Battling Resistance to Antibiotics and Pesticides: An Economic Approach
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As resistance to antibiotics and pesticides increases, threatening significant advances in public health and agriculture achieved in the last century, regulation is struggling to keep up. Laxminarayan and his contributors examine the economics of resistance from a variety of angles, including issues of optimal management, the impact of resistance in health care and agriculture, and the behavior of firms involved in fighting resistance. Research topics include ecological vs. interventionist strategies, treatment heterogeneity, the efficacy of refuge and quarantine requirements, and market structures as applied to biotechnology. Several articles include independent commentary. Distributed by Johns Hopkins University Press. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR Doody Review Services Reviewer:Kent B. Crossley, M.D., M.H.A.(Minneapolis VA Medical Center)Description:This book applies economic analyses to issues of resistance to antimicrobials and pesticides. It is a well edited multiauthored book based on a conference held in 2001.Purpose:The book has the stated objective of bringing together "a variety of approaches to the economics of resistance." This is certainly an important goal which the book meets.Audience:It is intended for "policymakers and health and agricultural professionals." The chapters vary from easily understood commentary to those which are packed with complex analyses that will exceed the comprehension of most of the intended audience. The mathematically complex chapters, however, all have understandable introductory and concluding sections. There is little literature in this area; the editor has a rather recent doctoral degree in economics and is a fellow of the Resources for the Future.Features:Although understandable from the editor's perspective, inclusion of information about both pesticides and antibiotics in the same book is unexpected. The two areas imply very different audiences. The book discusses management of resistance, the impact of resistance and concludes with several chapters about the relationship of these issues to business. Assessment:This is a seminal effort examining resistance from an economist's perspective. The book will likely be most useful to other economists. It assumes a level of knowledge of economics that is well beyond that of most healthcare professionals. However, it belongs as a resource wherever studies of resistance issues will be done.
ContributorsAbout This BookIntroduction: On the Economics of Resistance11Dynamics of Antibiotic Use: Ecological versus Interventionist Strategies To Manage Resistance to Antibiotics172Using Antibiotics When Resistance Is Renewable423Value of Treatment Heterogeneity for Infectious Diseases63Commentary: To Take or Not To Take the Antibiotic?76Commentary: Same Infection, Same Time, Same Antibiotic?844Pest Mobility, Market Share, and the Efficacy of Refuge Requirements for Resistance Management94Commentary: Need for Direct Collaboration between Economists and Biologists1135The Impact of Resistance on Antibiotic Demand in Patients with Ear Infections119Commentary: Measuring the Cost of Resistance1346What Can We Learn from the Economics of Pesticides? Impact Assessment of Genetically Modified Plants137Commentary: The Role of Ecosystem Complexity in Genetically Modified Organisms1587Elements of Economic Resistance Management Strategies - Empirical Evidence from Case Studies in Germany161Commentary: Can We Justify Resistance Management Strategies for Conventional Pesticides?1808Pesticide Resistance, the Precautionary Principle, and the Regulation of Bt Corn: Real Option and Rational Option Approaches to Decisionmaking1849Resistance Economics of Transgenic Crops under Uncertainty: A Real Option Approach214Commentary: Economics of Transgenic Crops and Pest Resistance: An Epidemiological Perspective23810An Economic Model of a Genetic Resistance Commons: Effects of Market Structure Applied to Biotechnology in Agriculture263Commentary: Does the Monopolist Care about Resistance?28811The Interaction of Dynamic Problems and Dynamic Policies: Some Economics of Biotechnology29312Industrial Organization and Institutional Considerations in Agricultural Pest Resistance Management330Commentary: Strategic Issues in Agricultural Pest Resistance Management357Index363About the Editor377
