Measuring Global Drug Markets
How good are the numbers and why should we care about them?
• Author(s): Peter Reuter & Victoria Greenfield
• Published: December 2001
• Pages in paper: 16
Abstract
The continuing demand for measures of the size of global drug revenues has
produced a supply of numbers that consistently overstate international financial
flows. This paper shows that, rather than $500 billion, the annual figure in trade
terms may be about $25 billion. As with many refined agricultural products, most
of the revenues go to distributors rather than to primary producing countries. The
authors explore the need for estimates of the global drug markets, address the
difficulties of obtaining ‘good’ numbers, and describe opportunities for
developing better estimates of flows and revenues. There are at least three
reasons for caring about the numbers: they can help to improve understanding of
the drug production and consumption problem and identify appropriate policy
responses.
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