There is an established ‘healthy public policy’ agenda concerned with the social determinants of health, which recognizes that nonhealth sectors of public policy often have greater impacts on population health and health inequalities than health sector policies. This political agenda has been promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) since the 1980s (see Box 1)
In recent years there has been a surge in interest in models of imperfect competition in the labor market, and monopsony in particular (Boal and Ransom, 1997; Bhaskar et al., 2002; Manning, 2003; Ashenfelter et al., 2010; Manning, 2011). The term ‘monopsony’ was introduced by Joan Robinson in her 1933 book The Economics of Imperfect
Many developed countries require occupational licenses for everyone from surgeons to interior decorators. Licensing in effect creates a regulatory barrier to entry into licensed occupations, and thus results in higher income for those with licenses. However, licensing is assumed to protect the public interest by keeping incompetent and unscrupulous individuals from working with the public.
Mental health courts (MHCs) are specialty courts designed to divert adults with mental illnesses from jail into behavioral health services. At any given time, the large and growing number of persons with mental illnesses in jails and prisons and under community supervision arrangements (i.e., probation and parole) presents significant challenges to mental health and criminal
Too often, violence in general, and school violence in particular, is handled punitively. Law enforcement personnel are often involved in such cases, and harsh punishments may be doled out to offenders. While there are certainly some benefits to this approach, some advocate for a different focus. A public health approach sees juvenile violence as an
Dispensing medical drugs is a profession that combines the particularities of a professional service and retail industry. The focus here is on retail pharmacy, leaving aside the special character of hospital pharmacies. First, pharmacists are responsible for a range of professional services including offering advice and assistance to those receiving their medication. Pharmacists are responsible
Risk classification refers to the use of observable characteristics, such as gender, race, age, and behavior, to price or structure insurance policies. Risk classification potentially has undesirable consequences, including adverse effects on distributional equity. In dynamic settings, risk classification can also increase classification risk, which refers to the risk that an individual faces of being
Specialists have a unique position in the health system as they provide health-care services to patients and so are agents of patients, but in addition, they provide patients to, and order services from, other health-care providers (e.g., hospitals) and so are agents of other health-care providers as well. In the economics literature this situation is
The Concept Of Social Health Insurance Unlike private health insurance (PHI), ‘social’ health insurance (SHI) is characterized by three distinguishing features: Compulsory membership, at least for the great majority of the population. Community rating, i.e., premiums unrelated to individual risk. Open enrollment, i.e., even if the insurance market is competitively structured, an applicant cannot be
This article explores the economic theory and evidence regarding supplementary private health insurance in countries with national health insurance systems. It defines voluntary health insurance for the purpose of the article, and classifies the different roles played by voluntary private health insurance. It will then examine the economic literature on voluntary private health insurance, beginning