1. How might the waiving Covid vaccine patents have sped up the vaccination process in poorer countries? Explain in words how you would illustrate your answer with a graph or graphs (e.g., S & D, monopoly). We strongly recommend that you draw graphs on paper, even though a verbal answer will work fine for the discussion board. 2. Referring to your graph(s), carefully explain what happens to total surplus when a patent is waived. 3. Given your answers to questions 1 and 2, why are vaccine patents granted in the first place? Are they simply a give-away to pharmaceutical companies? 4. There were two primary responses to critics who voiced concern about the dangers of voiding intellectual property protections: a. The vaccines have already been developed (so no further investment is required). b. The developers will make a lot of money - more than enough to cover their development costs - even if they now lose patent protection. Think like an economist and evaluate these responses. 5. What might be an alternative to a patent waiver if the goal is to speed the vaccination process in poorer countries? What are the pros and cons as compared to a patent waiver? Which would you recommend and why?
