摘要：The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the current status of research and commercial use of genetically modified (GM) crops worldwide and to quantify the importance of various policies, particularly intellectual property rights, to the spread of biotechnology research and commercial products. Data collected for this paper show that most of the applied agricultural biotech research is conducted by the private sector of which a substantial portion is by multinational corporations. Econometric analysis of this data finds that plant breeders rights and the ability to patent plants are associated with the spread of applied biotech research.
