Structure of the course

ALL LECTURES START AT 9:30 am Central European Time! SEMINARS will follow right after the lecture, with a short break.
No lectures and seminars on March 29, 2024 (Easter Friday)

Final exam will take a written form on May 24, 2024 at 9.30 at the IES

A class will be set up on Moodle for class and assignment administration. Password will be shared in class (Health Economics 2023/2024).

Lecture dates + seminar dates - syllabus:

1. Feb. 23 – Introduction. Health economics in the context of public economics. Data. Health as special goods. Actors in health. Why is healthcare market different?

Reading:

Olsen (2017), Principles in health economics and health policy. Ch 3 What makes the market for healthcare different, pp. 47-60

Bhattacharya (2014), Health Economics. Ch1 Why health economics? pp. 1-5

Seminar:

No seminar reading this week.

2. March 1 – Grossman model – demand for health

Reading:

Bhattacharya (2014), Health Economics. Ch 2. Demand for health, pp. 8-27

Bhattacharya (2014), Health Economics. Ch 3 Demand for health: The Grossman model, pp 28-50

Seminar reading:

· Santos, J. V., & Cylus, J. (2024). The value of healthy ageing: Estimating the economic value of health using time use data. Social Science & Medicine, 340, 116451

· Votapkova, J., & Zilova, P. (2016). The abolition of user charges and the demand for ambulatory visits: evidence from the Czech Republic. Health economics review, 6(1), 1-11

· Hartwig, J., & Sturm, J. E. (2018). Testing the Grossman model of medical spending determinants with macroeconomic panel data. The European Journal of Health Economics, 19, 1067-1086

3. March 8 – Inequality in health. Health insurance. Moral hazard. Adverse selection. Uncertainty

Reading

Bhattacharya (2014), Health Economics. Ch 4 Socioeconomic disparities in health, pp 51-75

Bhattacharya (2014), Health Economics. Ch 7 Demand for insurance, pp. 126 – 140

Olsen (2017), Principles in health economics and health policy. Ch 7 Uncertainty and health insurance, pp. 107-117

Seminar reading:

· Pascual, M., Cantarero, D., & Lanza, P. (2018). Health polarization and inequalities across Europe: an empirical approach. The European Journal of Health Economics, 19, 1039-1051

· Adams-Prassl, A., Boneva, T., Golin, M., Rauh C. (2022) The impact of the coronavirus lockdown on mental health: evidence from the United States, Economic Policy 37 (109), pp 139-155

4. March 15 – Adverse selection and moral hazard

Reading:

Bhattacharya (2014), Health Economics. Ch 8 Adverse selection: Akerlof´s market for lemons, pp 141 – 161

Bhattacharya (2014), Health Economics. Ch 11 Moral hazard, pp 203 – 227

Seminar reading:

· Van Winssen, K. P. M., Van Kleef, R. C., & Van de Ven, W. P. M. M. (2018). Can premium differentiation counteract adverse selection in the Dutch supplementary health insurance? A simulation study. The European journal of health economics, 19, 757-768

· Johansson, N, de New, S., C., Kunz, J, S., Petrie, D., Svensson, M. (2023) Reductions in out-of-pocket prices and forward looking moral hazard in health care demand, Journal of Health Economics, 87.

5. March 22 – Health care providers (physicians). Health labour market. Provision of HC in the EU.

Bhattacharya (2014), Health Economics. Ch. 5 The labour markets for physicians, pp. 78-99

Olsen (2017), Principles in health economics and health policy. Ch 10 Primary care, pp. 140-152

Seminar reading:

· Dzampe, A. K., & Takahashi, S. (2022). Competition and physician-induced demand in a healthcare market with regulated price: evidence from Ghana. International Journal of Health Economics and Management, 22(3), 295-313

· Muller, T., Schmid, C., Gerfin, M. (2023) Rents for pills: Financial incentives and physician behavior. Journal of Health Economics 87

March 29 – Easter holiday

6. April 5 – Health care providers (hospitals). Competition of providers. Efficiency measurements.

Bhattacharya (2014), Health Economics. Ch. 6 The hospital industry, pp. 100 - 123

Olsen (2017) Principles in health economics and health policy. Ch 2 Economics and Efficiency, pp. 17 - 45

Jacobs, R., Smith, P.C., Street, A. (2006) Efficiency in health care. Analytical techniques and health policy, Ch 3 Stochastic frontier analysis of cross-sectional data pp 44-68

Jacobs, R., Smith, P.C., Street, A. (2006) Efficiency in health care. Analytical techniques and health policy, Ch 5 Data envelopment analysis pp. 91-128

Mastromarco, C., Stastna, L., Votapkova, J. (2019) Efficiency of hospitals in the Czech Republic: Conditional efficiency approach. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 51, pp. 73-89

Seminar reading:

· Lábaj, M., Silanič, P., Weiss, C., & Yontcheva, B. (2018). Market structure and competition in the healthcare industry. The European Journal of Health Economics, 19(8), 1087-1110

· Hiscock, R, Pearce, J., Blakely, T., Witten, K. (2008) Is neighborhood access to health care provision associated with individual-level utilization and satisfaction?, Health Service Research, 43:6

7. April 12 - Advanced Healthcare Management Institute: Comparison of reimbursement methods.

Reading:

Olsen (2017), Principles in health economics and health policy. Ch 11 Secondary care: reimbursing hospitals, pp. 153-159

McPake et. al (2020), Health Economics: An international Perspective. Ch 16 Health systems around the world, pp. 173 - 184

Seminar:

Group discussion. Students will be apriori divided into groups (in Moodle)

Reading will be provided in Moodle too.

8. April 19 – Governments and health policy. Public vs. private provision of health. System evaluations.

McPake et. al (2020), Health Economics: An international Perspective. Ch 13 Health systems, pp. 135 – 143

McPake et. al (2020), Health Economics: An international Perspective. Ch. 14 Tax and social health insurance mechanisms, pp 144 – 159

McPake et. al (2020), Health Economics: An international Perspective. Ch 15 Private financing mechanisms, pp. 160-172

Olsen (2017), Principles in health economics and health policy. Ch 8 Compulsory insurance, pp. 120-126

Olsen (2017), Principles in health economics and health policy. Ch 9 Patient payment, pp. 127 - 135

Olsen (2017), Principles in health economics and health policy. Ch 13 Economic evaluation and priority setting, pp 169 – 181

Olsen (2017), Principles in health economics and health policy. Ch 15 Equity issues: going beyond CBA and ICER, pp. 207 – 2Z|

Zweifel et al. (2009) Health Economics. Ch 13 The political economy of healthcare, pp. 429 - 439

Seminar reading:

· Cylus, J., Williams, G., Carrino, L., Roubal, T., & Barber, S. (2022). Population ageing and health financing: A method for forecasting two sides of the same coin. Health policy, 126(12), 1226-1232

· Abu-Zaineh, M., Awawda, S. & Ventelou, B. (2020): Who bears the burden of universal coverage. Health Policy and Planning, 35, 867-877

9. April 26 – Empirical research in health economics + selected methods - overview and datasets available for health research.

Reading:

McPake et al. (2020), Health Economics: An international Perspective. Ch 23 Introductory applied health econometrics, pp. 271 – 289

Seminar reading:

- Seminar papers read until now