We discuss the conceptual foundations of measuring (in)equity in health and health care. After an overview of the recent developments in the measurement of socioeconomic inequalities and in racial disparities, we show how these partial approaches can be seen as special cases of the more general...

A major feature of the health sector is the existence of health insurance, either public or private. Often both coexist in the same country. Public health insurance is often accompanied by public provision of health care. We consider two main areas of public–private interface: in funding of...

The medical workforce is important based merely on its size and takes on even greater importance given the influence physicians, nurses, dentists, and pharmacists have on patient treatment. On the supply side, most governments regulate health professions to assure that the inputs into the health...

Intellectual property rights are viewed as essential to medical innovation, but very often involve social costs due to patent monopolies and other inefficiencies. We review the positive theory of innovation in health care, as it relates to the determination of innovation demand and supply. The...

This chapter describes the market for pharmaceuticals, which exceeded $500 million in sales in 2010. The industry is also characterized by extensive regulation of almost every activity, from product development through manufacturing and marketing, which we summarize. We next describe the...

This chapter will deal with the actual and efficient functioning of health insurance in settings where risk (expected value) of medical spending or insurance benefits varies across individuals at a given point in time or over time for a given individual. It will deal with equilibrium in...