Quantum mechanics

Algorithm

Ecology

Law and economics

Montreal Protocol

Biology

Collective action

Kyoto Protocol

Treaty

Computer science

Antibiotic resistance

Resistance (ecology)

Physics

Climate change

Politics

Geography

Political science

Antibiotics

Microbiology

Sociology

Autonomy

Medicine

Meteorology

International community

Action (physics)

Ozone

Ozone layer

State (computer science)

Public Health Ethics

The use of antibiotics by one person can profoundly affect the welfare of other people. I will argue that efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance generate a global collective action problem that only a well-designed international treaty can overcome. I begin by describing the problem of resistance and outlining some market-friendly policy tools that participants in a global treaty could use to control the problem. I then defend the claim that these policies can achieve their aim while protecting individual liberty and state autonomy. Finally, I offer some suggestions for a treaty, drawing lessons from the failure of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the success of the Montreal Protocol on ozone depletion.

Combating Resistance: The Case for a Global Antibiotics Treaty