Dr Adam Oliver COW3.06

This course is available on the MSc Health Policy, Planning and Financing, MSc in Health, Population and Society, MSc in International Health Policy and MSc in International Health Policy (Health Economics). This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

The course is of value to those wishing to work as health policy analysts or economists/behavioural economists after graduation, be that in academia, government, industry, or management and practice.

This course offers a thorough understanding of how economists tend to value health and explores some of the problems inherent in these valuations.  As such, the course offers teaching in many aspects of behavioural economics, with specific health-related application.

10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the MT. 1 hour of lectures in the ST.

Students will be given a progress test at the end of MT--this will be a 50 minute test in which they answer one essay question from a choice of three.  This is perfect practice for what the students might expect in the final exam.

The following are background readings for the course:

J Broome, 'QALYS', Journal of Public Economics, 50, 1993, 149-67; G Torrance & D Feeny, 'Utilities and Quality-Adjusted Life Years', International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 5, 1989, 559-75; G Loomes & L McKenzie, 'The use of QALYS in Health Care Decision-Making', Social Science and Medicine, 28, 1989, 299-308.

Exam (50%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.
Essay (50%, 2500 words) in the LT.