New Directions for Development: A Latecomer’s Guide to Navigating the Regulatory Thicket

My project reconceptualizes the meaning of development in the contemporary context by examining how regulation impacts the innovation-oriented activities of firms from late developer countries. While the regulatory environment has long been treated as a part of a domestic institutional factor, in the era of the knowledge economy where intellectual property rights issues have become increasingly pronounced, the global regulatory field now conditions the development trajectories of latecomers. Using South Korea’s pharmaceuticals industry and Argentina’s agri-biotech sector as case studies, this research delves into how the contemporary developmental states navigate the complex regulation-innovation nexus.