Resources Repository
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Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2015White Paper: Retrospective Benefit-Cost Analysis
In this article the authors consider how benefit-cost analysis can be used retrospectively to promote …
In this article the authors consider how benefit-cost analysis can be used retrospectively to promote understanding of the impacts after a policy is implemented. Serving as a brief primer, the authors propose that analysis can be useful for identifying needed reforms as well as in improving the conduct of future prospective analyses. The major challenges relate to estimating what would have occurred in the absence of the policy and separating the effects of the policy…
Government/Law | Priority Setting/Ethics | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Policy/Regulation | Culture/Society | Economics/Finance | North America | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Policy Translation -
ArticlePublication 2014Economic Implications of Population Ageing in China & India: Introduction to the Special Issue
In this special issue of The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, we focus on economic …
In this special issue of The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, we focus on economic aspects of population ageing in the world’s two population superpowers: China and India. China and India have been the subject of comparison for many years. Observations about their relative political and economic development abound (see for example Sen, 2013), but little analysis is currently available of their comparative demographic trajectories and the possible economic consequences of the population ageing that they are both undergoing. These demographic…
Health Outcomes | Government/Law | Costing Methods | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2014'Big Push' To Reduce Maternal Mortality in Uganda and Zambia
In the past decade, “big push” global health initiatives financed by international donors have aimed …
In the past decade, “big push” global health initiatives financed by international donors have aimed to rapidly reach ambitious health targets in low-income countries. The health system impacts of these efforts are infrequently assessed. Saving Mothers, Giving Life is a global public-private partnership that aims to reduce maternal mortality dramatically in one year in eight districts from Uganda and Zambia. The authors evaluate the first six to twelve months of the program’s implementation, its ownership…
Health Outcomes | Government/Law | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ReportPublication 2014Redirecting Innovation in U.S. Health Care
This report from RAND Health explores methods of reducing health care spending and developing medical …
This report from RAND Health explores methods of reducing health care spending and developing medical products that provide cost value with health benefits. It summarizes literature and explores case studies to provide policy recommendations to meet these goals. It identifies a wide range of factors that affect the costs, risks, and rewards of medical product invention. Some of these features include treatment creep, the medical arms race, costs and risks of FDA approval, limited reward…
Health Outcomes | Government/Law | Costing Methods | Evidence Synthesis | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America -
ReviewPublication 2013Valuing the Economic Benefits of Complex Interventions
This is a review of economic evaluations of complex health interventions. Complex interventions, involving interlinked …
This is a review of economic evaluations of complex health interventions. Complex interventions, involving interlinked packages of care, challenge the application of current methods of economic evaluation that focus on measuring only health gain. The authors find that complex interventions may be problematic on two levels. First, the complexity means the intervention may not fit into one of the current appraisal systems, and/or second, maximizing health is not the only objective. This paper discusses the…
Government/Law | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Europe -
ReviewPublication 2006Ethical Issues in Resource Allocation, Research, and New Product Development
Ethical dilemmas arising in setting priorities among interventions and among individuals in need of care …
Ethical dilemmas arising in setting priorities among interventions and among individuals in need of care are most acute when needs are great and resources few. This chapter from the Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries 2nd edition addresses some of these concerns, identifying some of the principal ethical issues that arise in the development and allocation of effective interventions for developing countries and discussing some alternative resolutions. Resource allocation in health and elsewhere should satisfy two main…
Government/Law | Preferences/Values | Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology -
ReviewPublication 2001Modeling for Health Care and Other Policy Decisions: Uses, Roles and Validity
This is a review article of the role of modeling approaches to guide decision making …
This is a review article of the role of modeling approaches to guide decision making in health care and other domains. The role of models to support recommendations on the cost-effective use of medical technologies and pharmaceuticals is controversial. At the heart of the controversy is the degree to which experimental or other empirical evidence should be required prior to model use. The authors argue that the controversy stems in part from a misconception that…
Government/Law | Priority Setting/Ethics | Evidence Synthesis | Mathematical Models | Technology Assessment | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2000Discipline of Cost-Benefit Analysis
Cost-benefit analysis is a general discipline, based on the use of some foundational principles, which …
Cost-benefit analysis is a general discipline, based on the use of some foundational principles, which are not altogether controversial, but have nevertheless considered plausibility. Divisiveness increases as various additional requirements are imposed. There is a trade-off here between easier usability (through locked-up formulae) and more general acceptability (through allowing parametric variations). The paper, by Amartya Sen, examines and scrutinizes the merits and demerits of these additional requirements. The particular variant of cost-benefit approach that is…
Government/Law | Preferences/Values | Priority Setting/Ethics | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Culture/Society | Economics/Finance -
ReviewPublication 1982Decision Analysis: An Overview
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can …
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can and cannot do, why one should care to do this, and how one does it. Keeney describes decision analysis as "a formalization of common sense for decision problems which are too complex for informal use of common sense." He provides a more technical definition also, describing decision analysis as "a philosophy, articulated by a set of logical axioms, and a methodology…
Government/Law | Decision Theory | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology