Linked Life Data

8261033

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/8261033

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
1994-1-27
pubmed:abstractText
The size of national health care expenditure is an important research and policy issue. This paper reviews theoretical and empirical analyses of an implied optimal size for a health sector. Various economic theories are explicitly or implicitly invoked, but none is fully satisfactory. Theory provides, at best, a loose justification for empirical specifications of health sector behaviour. Nevertheless, this has a large and growing empirical research industry. The complexity of the issues provides an excuse for reliance on empirical analyses using ad hoc models. The paper analyses aggregate time-series data, using the cointegration approach, on health, health care expenditures and national income. Only one national model met both statistical criteria and showed a significant relationship: between potential life years lost and health care expenditure in the UK. The case for any general relationships remains unproven. There is no objective scientific method to determine optimal health expenditure, nor should we expect one. However, positive analyses can help with normative questions. A better understanding of health expenditure determination would arise from better specification of the relationships, perhaps by analysis at a lower level of aggregation.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jul
pubmed:issn
1057-9230
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
2
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
113-26
pubmed:dateRevised
2004-11-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1993
pubmed:articleTitle
Econometric analyses of national health expenditures: can positive economics help to answer normative questions?
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Social Sciences, City University, Oxford.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review