The problem of resistance is common to all efforts to control biological agents harmful to humans and human enterprise. In the past, pests have developed resistance to pesticides, bacteria to antibiotics and weeds to herbicides. Pest resistance to transgenic or genetically modified (GM) crops and viral resistance to HIV medication threaten to undo some of the most remarkable scientific achievements of the past century. The evolution of resistance is strongly affected by the economic behavior of individuals and institutions. The problem arises from the absence of economic incentives for individual decision-makers (such as physicians or farmers) to take into account the negative impact of their use of antibiotics or genetically modified crops on future social wellbeing. Natural resource economics offers a valuable framework for analysis of the optimal use of biological control agents such as antibiotics, anti-virals and pest-resistant transgenic crops.

RFF will host a two-day conference on April 5-6, 2001 in Washington DC to encourage research that will help improve the analytical framework of "resistance economics."

The conference will focus on

• Analytical methods to study resistance as a negative externality associated with the use of antibiotics, transgenic crops and pesticides.
• Incentive structures that will influence socially optimal pricing of biological control agents and research spending on new control agents.
• Regulatory regimes that take into account the public good embodied in the effectiveness of biological control agents.

Further, it will provide an opportunity for interdisciplinary research between social scientists, medical professionals and policy experts to forge innovative approaches to the study of resistance. Papers are invited for inclusion at this conference. General topic areas for papers include (but are not restricted to) optimal policies to manage resistance such as formulary strategies in hospitals and refuge strategies in transgenic agriculture; incentives faced by firms that produce resistance inducing products, and their incentives to invest in R&D into new products; and analysis of the public externality imposed by the use of resistance inducing products, and regulatory options to reach socially optimal outcomes.

Multi-disciplinary endeavors between social scientists and natural scientists are encouraged. The deadline for acceptance of papers is January 1, 2001. All submissions should be mailed to:

Resources for the Future, c/o Resistance Conference, 1616 P Street NW, Washington DC 20036