Please read the following article from last yearâs Economist magazine about antibiotic resistance and the development (or should I say, rediscovery) of non-anti-biotic methods of dealing with it.
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21633796-new-way-fight-bacterial-infections-making-resistance-futile
(a) The article says that each year 23,000 deaths are caused by antibiotic resistance in the United States. Please do some basic research and tell us how âseriousâ this problem seems to be at least as compared to the number of deaths caused by other factors? For your âpleasureâ you may also want to think about how many of the deaths that you examine are seemed to be caused by known environmental factors as compared to other factors.
(b) In the article, we learn that the Department of Health and Human Services is establishing a prize of $20 million payable to the person/entity that comes up with a rapid diagnostic test for the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. If the concern about such bacteria is that their spread would kill people, then comment on the benefits of this prize-based approach to the problem and then comment on the problems with this particular way of using prizes as compared to offering prizes for something else. (note that there is also a new literature emerging discussing the problems with all prized-based approaches, so please do not interpret this question as an absolute sanction of prizes)
(c) Suppose the antibody approach described in the article is successful. Describe what the existence of these antibody therapies does to the âexternalityâ created by overuse of antibiotics and describe how this solution comports with the conventional wisdom about who is responsible for âsolvingâ externalities problems.
Big amount of text but the concepts are straight forward. Please help !
Please read the following article from last yearâs Economist magazine about antibiotic resistance and the development (or should I say, rediscovery) of non-anti-biotic methods of dealing with it.
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21633796-new-way-fight-bacterial-infections-making-resistance-futile
(a) The article says that each year 23,000 deaths are caused by antibiotic resistance in the United States. Please do some basic research and tell us how âseriousâ this problem seems to be at least as compared to the number of deaths caused by other factors? For your âpleasureâ you may also want to think about how many of the deaths that you examine are seemed to be caused by known environmental factors as compared to other factors.
(b) In the article, we learn that the Department of Health and Human Services is establishing a prize of $20 million payable to the person/entity that comes up with a rapid diagnostic test for the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. If the concern about such bacteria is that their spread would kill people, then comment on the benefits of this prize-based approach to the problem and then comment on the problems with this particular way of using prizes as compared to offering prizes for something else. (note that there is also a new literature emerging discussing the problems with all prized-based approaches, so please do not interpret this question as an absolute sanction of prizes)
(c) Suppose the antibody approach described in the article is successful. Describe what the existence of these antibody therapies does to the âexternalityâ created by overuse of antibiotics and describe how this solution comports with the conventional wisdom about who is responsible for âsolvingâ externalities problems.
Big amount of text but the concepts are straight forward. Please help !
