The rather small literature on obesity in developing countries mainly uses descriptive statistics and cross section analysis to focus on rising income levels as the source of rapidly increasing obesity rates. This paper uses a new panel dataset comprised of WHO and World Bank data for 126 low-...

Childhood obesity in developing countries is a topic that hasn't found its way in the economic literature yet. Despite the fact that obesity rates are rising worldwide and the phenomenon is very present even among the poorest of households in developing countries, most of the attention is still...

We investigate the relationship between obesity and life expectancy, and whether or not this relationship varies by socioeconomic status (SES). The underlying model is based on the "Pathways to health" framework in which SES affects health by modifying the relationship between lifestyles and...

External price benchmarking imposes a price cap for pharmaceuticals based on prices of identical products in other countries. Suppose that a regulatory agency can either directly negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers or implement a benchmarking regime based on foreign prices....

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...

Risky health behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, drug use, unprotected sex, and poor diets and sedentary lifestyles (leading to obesity) are a major source of preventable deaths. This chapter overviews the theoretical frameworks for, and empirical evidence on, the economics of risky...