Health Economics

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

Teaching methodologies include: the contextualization of themes using the presentation of relevant national and international data and indicators; the explanation of concepts and models; discussion of texts and concrete health policy measures.

Evaluation includes two regimes: general (exam) or an optional alternative regime consisting of the frequency (50% of the final grade) + work (25% of the final grade) + in-class oral presentation (25% of the final grade).

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, the student should have learned about the main topics of discussion concerning the health sector, as well as understand the specificities of this sector and how they can influence individuals’ choices and health policies. The student should also be able to use basic principles and tools typical of economic analysis to critically evaluate aspects and events in the health sector as well as be able to critically discuss scientific articles published in the related literature.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

- Relevance of the health sector in the economy (introductory part of the course).

- Specificities of the health sector and health economics (such as uncertainty, information asymmetry, among others).

- Models of demand for health and health care (including the Grossman’s Model).

- Information asymmetry and the individuals’ behaviour (analysis of moral hazard and other issues raised by information asymmetry such as adverse selection and agency relationship).

- Health insurance (with more detail).

- Production and supply of health care (definition of production of health care and concepts of efficiency).

- Equity in utilisation and financing of health care (concepts and empirical methods).

- Main concepts of economic evaluation (types of economic evaluation, costs and the cost-effectiveness plan).

Head Lecturer(s)

Carlota Maria Miranda Quintal

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Synthesis work: 25.0%
Other: 25.0%
Frequency: 50.0%

Bibliography

- Barros PP. Economia da saúde: conceitos e comportamentos. 3ª edição atualizada, reimpressão Coimbra: Edições Almedina, 2018.

- Folland S, Goodman AC, Stano M. The economics of health and health care. 8th ed.. New York: Routledge, 2017.

- Krugman P, Wells R. Economics. 5th ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2017.

- Phelps CE. Health economics. 6th ed. New York: Routledge, 2018.

- Artigos científicos e relatórios indicados no final de cada tópico.