Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Asst. Professor, Economics (rhanson@gmu.edu, http://hanson.gmu.edu)
Office Hours: Officially TT 10:30-12:00am. But I'm usually in at 10b Carow Hall. Call ahead (703-993-2326) if you want to be sure.
Catalog Entry:

Econ 496, 895 Health Economics (3:3:0). Prerequisites: ECON 103. Determinants of Health. Supply, Demand, and Institutions of Health Insurance and Care. Evaluation of Market Failure Rationales for Regulation.

Sherman Folland, Allen C. Goodman, Miron Stano, Economics of Health and Health Care, 4/e, Prentice Hall Business Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-13-100067-5, Sample Price $80.

Charles E. Phelps, Health Economics, Addison Wesley Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0-673-99398-1, Sample Price $104.

Joseph P. Newhouse And The Insurance Experiment Group, Free For All? Lessons from the RAND Health Insurance Experiment, Harvard University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-674-31914-1 Sample Price $28.

For undergraduates: To become familiar with basic facts and issues in health economics, and to be able to make an economically-coherent defense of one's opinions on health policy questions.
For graduate students: To in addition write a coherent research paper in health economics.

• Class Participation Please contribute to class discussions.
• Quizes Three In-Class Quizes will given. Quizes and the final are open book, open notes.
• Defended Opinions Three times you will turn in a written defense of your opinions on a health policy question. See a list of things to keep in mind when writing your defended opinions.
• Research Paper Those who take this class as Econ 895, a graduate class, are required to write a research paper on a health economics topic of their choosing.

1. Should we subsidize alcohol, instead of taxing it?
2. Should doctors, or other health professionals, be able to prescribe placebos?
3. You may choose the last topic. Here are some health policy questions you might consider.

• Quizes: 10Feb,4Mar,6Apr
• Defended Opinions: 2Mar,8Apr,29Apr
• Research Paper: 11May
• Final: 1:30 - 4:15pm, May 11.

1. 496: Class Participate 5%, 13% per Quiz, 13% per Defended Opinions, 17% final.
2. 895: 1/2 of grade above items, 1/2 research paper.

Lecture Readings and Sources

On the web page, this links to a page of sources, most of which have links.

Misc Health Links