Course Code : ECON 4202
Course Title : Health Economics
1. Credit Hours: 03 (Three)
2. Course Description:
This course introduces basic concepts and practical issues faced by decision makers at all levels in
the health system in allocating scarce resources so that the choices they make maximize health
benefits to the population. This course has four main learning modules each comprising a set of
lectures and problem-solving practical’s: (1) An introduction to key concepts of health economics
(e.g. opportunity costs), the demand for and supply of health services, fundamentals of markets
and the price mechanism with a focus on the healthcare market; (2) An introduction to economic
evaluation in healthcare, with an emphasis on identifying, measuring, valuing and analyzing health
outcomes and costs. (3) This module focuses on presentation and interpretation of the results of
economic evaluation and the use of economic evaluation to inform funding decisions (4) An
overview of the organization of health care (provision and funding).
3. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs):
Upon successful completion of this course, a student will be able to:
• Interpret and appropriately apply the key concepts of economics within the context of the
health system;
• Debate the relative merits of equity considerations in setting priorities for a health system;
• Understand approaches to identify and value costs and outcomes to include in economic
evaluation;
• Describe major types of economic evaluation and to understand their use in the decision-
making process;
• Recognize and apply key steps in critically reviewing economic evaluations;
• Understand and describe the main features of the health system in Bangladesh- in particular
how it differs from other salient national health systems according to how services are
delivered and purchased;
• Write concise reports on health economic issues demonstrating sound knowledge and skills
to apply analytic thinking for a scientific debate and or problem solving.
4. Course Contents:
Topic Sub-Topics Time Course Teaching/
Frame Requirements Learning
Strategies
The Production function of health, Weeks Knowledge of Lecture,
Production measures of health, morbidity based 1 & 2 Basic Discussion,
Function of indicators, life style and health, role Economics, Case-study,
Health of medicine, public health, nutrition mathematics Presentation.
and schooling on health, empirical and
findings on health production econometrics
function.
Demand for Need vs. demand, Grossman model Weeks
Health and on demand for health; investment 3&4
Healthcare and consumption aspect of health,
factors affecting demand for health
and care, criticism of Grossman
model, empirical evidence
Asymmetric Information and market, extent of Weeks
Information the problem of asymmetric 5&6
and information in health sector, health
Healthcare insurance and information, adverse
selection and moral hazard, the
agency relationship, agency and
health care, consumer information,
prices and quality.
Week 6: First Mid-term examination
Supplier Defining SID, history of SID theory, Weeks
Induced empirical evidence of SID, problem 7&8
Demand of identification, common
(SID) criticisms-theoretical and empirical.
Insurance Risk and insurance, insurance Weeks
technology, demand for insurance, 9 & 10
risk aversion and willingness to pay
for insurance, supply of insurance,
the optimal level of coverage, effect
of coinsurance and deductibles on
demand, loading cost and insurance
firm, tax system and demand for
insurance, the price for insurance,
the question of uninsured.
Introduction Meaning and importance of Weeks
to Economic economic evolution, cost- 11 &
Evaluation of minimization, cost-effectiveness, 12
Health cost-utility and cost benefit analysis,
clinical decision analysis (CDA),
methodological differences among
techniques
Health Overview of health system in Week
System in Bangladesh, health system 13
Bangladesh organization in Bangladesh, health
expenditure, sources of revenue and
financial flows, health service
outcomes and quality of care, health
system efficiency, transparency and
accountability
Week 13: Second Mid-term examination
5. Learning Resources:
No single general textbook covers the whole subject matter of this course. Much of the reading
resources for this course will be sourced from peer-reviewed journals and official and semi-official
reports appearing on the World Wide Web. There will be assigned readings to complement the
lectures. These readings will be available on the University Intranet ([Link] to
which all enrolled students will have access and the central library also.
6. Assessment Strategies / Evaluation Methods:
Students of this course will be evaluated by the record of their class performances and scheduled
examinations. Allocation of marks against the examinations is given below.
Sl. No. Method Marks allocated
1 Class Participation 10
2 Mid-term Examination (two) 20
3 Final Examination 70
4 Total 100
7. Text and References:
a) Folland, S.A.C. Goodman and M., Stano: The Economics of Health and Healthcare, 2nd
Edition, Prentice Hall, 1997.
b) A. Meguire, Henderson and G. Moony: The Economics of Health Care, RKP.
c) [Link]: Healthcare Economics, Belmar Publishers Inc.
d) C. Phelps: Health Economics, HerperCollince pub.
e) Methods of Economics Evolution of Healthcare Programmes, Oxford University Press.
f) C. Donaldson, K Gerard: The Economics of Health and Healthcare Financing. [Link].
g) Gold etal: Cost Effectiveness in Healthcare and Medicine, Oxford University Press.
