The concept of need plays an essential role in defining legitimate health inequalities. The debate on equity in healthcare policy has so far evolved independently of the philosophical discussions of need. This article draws on moral and political philosophy in order to develop a conception of...

The second edition of this widely acclaimed and extensively cited collection of original contributions by specialist authors reflects changes in the field of cultural economics over the last eight years. Thoroughly revised chapters alongside new topics and contributors bring the Handbook up to...

Manager-ruled organisations are supposed to be less innovative than artist-ruled ones. However in France from 1995 to 1997, the managers of ‘scénes nationales’, who are not usually directors, are more open to lively playwrights than the ‘managers-cum-directors’ of national theatres and...

Regression models often reveal a low statistical significance for the quality variables that are used to explain theatrical demand. I posit that opposing opinions on quality are the cause of this. A regression equation is constructed in order to explain demand, with continuous variables for...

The standard deviation, the Gini coefficient, entropy measures and Atkinson's indexes are used to study French regional inequalities for per capita subsidies to the performing arts, as compared to GDP per worker, from 1992 to 2002. The two former indexes are more sensitive to transfers around...

In the field of healthcare, ethical considerations are omnipresent. The problem is that it is not clear how to introduce professional ethics within the frontiers demarcated by economic rationality. In mainstream economics, medical altruism is defined as the inclusion of the patient's welfare in...

Health economics appears to have difficulty in taking medical ethics into consideration because of the standard figure of homo economicus. In main stream economics, the ethical attitude of a physician is then formalized in terms of “medical altruism”. This paper seeks to highlight the...

One of the most influential “lessons” of the moral hazard theory in health economics is that cost sharing can reduce health spending without damage on health status. This “lesson” has been enormously influential on policy makers. This paper shows that this theoretical and empirical...

Market-based health care reform modifies the doctor-patient interaction which is the heart of the health sector. Patient roles have become more active and well-informed, giving a new status of the patient as consumer. The ?voice? of the ?health democracy? had been transformed to the ?exit? of...