Research Seminar in Health Economics

Catalog description

The class covers healthcare in the U.S. from an economic perspective. A major theme throughout the semester is an attempt to understand why the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy among all wealthy nations while at the same time having by far the highest per-capita spending on healthcare. We also examine the impact of government policy and healthcare institutions on health outcomes in the U.S., with an emphasis placed on determining the credibility of empirical evidence. Consequently, we survey the issues that arise when attempting to draw causal inferences from non-experimental data and the types of research designs and econometric tools that can address potential sources of bias. More generally, the course emphasizes the development and application of critical thinking skills in the context of health economics, with classes often conducted in the style of a research seminar.