Collabics01
Reading: "The risks of global worming" Economist 6/2/2012.
Answer ALL questions.

What type of good is at risk here? Is it clean air, clean water, or something else? Name this good and describe this good in terms of consumption rivalry and excludability. Searched for the article
"Fished Out!" in livingeconomics for inspiration. (Max 500 words).
The type of goods that are at risk here are the “effectiveness of the antibiotics”. This good is defined in the effectiveness of the antibiotics that falls between the two categories of nonrivalry and exclusiveness. Antibiotics are exclusive in that only medical professionals can govern or control the distribution of the drug, but it is not merely non-rivaled because consumption of antibiotics by one person can affect future consumption by others. This leads to an externality: the use of a resource or product by one person can affect others without their permission. In this case, the decision to provide antibiotics treatment to these animals can affect the future effectiveness and quality of the drug to the animals. Resource allocation of antibiotic effectiveness is comparable to the article Fished Out and the management of fishing stock and fisheries. A fisherman wanting to get the more than their share can overfish and diminish the future stock (or quantity) of fish for all other fishermen of the same fish stock.
A fishery, like the effectiveness of antibiotic, is a common property resource. A common property resource, using fisheries as an example, is usually managed by some collective organization such as The Ministry of Fisheries in Fished Out to restrict the quantity of fish harvested and the fish population. Goods have to be monitored because individuals tend to overuse "commons" because they only recognize the immediate value of what “in their mind” seems like an endless resource, while many other individuals share any loss of value or burden due to depletion. Therefore for each person, the rewards are greater for taking than for conserving. Although the author said this is a tragedy of commons, I think the problem with relating this to a tragedy of commons is that it's too vague and only invites criticism, but the tragedy of commons is exploitation of the antibiotics.
Could use quotas or privatizing this good help to preserve its quality? Explain in terms of enforcement cost. Search for the article "Property rights and externality" in livingeconomics for inspiration. (Max 500 words). (50%)
Use quotas and or privatizing this good could possible help preserve its quality. A benefit could be exposing a quota restriction on the number of cattle allowed to graze on a common pasture and limiting the use of antibiotics.
Although it is difficult to limit the use of antibiotics, patents encourages incentives in order to care about resistance to a drug, the patentee is likely to ignore the effect of pricing decision on

aggravating resistance to antibiotics that may overprice or under-use antibiotic relative to the best level.