Economic Valuation of Life and Health -- Individuals as Producers of Their Health -- Empirical Studies of the Production of Health -- Health Goods, Market Failure and Justice -- Optimal Health Insurance Contracts -- Risk Selection in Health Insurance Markets -- Physicians as Suppliers of Medical Services -- Hospital Services and Efficiency -- Paying Providers -- Forms of Delivery of Medical Care -- The Market for Pharmaceuticals -- The Political Economy of Health Care -- Future Challenges to Health Care Systems.

Health Economics presents a systematic treatment of the economics of health behavior and health care delivery. Appropriate both for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of economics, this text provides the background required to understand current research, presenting theoretical models as well as empirical evidence and summarizing key results. Without neglecting ethical concerns, modern microeconomic theory is applied to formulate theoretical implications and predictions. Issues discussed include the economic valuation of life and health, moral hazard in health care utilization, supplier-induced demand, the search for remuneration systems with favorable incentives, risk selection in health insurance markets, and technological change in medicine.