More from Professor Stiglitz in Chennai

As part of his talk, Professor Stiglitz emphasised his suggestion that one alternative to patents could be the institution of a Medical Prize Fund (see his editorial in the British Medical Journal).

His belief is that such a prize will spur innovation in much needed areas such as malaria, which is a disease affecting developing countries and for which big pharma companies will not devote research budgets.

Other points:

The concept of limited liability is being used to avoid cleaning up the environmental mess after it is no longer profitable to pursue a particular industrial process -- a familiar example is mining.

With the strong evidence available on global warming, there should now be a move to tax emissions in the developed world. The Kyoto protocol, which the US has pulled out of and which does not impose any obligations on developing countries, has reached an impasse.

Importantly, there is no enforcement mechanism in the present situation for climate change agreements, unlike the Montreal protocols on CFCs where trade sanctions were included. The Montreal protocol is perceived to have worked.

India's response to globalization should be to address the growing inequalities. There must be ways to cushion the losers. "Use some of the gains to ensure that there are fewer losers."

Manage globalization on your own terms, reject dogmas. In the case of the roles of Market and Government, in some areas, the State has to take a larger role even as it retreats from others.

Capital market liberalisation is going to be risk without reward. The argument that you cannot get capital without liberalisation is false. China has got it. FDI provides capital which has long term stakes, unlike speculative flows that only seek immediate gains.

In the area of drugs, intellectual property may impose high costs without the benefits. The acceptance of IP must always be a trade-off between the inefficiencies of having patents with the gains that it would bring. But in the case of drugs, you could have high costs, without the benefit. The Uruguay Round of talks resulted in compulsory licensing provisions, but that is not being taken full advantage of.

That is because, if you do, the US will put pressure on you on other things. Thailand has faced the pressure on HIV/AIDS drugs. Brazil is also facing similar pressure. But India and Brazil are strong countries that can resist this.