THEORETICAL HEALTH ECONOMICS

As a relatively young discipline, health economics as it appears today contains many features which can be traced back to its beginnings. Since it arose in the interface between the medical sciences and economics, the way of dealing with problems were often influenced by traditions which were well-established in the medical profession, while the classical way of thinking of economists came was filtering through at a slower pace. This means that much of both teaching and research in health economics puts the emphasis on collecting and analysing data on health and healthcare as well as on public and private outlays on healthcare. This is an extreme useful and worthwhile activity, and much new and valuable information is produced in this way, but occasionally there is a need for in-depth understanding of what is going on, rather than an estimated equation which comes from nowhere. This is where economic theory can offer some support.The present book is an introduction to health economics where the emphasis is on theory, with the aim of providing explanation of phenomena as far as possible given the current level of economics.

As a relatively young discipline, health economics as it appears today contains many features which can be traced back to its beginnings. Since it arose in the interface between the medical sciences and economics, the way of dealing with problems were often influenced by traditions which were well-established in the medical profession, while the classical way of thinking of economists came was filtering through at a slower pace. This means that much of both teaching and research in health economics puts the emphasis on collecting and analysing data on health and healthcare as well as on public and private outlays on healthcare. This is an extreme useful and worthwhile activity, and much new and valuable information is produced in this way, but occasionally there is a need for in-depth understanding of what is going on, rather than an estimated equation which comes from nowhere. This is where economic theory can offer some support.The present book is an introduction to health economics where the emphasis is on theory, with the aim of providing explanation of phenomena as far as possible given the current level of economics.