Law & Society Blog

Tyler Cowen has a series of thoughtful posts about avian flu over at Marginal Revolution. Here is a taste from Should we confiscate Tamiflu property rights? Against those who propose to do just that, Cowen argues:

Let’s offer Roche a large prize for speeding up the construction of the U.S. plant. This can include legal and regulatory waivers (Bush already has suggested this idea). We also make it clear upfront that if a pandemic comes, the U.S. government will purchase Tamiflu doses at a relatively high price. This latter round of payments can be made upfront, with a refund to the government if no pandemic arrives. Ex post, the government distributes the doses for free, with medical workers and key individuals in the supply chain (food, transportation, Typepad) given priority. … If we confiscate property rights this time around, there won’t be a Tamiflu, or its equivalent, next time.

Another entry discusses, whether we should put our faith in a central Tamiflu stockpile. (Of course, after the Katrina disaster relief debacle, this can only be a rhetorical question.) Predictably, Cowen’s anwer is no, because:

Tamiflu must be taken within the first two days of symptoms. Your chance of getting some Tamiflu that quickly, in a pandemic, will not be great (of course you could buy some on your own).

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