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Politics : Proof that John Kerry is Unfit for Command -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cirrus who wrote (18992)	10/15/2004 10:51:04 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Respond to of 27181

You are right. Often we agree, and sometimes not. Do you think a WTO complaint against Europe would have a chance of breaking their ban on no-resale contracts? You are right that replacing the ban with contracts that achieve the same thing is not a good answer for Americans. Ultimately, we would all like to see every beneficiary of pharmaceutical innovation pay their fair share. We can probably all agree that the scale for fair share could slide along the economic prosperity scale (oops I am sounding socialist instead of egalitarian). By getting Europe, Canada, and the rest of the industrialized world to pay their fair share, Americans would likely experience a reduction in pharmaceutical price increases. Better would be a reduction is price, but realistic goals are more attainable. I suspect the pharmaceutical industry response of segmentation is related to Game Theory of Economics. It is complex; I never fully understood it, even after doing a paper on it in Grad school. The example I used was three divisions using paper clips. One uses pallet loads, and pays perhaps 3 cents per box. A second uses cases, and pays retail prices of say 35 cents. A third uses boxes and pays retail prices of $1.00 per box. Game Theory can be used to calculate a transfer price. That would overcome the inconvenience of ordering supplies from another division. It also would prevent unfairly rewarding the other divisions because of their coincidental relationship to the big consuming one. The transfer price might be 30 cents and 90 cents. Changing the rules of the “game” slightly results in different transfer prices.