Introduction to Health Economics

Code

EPID4021

School

School of Medicine

Level

4

Credits

10

Semesters

Spring UK

Summary

•  Economic ideas applied to health (e.g. scarcity, opportunity cost, efficiency, demand and supply, elasticity)
• The relationship between health and economic growth
• Application of economic concepts to understand health behaviours;
• Financing health care;
• Core concepts in economic evaluation of health care and public health interventions

Target Students

Primarily postgraduate students on the Master of Public Health, Master of Public Health (Global Health) and Master of Public Health (Research Methods). Places will be available to new staff and PhD students in School of Medicine who require training as part of their research role.

Classes

• One 2-hour lecture each week for 12 weeks

Assessment

• 100% Coursework: Portfolio equivalent to 2,500 words

Assessed by end of spring semester

Educational Aims

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module students will have acquired the following outcomes:

• Understand basic economic concepts

• Understand how basic economic concepts are applied to health and health care, with a focus on public health

• Gain knowledge of economic evaluation of health interventions

• Be able to critically evaluate public health interventions by assessing the evidence of cost-effectiveness

Intellectual skills

• Be able to conduct a critical appraisal of an economic evaluation

Conveners

• Dr Tessa Langley
• Prof Matthew Jones