==Economics==
{{Main
Health economics}}
[[Health economics]] is a branch of [[economics]] concerned with issues related to scarcity in the allocation of [[health]] and health care. Broadly, health economists study the functioning of the health care system and the private and social causes of health-affecting behaviors such as smoking.
A seminal 1963 article by [[Kenneth Arrow]], often credited with giving rise to the health economics as a discipline, drew conceptual distinctions between health and other goals.Arrow, K. (1963) Uncertainty and the welfare economics of medical care. ''American Economic Review'', 53:941-73.
Factors that distinguish health economics from other areas include extensive [[government intervention]], intractable [[uncertainty]] in several dimensions, [[information asymmetry
asymmetric information]], and [[externalities]].Phelps, Charles E. (2002) Health Economics 3rd Ed. Addison Wesley. Boston, MA Governments tend to regulate the health care industry heavily and also tend to be the largest [[payer]] within the market. Uncertainty is intrinsic to health, both in patient outcomes and financial concerns. The knowledge gap that exists between a physician and a patient can prevent the patient from accurately describing his symptoms or enable the physician to prescribe unnecessary but profitable services; these imbalances lead to market failures resulting from [[asymmetric information]]. [[Externalities]] arise frequently when considering health and health care, notably in the context of infectious disease. For example, making an effort to avoid catching a cold, or practising safer sex, affects people other than the decision maker.
The scope of health economics is neatly encapsulated by Alan William's "plumbing diagram"Williams A (1987) "Health economics: the cheerful face of a dismal science" in Williams A (ed.) ''Health and Economics'', Macmillan: London dividing the discipline into eight distinct topics:
* What influences health? (other than health care)
* What is health and what is its value
* The [[Demand (economics)
demand]] for health care
* The [[Supply (economics)
supply]] of health care
* [[Micro-economic]] evaluation at [[therapy
treatment]] level
* [[Market equilibrium]]
* Evaluation at whole system level; and,
* Planning, [[budgeting]] and monitoring mechanisms.
Consuming just under 10 percent of [[gross domestic product]] of most developed nations, health care can form an enormous part of a country's [[Economic system
economy]]. In 2001, health care consumed 8.4 per cent of GDP across the [[OECD]] countries[http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/10/20/2789777.pdf OECD data] with the United States (13.9%), [[Switzerland]] (10.9%), and [[Germany]] (10.7%) being the top three.
The United States and Canada account for 48% of world pharmaceutical sales, while Europe, Japan, and all other nations account for 30%, 9%, and 13%, respectively. United States accounts for the three quarters of the world’s biotechnology revenues.
