AIDS drug development wins economics award

Two economists from the University of Chicago won the linkurl:Eugene Garfield Economic Impact of Medical and Health Research Award;http://www.researchamerica.org/outreach/garfieldaward.html this month, given out by the advocacy group Research!America. linkurl:Tomas Philipson;http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/faculty/web-pages/tomas-philipson.asp and linkurl:Anupam Jena;http://www.rand.org/economics/jena.html looked at how much consumers save and companies profit from the development of life-extending AIDS drugs. Each year, Garfield, who founded __The Scientist__ 21 years ago, gives $5,000 to people who have taken a close look at the impact medical research has on the economy. It's a tough question to answer, as I found out while reporting an linkurl:article;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/53302/ on the subject in __The Scientist__ this summer. The estimates of research?s impact on the economy vary widely, but one thing seems to be consistent: its impact appears positive. As Philipson and Jena found, for example, society gained $1.4 trillion from people?s lives being extended by AIDS drugs. The problem the authors find, however, is that companies are...