In recent years, Intellectual Property Rights - both in the form of patents and copyrights - have expanded in their coverage, the breadth and depth of protection, and the tightness of their enforcement. Moreover, for the first time in history, the IPR regime has become increasingly uniform at international level by means of the TRIPS agreement, irrespectively of the degrees of development of the various countries. This volume, first, addresses from different angles the effects of IPR on the processes of innovation and innovation diffusion in general, and with respect to developing countries in particular. Contrary to a widespread view, there is very little evidence that the rates of innovation increase with the tightness of IPR even in developed countries. Conversely, in many circumstances, tight IPR represents an obstacle to imitation and innovation diffusion in developing countries. What can policies do then? This is the second major theme of the book which offers several detailed discussions of possible policy measures even within the current TRIPS regime - including the exploitation of the waivers to IPR enforcement that it contains, various forms of development of 'technological commons', and non-patent rewards to innovators, such as prizes. Some drawbacks of the regimes, however, are unavoidable: hence the advocacy in many contributions to the book of deep reforms of the system in both developed and developing countries, including the non-patentability of scientific discoveries, the reduction of the depth and breadth of IPR patents, and the variability of the degrees of IPR protection according to the levels of a country's development.

In the 1990s, development policy advocated by international financial institutions was influenced by Washington Consensus thinking. This strategy, based largely on liberalization, privatization, and price-flexibility, downplayed, if not disregarded, the role of government in steering the processes of technological learning and economic growth. With the exception of the Far East, many developing countries adopted the view that industrial policy resulted in inefficiency and poor economic growth.
Ample historical evidence shows that industrial policy does work, when the right technologies and industries are supported and when appropriate combinations of policy measures are implemented. This book provides an in-depth exploration of which industrial policies have been successful, the trade-offs associated with these microeconomic approaches to growth and development, and the opportunities and constraints associated with the current organization of international economic relations.

Mexico provides a case study of a cornerstone economy in the development of the hemospheric free trade zone in the Americas, an adjusting economy which has been integrated into uneven economies (Canada and the US). This volume examines the Mexican economy and its attempt to develop an innovation system, providing an example of the dynamics that are of concern to evolutionary economists.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are spreading fast across Latin American and the Caribbean. This trend has brought about important economic and social changes, which have largely gone unmeasured until recently. Here, analysts from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) along with other distinguished scholars in the field of ICT, growth and productivity provide theoretical and empirical insights to the debate on the role of ICT in economic development.This book is the fruit of the research ECLAC has amassed, with ten chapters detailing the great strides that have been made of late in ICT. A distinguishing feature of this book is its multi-disciplinary approach to measuring the economic effects of these technologies, which incorporates the neo-classical growth accounting approach and the evolutionary-structuralist approach. These approaches are noteworthy because, much like the primary message of ECLAC, they exemplify the pivotal importance of technical progress, productivity and structural transformation in economic growth. Innovation and Economic Development identifies several opportunities and challenges for bringing about a more dynamic role of ICT in the process of structural change and productivity growth and contends that accelerating the adoption and efficient use of ICT is essential to any strategy for further success. Policymakers, entrepreneurs, students and scholars of ICT, development and economics, and other social actors who have raised concerns about the contribution of ICT to economic growth and productivity in Latin America are sure to have their questions answered and their persectives broadened by this discerning work.

In the 1990s, development policy advocated by international financial institutions was influenced by Washington Consensus thinking. This strategy, based largely on liberalization, privatization, and price-flexibility, downplayed, if not disregarded, the role of government in steering the processes of technological learning and economic growth. With the exception of the Far East, many developing countries adopted the view that industrial policy resulted in inefficiency and poor economic growth.
Ample historical evidence shows that industrial policy does work, when the right technologies and industries are supported and when appropriate combinations of policy measures are implemented. This book provides an in-depth exploration of which industrial policies have been successful, the trade-offs associated with these microeconomic approaches to growth and development, and the opportunities and constraints associated with the current organization of international economic relations.