Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
This post will review Han Bleichrodt‘s lecture regarding the micro foundations of using QALY based utility functions. QALYs Many health economists use a QALY model to describe a person’s preference over health states. For instance let (q1,…qτ) be an individuals health profile from year 1 to year τ. The QALY model assumes that utility is…
Today I will review the insightful lecture of Willard Manning at European Science Days. Manning is most famous for his work with the RAND Health Insurance Experiment. Problems with Healthcare Data There are 4 major econometric problems one must consider when trying to analyze health care cost and utilization data: There is a large mass…
The July 26, 2007 edition of the Health Wonk Review has been posted at Robert Laszewski’s Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review.
The Wall Street Journal (“Doctor Shortage…“) reports that the percentage of medical residents choosing to practice in the primary care arena is falling. This is likely due to the fact that specialists make significantly more money the primary care doctors. Arnold Kling of EconLog has an interesting point as primary care physicians shortages and primary…
Earlier this month, VentureBeat reported that QuickHealth, a Burlingame, Calf. company that operates walk-in medical clinics, said it has raised an $8.5 million in a second round of financing. The company’s report states the following: Take Care Health Systems LLC, an operator of retail clinics predominantly in the Midwest, completed its sale to Walgreen Co.…
Below is a summary of Don Kenkel‘s lecture regarding the Economics of Substance Abuse Use. General The World Health Organization and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) have statistics on the number of drug users around the world. They claim that in 2002 there were 2 billion alcohol users, 1.3 billion smokers, and…
One session of the European Science Days summer school involved a presentation on long-term care (LTC) from Volker Meier. The main question is why is there so little demand for LTC insurance in the United States as well as in other countries? Below are some explanations as to why the LTC insurance market is so…
There is a very interesting article by James Fallows in The Atlantic Monthly regarding the manufacturing sector in China, with a particular focus on Shenzhen. The article requires a subscription but the Finance Famulus and The Huffington Post websites offer an excerpts. There is slide show on the Atlantic website for free, however, which also…
Although a little out of date, I came across a recent rankings of U.S. Economics departments. The paper (“Rankings of U.S. Economics Departments“) is written by Richard Dusansky and Clayton J. Vernon and was published in The Journal of Economic Perspectives in 1998. The rankings are as follows: Rank University 1 Princeton 2 Harvard 3…
On The Library of Economics and Liberty website, there is an interesting article from a Friedrich Hayek‘s 1945 AER paper (“The Use of Knowledge in Society“). The paper begins with a discussion of scientific compared to practical knowledge (i.e.: the knowledge of the particular circumstances of time and place). “…scientific knowledge, occupies now so prominent…