Applying the resource interaction approach to policy analysis – Insights from the antibiotic resistance challenge

This paper explores how the Resource Interaction Approach (RIA), namely the 4Rs model and the three settings of developing-producing-using, can be applied to complex policy analyses. We use the global sustainability challenge of antibiotic resistance as an example to define an agenda about how these analytical tools can frame and analyze such problems systematically. We find that these tools offer benefits to policymakers, including flexibility in framing problems, by selecting the focal resources and values to be prioritized, and the ability to visualize the direct and indirect interdependencies that enable or hinder value creation. Moreover, the RIA can point at the resource interfaces that need to change through specific policy interventions, as well as the potential network-level barriers to such changes. We also find that the RIA needs to be complemented by network-level analyses of deal structures and monetary flows in order to better capture the legal and financial dimensions of policy problems and solutions.