ECON 2650 - Fundamental Health Economics

• Students will be able to describe the role of economics in health care.
• Students will be able to explain key concepts and findings of health economics.
• Students will be able to discuss and apply economic theory and economic thinking to decision making related to health and health care, including the purchase of health insurance.
• Students will be able to describe and use the empirical research methods that have been used in health economics to assess the effect of insurance on health.
• Students will be able to recognize that markets alone do not always result in access to health care or health outcomes that align with society’s ethical preferences.
• Students will be able to describe the unique qualities and/or externalities present in some medical markets that lead to inefficient market outcomes.
• Students will be able to evaluate evidence in order to make informed decisions about health related issues.
• Students will be able to critically describe and consider how health is produced from an economic standpoint.
• Students will be able to provide economic empirical evidence to evaluate what factors influence society’s health.
• Students will be able to analyze the assumptions of the basic theories of economic decision making and discuss how relevant these assumptions are to health related decisions and our understanding of the demand for health and health care.
• Students will be able to describe moral hazard and adverse selection and how these issues lead to inefficient outcomes in the market for insurance.
• Students will be able to apply the framework of economic decision making to the market for pharmaceuticals in order to explain some of the US’s current government interventions in this market such as patents and the Orphan Drug Act.
• Students will be able to state conclusions about the impact of government intervention in health related markets such as pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, or primary care.
• Students will be able to argue for or against trying to adjust health related market outcomes to a more equitable allocation and describe some of the costs and benefits of doing so.