Health Economics (2023/2024)

Course code
4S008982
Name of lecturers
Paolo Pertile, Catia Nicodemo
Coordinator
Paolo Pertile
Number of ECTS credits allocated
8
Academic sector
SECS-P/03 - PUBLIC ECONOMICS
Language of instruction
Italian
Location
VERONA
Period
Anno accademico 2023/2024 Dottorato di Ricerca dal Oct 1, 2023 al Sep 30, 2024.

Lesson timetable

Go to lesson schedule

Learning outcomes

This course provides an introduction to health economics, the application of economic theory and empirical analysis to problems in the public health and healthcare sector. We will examine how the tools of economics can be used to analyse issues such as health-related behaviours, the efficiency of health care provision and the role of asymmetric information.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
understand fundamental economic concepts of supply, demand, and markets as they apply to healthcare; evaluate health policies through modern tools for the economic analysis.
This course focuses on real-world application of health economics. Students will develop the core skills needed to critically examine problems and contribute evidence to improve population health outcomes, system performance, and economic efficiency.

Syllabus

- The demand for health and health care over the life cycle and the dynamics of health expenditure
- Risky behaviours and the impact of policies promoting healthy lifestyles
- Health inequality and its determinants over the life cycle
- Agents involved in the provision of healthcare: objectives and interactions
- The purchaser-provider relationship and asymmetries of information
- Second-best contracts for the provision of healthcare
- The role of competition among providers: theory and applications
- Measuring (in)efficiency in the provision of healthcare: theory and applications

Reference books

See the teaching bibliography

Assessment methods and criteria

The assessment will be based on three assignments. Presentations of some of the work undertaken for the assignments will form part of the assessment.
First assignment: Students will be provided with a manuscript draft and will have to write an 800 word referee report, including a 100 word original summary of the paper, and at least 5 major and 5 minor suggestions for the paper.
Second assignment: Students will have to choose a paper within a sample of papers that have had their abstract, and introduction removed. The assignment consists in writing a 1200 word introduction and a 150 word abstract.
Third assignment: Students will provided with AI generated answers to some specific research questions. They will have to comment on the answer correctness and possible limitations.
Written assignments: Students will complete short essays or response papers during the course to analyze cases, answer questions that assess learning, or summarize research. These allow the instructor to evaluate writing abilities.

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