Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

This course comprises four components. The first component relates to the demand for and supply of health, health care and health insurance. The central theme of the second component is market failure and the appraisal of policies designed to address market failure. The third component presents the candidate with a critical comparative perspective on health care financing systems. The final component focuses on the health-development nexus and explores the bi-directional relationships between health, economic and human development at the micro and macro levels from a theoretical, applied and policy perspective.

The course equips the student to:
Synthesise the theoretical and policy dimensions of the health-development nexus
Apply economic theory to the study of health insurance
Critically evaluate alternative health care financing systems
Provide an exposition of the basic application and interpretation of health economic evaluations
Apply economic theory to the study of the demand for health and health care
Assess the nature of and policy responses to failures in health care markets
Provide an overview of the basic principles and application of behavioural health economics

Week 1: Health, health systems and health economics
Week 2: Health, growth and development
Week 3-4: Health insurance
Week 5-6: Health care financing systems
Week 7: Health economic evaluation
Week 8-9: Demand for health and health care
Week 10: Market failures in health care markets
Week 11: Behavioural health economics
Week 12: Policy
Week 13: Integration

Class teaching, discussion of specific case studies, student presentations, group seminars.

The project comprises an individual research essay on a health economics topic assessed both orally and in writing.

The essay(s) comprises written reflection on key health economics topics, integrating personal experience with knowledge.

The online discussion takes the form of a policy reform debate, allowing for interactive discussion and critical integrated reflected on own and others' opinions and perspectives.

The assessment strategy in the course comprises the following components:

Project (written) 20%
Project (oral) 15%
Essay 20%
Online discussion 15%
Written examination 30%

The final examination is a sit-down written examination comprising three essay questions and a fourth question on the integration of course contents across study themes.

Weekly lectures and individual consultations by appointment.

Week 1:

Coovadia, H., Jewkes, R., Barron, P., Sanders, D. & McIntyre, D. (2009) The health and health system of South Africa: Historical roots of current public health challenges. Lancet, 374(9692): 817-834.

Mayosi, B.M. & Benatar, S. R. (2014) Health and Health Care in South Africa — 20 Years after Mandela. New England Journal of Medicine, 371(14): 1344-1353.

WHO (2007) Everybody’s Business: Strengthening Health Systems to Improve Health Outcomes. Geneva: World Health Organisation. [pp. 1-24]

Week 2:

Bhattacharya, J., Hyde, T. & Tu, P. (2014) Health Economics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [reading: Chapter 4, pp. 51-77]

Lange, S. & Vollmer, S. (2017) The effect of economic development on population health: a review of the empirical evidence. British Medical Bulletin, 121: 47-;60.

McIntyre, D., Thiede, M., Dahlgren, G. & Whitehead, M. (2006) What are the economic consequences for households of illness and of paying for health care in low- and middle-income country contexts? Social Science & Medicine, 62: 858-;865.

Smith, J.P. (1999) Healthy Bodies and Thick Wallets: The Dual Relation between Health and Economic Status. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13(2): 145-;166.

Week 3-4:

Bhattacharya, J., Hyde, T. & Tu, P. (2014) Health Economics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [read: Chapter 7-9 pp. 126-179]

Duku, S.K.O., Asenso-Boadi, F., Nketiah-Amponsah, E. & Arhinful, D.K. (2016) Utilization of healthcare services and renewal of health insurance membership: evidence of adverse selection in Ghana. Health Economics Review, 6: 43.

Bhattacharya, J., Hyde, T. & Tu, P. (2014) Health Economics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [Chapter 11, pp. 203-229]

Wong, I.O.L., Lindner, M.J., Cowling, B.J., Lau, E.H.Y., Lo, S. & Leung, G.M. (2010) Measuring moral hazard and adverse selection by propensity scoring in the mixed health care economy of Hong Kong. Health Policy, 95: 24-;35.

Week 5-6:

Cuadrado, C., Crispi, F., Libuy, M., & Marchildon, G. (2019) National Health Insurance: A conceptual framework from conflicting typologies. Health Policy, 123: 621-;629.

Kutzin, J. (2001) A descriptive framework for country-level analysis of health care financing arrangements. Health Policy, 56: 171-;204. 

Bhattacharya, J., Hyde, T. & Tu, P. (2014) Health Economics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [Chapters 16-18 pp. 328-401]

Lagomarsino, G., Garabrant, A., Adyas, A., Muga, R. & Otoo, N. (2012) Moving towards universal health coverage: health insurance reforms in nine developing countries in Africa and Asia. Lancet, 380: 933-;943.

Week 7:

Boachie, M.K., Rossouw, M. & Ross, H. (2016) The Economic Cost of Smoking in South Africa. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, ntaa162.

Drummond, M.F., Sculpher, M.J., Torrance, G.W., O’Brien, B.J. & Stoddart, G.L. (2015) Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes, 4th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Chapters 1-2]

Edoka, I.P. & Stacey, N.K. (2020) Estimating a cost-effectiveness threshold for health care decision-making in South Africa. Health Policy and Planning, 35(5): 546-555. 

Gray, A.M. & Wilkinson, T. (2016) Economic evaluation of healthcare interventions: old and new directions. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 32 (1): 102-121. 

Week 8-9:

Bhattacharya J., Hyde, T. & Tu, P. (2014) Health Economics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [reading: Chapter 3, pp. 28-55]

Leibowitz, A. A. (2004) The demand for health and health concerns after 30 years. Journal of Health Economics, 23: 663-;671.

Sepehri, A. (2015) A Critique of Grossman’s Canonical Model of Health Capital. International Journal of Health Services, 45(4): 762-;778.

Zweifel, P. (2012) The Grossman model after 40 years. European Journal of Health Economics, 13: 677-;682.

Ensor. T. & Cooper, S. (2004) Overcoming barriers to health service access: influencing the demand side. Health Policy and Planning, 19(2): 69-;79.

Folland, S., Goodman, A. & Stano, M. (2017) The Economics of Health and Health Care. London: Routledge. [reading: Chapter 9 pp. 215-242]

Levesque, J., Harris, M.F., & Russell, G. (2013) Patient-centred access to health care: conceptualising access at the interface of health systems and populations. International Journal for Equity in Health, 12: 18.

Week 10:

Allcott, H., Lockwood, B.B. & Taubinsky, D. (2019) Should we tax sugar-sweetened beverages? An overview of theory and evidence. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33(3): 202-227. 

Bhattacharya, J., Hyde, T. & Tu, P. (2014) Health Economics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [Chapter 20, pp. 428-448]

Blecher, E. (2015) Taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugar sweetened beverages: Linkages and lessons learned. Social Science & Medicine, 136-137: 175-179.

Week 11:

Hollands, G.J., Shemilt, I., Marteau, T.M. et al. (2013) Altering micro-environments to change population health behaviour: towards an evidence base for choice architecture interventions. BMC Public Health, 13: 1218.

Matjasko, J.L., Cawley, J.H., Baker-Goering, M.M. & Yokum, D.V. (2016) Applying Behavioral Economics to Public Health Policy: Illustrative Examples and Promising Directions. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 50(5 Suppl. 1): S13-S19.

Rice, T. (2013) The Behavioral Economics of Health and Health Care. Annual Review of Public Health, 34: 431-447.

This course will be held in Johannesburg.