313.644.01 HEALTH ECONOMICS II

Building on the basic concepts and applications presented in Health Economics I, students in Health Economics II are exposed to some of the seminal topics in health economics, with a particular focus on the issues of human capital, economics of the household and the demand for healthy and risky behaviors. Topics include: the economic returns of education; economics of the household; the demand for health (Grossman Model); addiction; teen sex; obesity, the statistical value of a life, and fertility. While it will not be the focus of the class, some time will be spent on the dynamic modeling and econometric techniques that are used in the papers that we review. Teaching methods include lectures, group discussion and problem solving exercises, and hands on experiments.

After taking this course students will be able to: (1) understand how economic human capital theory can be applied to important public health topics; (2) read and summarize the findings of seminal papers from the economics of the household literature; and (3) critically assess economic and econometric methods used in recent applications of human capital theory and economics of the household in health economics.