Blindfolded Economists and the Biotech Elephant: Estimating the Size of the Biotech Economy

The words “biotechnology” and “biotech” are often used by the press and industry observers in very limited and inconsistent ways. Those words may be used to describe only pharmaceutical products, or in another context only the industry surrounding genetically modified plants, while in yet another context a combination of biofuels, plastics, chemicals, and plant extracts. The total economic value of biotechnology companies is therefore difficult to assess, and it is challenging to disentagle the component of revenue due each to public and private firms.