HECON4100 – Fundamentals of Health Economics
Course description
Course content
The course presents the framework and analytical methods economists use to study the health economy and address key policy issues. The aim is to enable you to analyze typical resource allocation problems involving health and healthcare.
Learning outcome
Knowledge
The course will provide you with knowledge of:
- the peculiar economic characteristics of health and health care markets
- what characterizes market failures in health care markets and what causes the failures
- the concept of production function of health & health care
- economic aspects behind physician agency and supplier induced demand
- key economic concepts and analysis about health care insurance markets
- risk, risk aversion and demand for health care insurance
- loading costs and the behavior of insurance firms
- moral hazard and the role of demand-side cost-sharing
- impact of health insurance on the efficient allocation of resources in the health care market
- supply-side cost sharing?
- adverse selection
- limits of health care insurance markets?
- how observed regulations of health care markets can be linked to particular sources of market failure
Skills
You will learn how to:
- interpret agent`s behaviour according to the perspective of economic rationality
- understand economic reasons leading to frailty and failure in markets for health care
- interpret public policies as addressing tradeoffs in health care allocations
- use diagrams as a tool to represent:
- demand for health, health care and health care insurance
- decisions of health care providers
- fundamental tradeoffs in health care allocation
General competence
You will be able to:
- link different policy recommendations to specific types of market failure
- recognize the key economic tradeoffs implied in different healthcare allocation problems
- understand economic reasons behind trends in health care system development
Admission to the course
This course is only available for students at the following master programmes:
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.
Overlapping courses
- 2 credits overlap with HMM4202 – Structure, organization and financing of health care systems (discontinued).
- 2 credits overlap with HME4202 – Structure, organization and financing of health care systems (discontinued).
Teaching
Lectures.
Examination
Individual written exam.
Examination and grading at The Faculty of Medicine.
Examination support material
No examination support material is allowed.
Language of examination
For students at HEPAM: The problem set will be given in English. Answers can be given in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or in English.
For students on the epidemiology-track: The problem set will be given in English. Answers can be given in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F?is a fail. Read more about?the grading system.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- How to use AI as a student
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.