Roger Bate is a British educated economist who has held a variety of positions in free market oriented organizations. His work focuses on solving the problem of counterfeit and substandard medicines, particularly those in the developing world. He also works on US and international aid policy, performance of aid organisations, and health policy in developing countries, particularly with regard to malaria control and the use of DDT. He consulted for the tobacco industry in the mid-'90s, though the extent of this work is disputed. He is currently a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute of Economic Affairs, and he was on the board of directors of Africa Fighting Malaria.
He later worked for the Institute of Economic Affairs.In 1993, Bate worked for the Institute of Economic Affairs, a British free market think tank, and founded the Environmental Unit. In 1994, he started the European Science and Environment Forum. In 1996, Bate approached R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for a grant of £50,000 to fund a book on risk, containing a chapter on passive smoking, but the grant request was denied and the money was never received. According to internal industry documents the Tobacco Institute was nonetheless "involved in" the publication of the book. That same year he wrote the article "Is Nothing Worse Than Tobacco?" for The Wall Street Journal, and later ESEF published What Risk? Science, Politics and Public Health, edited by Bate, which included a chapter on passive smoking. After the publication of this chapter, according to Bate, he undertook a brief period consulting for the Philip Morris corporation. He then approached Philip Morris seeking funding for a project on DDT and malaria.
Genetic engineering
Bate is joint author, with Julian Morris of Fearing Food: Risk, Health and Environment. The IEA website describes the book in the following way: "In the latest ESEF book, Fearing Food, new agricultural and food technologies, including genetic engineering, are shown to be generally beneficial both to health and to the environment.". He was also a presenter on the BBC2 program Organic Food: The Modern Myth.
Counterfeit drugs
Bate's work focuses on the prevalence of counterfeit anti-malarials and other pharmaceuticals in Africa and strategies by which rich and poor nations can work together to stop the trade of counterfeits. His original research has been published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Journal of Health Economics, and PLoS Medicine. AEI Press will publish his book Phake: The Deadly World of Falsified and Substandard Medicines in May 2011. The book explores the underground trade in illegal medicines, provides a firsthand account of the illegal industry, and offers academic and policy analysis. Prior to Phake, AEI Press published his book Making a Killing: The Deadly Implications of the Counterfeit Drug Trade in May 2008. In Making a Killing, Bate calls for stronger policing resources, harsher penalties for counterfeiters, widespread public education and consumer vigilance to deal with the proliferation of counterfeit drugs. Bate distinguishes between approved generic drugs and what he calls "pseudo-generics." These are drugs approved as generic versions of proprietary drugs by bodies such as the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but which, according to Bate, have not been adequately tested for efficacy.
Funding
Bate's work has been funded by the Legatum Institute, which is affiliated with Legatum Capital. He has also received funding from Novartis.
Positions held
American Enterprise Institute, Resident Fellow
Africa Fighting Malaria, co-director
Institute of Economic Affairs, Director of Environmental Unit, 1993–2000; fellow, 2000–
European Science and Environment Forum, Founder and Executive Director, 1995–2001
