology with development concerns. It is time for technology gurus and governments to get on the same track, acting now to: invest in broadband cable and wireless access; train local communities on internet opportunities; and prepare teachers for new technologies. Broadband could indeed be the ultimate global public good with limitless impact.

Financial Times (London)
"Letters to the Editors- A jump-start for those without computers"
Renu Chahil-Graf
18 October 1999

The slogan "global public goods" takes this notion further. What cannot be done by individual governments within their own national borders has to be undertaken collectively, by treaty. No one nation can limit damage to the ozone layer. The signatories to the Montreal protocol can try. The game is not restricted to governments only. The spread of Aids knows no boundaries; it is an international disaster. The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, a not-for-profit undertaking, is encouraging research that could produce an undoubted public good.

Financial Times (London)
"Market place for public goods: The chant of today's high priests is to co-operate or die - act locally and think globally".
8 May 1999

Wherever a problem and potential benefits are clearly regional, regional multilateral organisations should bear the burden first. Only where they are weak should a global institution like the Bank fill the breach. That means it would by and large stay out of post-conflict assistance (for example, to Bosnia or Liberia); and give higher priority to the provision of global public goods, such as research on tropical diseases, tropical agriculture, and the oceans.

Financial Times (London)
"Paying for privilege"
Devesh Kapur and Robert Wade
29 September 1998

In 1990 the South Commission observed that the holders of patent rights must accept corresponding obligations to facilitate the absorption of technologies to conserve natural resources which should be treated as a global public good. But strategic patents on DNA technique, gene fragments, seed varieties, etc. would virtually block the gateways to enquire into further areas of biotechnology.

The Statesman (India)
Biocolonialism Patent Mightier Than Sword"
3 March 1998

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