From Global Products to Individual Functionings: Medicinal Drugs in Developing Countries

Abstract

Previous chapters and indeed most of the existing literature on the welfare effects of new products in developing countries are based on a form of analysis (developed primarily by Lancaster) that focuses on the specific characteristics embodied in those products.¹ Those combinations of characteristics are then evaluated from the point of view of their appropriateness to household groups differentiated, most frequently, by levels of income. Because they are mainly produced in developed countries, new products, so the argument usually runs, contain a high proportion of ‘high-income’ characteristics that make them unconducive to the satisfaction of basic needs in developing countries. Or, put another way, the conclusion is typically that new products tend to confer their benefits disproportionately on rich rather than poor consumers in developing countries.