Veblen on the Crossroad: Global Pharmaceuticals and Financialization of Vaccine Production in the Pandemic Period

In the present study, I explore the link between COVID-19 vaccine patents and their financialization within the institutional economics framework. Thorstein Veblen's main assumptions related to financialization of intangible assets are valid for the pharmaceutical firms that produced COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic. In this context, the effects of patent applications on the financialization of pharmaceutical firms are investigated for companies that took government grants for vaccine production. These firms are examined in a comparative way in the present study. The market figures, the investigation of the relevant firm-level data, and the institutional setting suggest that the COVID-19 vaccine patents-financialization nexus is well defined in the Veblenian framework during the pandemic.