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Better Health Economics

An Introduction for Everyone

An ideal entry point into health economics for everyone from aspiring economists to healthcare professionals.

The economics of healthcare are messy. For most consumers, there’s little control over costs or services. Sometimes doctors are paid a lot; other times they aren’t paid at all. Insurance and drug companies are evil, except when they’re not. If economics is the study of market efficiency, how do we make sense of this?

Better Health Economics is a warts-and-all introduction to a field that is more exceptions than rules. Economists Tal Gross and Matthew J. Notowidigdo offer readers an accessible primer on the field’s essential concepts, a review of the latest research, and a framework for thinking about this increasingly imperfect market.

A love letter to a traditionally unlovable topic, Better Health Economics provides an ideal entry point for students in social science, business, public policy, and healthcare. It’s a reminder that healthcare may be a failed market—but it’s our failed market.

Instructors may request additional teaching materials at this link.


256 pages | 45 line drawings, 4 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2024

Economics and Business: Business--Business Economics and Management Studies, Economics--General Theory and Principles, Health Economics

Medicine

Reviews

"[Better Health Economics] describes the field of health economics, emphasizing differences between health care and other parts of the economy. Analyzes the financial effects of health insurance, discussing how having or not having health insurance impacts health and health care."

Journal of Economic Literature

“At long last, a concise but comprehensive, conversational, and accessible tour of modern health economics. Better Health Economics is chock full of insights and covers an impressive range of important topics. This is how to teach health economics!"

Amy Finkelstein | coauthor of "We've Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care"

"An accessible, readable—and often funny!—tour through health economics. Gross and Notowidigdo are master teachers."

Emily Oster | author of "Expecting Better: Why The Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong–And What You Really Need To Know"

"Gross and Notowidigdo prove that learning about the economics of health does not have to be a painful experience. Each of the chapters is an easy-to-swallow dose of insights into this complex and important part of our economy. Who knew this stuff could be fun?"

Richard Thaler | winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Demand
1. What Does Health Insurance Do?
2. Health Insurance versus Broccoli
3. Free Care Is Not Free: Who Pays for the Uninsured?
4. Moral Hazard
5. Behavioral Economics

Part II: Supply
6. How Much Should Physicians Be Paid?
7. Doctors and Hospitals Respond to Financial Incentives (Just Like Everybody Else)
8. Payment Reform
9. Horizontal Mergers
10. Vertical Integration
11. Quality
12. Drugs

Part III: Other Determinants of Health
13. Contagion
14. Health Gradients
15. Social Determinants of Health

Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

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