Private Choices, Social Costs, and Public Policy: An Economic Analysis of Public Health Issues

(Hardback)

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Description

This work examines the magnitude of the external costs, both human and fiscal, that arise from individual behavioural choices. It treats topical and controversial public health issues - such as drug abuse, AIDS, black and infant mortality rates, teenage pregnancy, cigarette smoking, etc., from the unique perspective of the economist. Using this economic perspective, Hammerle recommends public policies that will effectively reduce the incidence of socially-costly, unhealthy behaviour or shift the costs of that behaviour. This volume should be of interest to academics, practitioners, and policy-makers in the fields of public health, health care administration, public policy, child protection and family planning. The work should also interest economists and sociologists in the field of social welfare.

Reviews

." . . provides a wealth of information for health care policy planners and reveals the critical interplay between economics and the serious public health issues facing our society."-John C. Duffy, M.D. Assistant Surgeon General U.S. Public Health Service
I hasten to add that this book should be read by those involved in public health policy. The author's analysis is informative and her work offers an important database for guiding broad choices of emphasis for public policy around important questions of social and health risk.-Inquiry
Recommended as a concise reference for all levels of academic audience interested in health care and health-care policy.-Choice
This text provides the best economic analysis of public health issues this reviewer has seen. The six chapters on (1) Cigarette Smoking, (2) Substance Abuse, (3) Infectious Diseases, (4) Racial Disparities in Health and Mortality, (5) Children at Risk, and (6) Teenage Pregnancy and Childbearing are outstanding. . . . This text will be of great value to academics, practitioners, and policy-makers in the fields of public health, health care administration, public policy, child protection, and family planning. Economists and sociologists in the field of social welfare, as well as lay persons who are concerned about these timely public health issues, will also find it useful and interesting. I will require it of all my graduate students involved in health related research activities.-Journal of Health & Social Policy
"I hasten to add that this book should be read by those involved in public health policy. The author's analysis is informative and her work offers an important database for guiding broad choices of emphasis for public policy around important questions of social and health risk."-Inquiry
"Recommended as a concise reference for all levels of academic audience interested in health care and health-care policy."-Choice
"This text provides the best economic analysis of public health issues this reviewer has seen. The six chapters on (1) Cigarette Smoking, (2) Substance Abuse, (3) Infectious Diseases, (4) Racial Disparities in Health and Mortality, (5) Children at Risk, and (6) Teenage Pregnancy and Childbearing are outstanding. . . . This text will be of great value to academics, practitioners, and policy-makers in the fields of public health, health care administration, public policy, child protection, and family planning. Economists and sociologists in the field of social welfare, as well as lay persons who are concerned about these timely public health issues, will also find it useful and interesting. I will require it of all my graduate students involved in health related research activities."-Journal of Health & Social Policy

Author Bio

NANCY HAMMERLE is Assistant Professor of Economics at Stonehill College in Massachusetts.