OECD Health Working Papers

ISSN: 
1815-2015 (online)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/18152015
Hide / Show Abstract
This series is designed to make available to a wider readership health studies prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language - English or French - with a summary in the other.
 

The Prevention of Lifestyle-Related Chronic Diseases

an Economic Framework You or your institution have access to this content

English
Click to Access: 
    http://oecd.metastore.ingenta.com/content/243180781313.pdf
  • PDF
    • http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/social-issues-migration-health/the-prevention-of-lifestyle-related-chronic-diseases_243180781313
  • READ
Author(s):
Franco Sassi1, Jeremy Hurst
Author Affiliations
  • 1: OECD, France

25 Mar 2008
Bibliographic information
No.:
32
Pages:
78
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/243180781313

Hide / Show Abstract

This paper provides an economic perspective on the prevention of chronic diseases, focusing in particular on diseases linked to lifestyle choices. The proposed economic framework is centred on the hypothesis that the prevention of chronic diseases may provide the means for increasing social welfare, enhancing health equity, or both, relative to a situation in which chronic diseases are simply treated once they emerge. Testing this hypothesis requires the completion of several conceptual and methodological steps. The pathways through which chronic diseases are generated must be identified as well as the levers that could modify those pathways. Justification for action must be sought by examining whether the determinants of chronic diseases are simply the outcome of efficient market dynamics, or the effect of market and rationality failures preventing individuals from achieving the best possible outcomes. Where failures exist, possible preventive interventions must be conceived, whose expected impact on individual choices should be commensurate to the extent of those failures and to the severity of the outcomes arising from them. A positive impact of such interventions on social welfare and health equity should be assessed empirically through a comprehensive evaluation before interventions are implemented.
Keywords:
health equity, choice, market failure, rationality, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis, health determinants, non-communicable diseases, prevention
JEL Classification:
  • H23: Public Economics / Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue / Externalities ; Redistributive Effects ; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
  • H51: Public Economics / National Government Expenditures and Related Policies / Government Expenditures and Health
  • I12: Health, Education, and Welfare / Health / Health Behavior
  • I18: Health, Education, and Welfare / Health / Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health
 
Visit the OECD web site