Health economics : core concepts and essential tools

Table of Contents: 1. Thinking like a health economist 2. The relationship between health and wealth 3. The production of health 4. The production of health-related goods and services 5. The demand for healthcare 6. Perfect competition and other market structures 7. Physician behavior 8. The insurance market 9. Cost-effectiveness analysis

The healthcare landscape is shifting rapidly. This book takes a unique, streamlined approach to explaining the building blocks of health economics. The book focuses on nine topics that are essential to understanding health economics and its connection to health policy : the purpose of health economics; the relationship between health and wealth; the production of health; the production of health-related goods and services; the demand for healthcare; prefect competition and other market structures; physician behavior; the insurance market and cost-effectiveness analysis. Rather than interweaving technical information with introductory content, each chapter is divided into two main sections: Core Concepts and Technical Material. This treatment allows students to gain an intuitive understanding of each chapter topic before delving into advanced graphs, equations, and other technical details. The Core Concepts section in each chapter provides learning objectives and a straightforward but comprehensive overview of the chapter topic. The Technical Material section allows for deeper examination of the chapter topic through discussion of relevant literature as well as graphical examples and mathematical techniques. This treatment allows readers to gain an intuitive understanding of each chapter topic before dividing delving into advanced graphs, equations, and other technical details.