Write a Report

– 1500-word report (30%): You will be tasked with completing a 1500-word report on the following theme: ‘what are the economic arguments for and against government intervention in health care?' Details of the task For the individual report, you are encouraged to “showcase” your knowledge, technical grasp and understanding of relevant economic theories. For example, you will need to demonstrate (briefly) that you understand and can apply the relevant principles, theory and evidence related to welfare economics. For this report, concentrate on communicating how economic theory and evidence can inform an assessment of the potential impacts of policy. You are expected to think about the economic principles involved, to research a little, to check your understanding and to write in a logical manner. Your report should highlight the causes of market failure for healthcare and the externalities associated with healthcare. In addition, are there issues with government intervention in healthcare? You should also highlight the various remedies proposed for mitigating market failure in Healthcare. While it may be useful to refer to the most relevant conclusions of this research, don’t spend a lot of time on reproducing memorised statistics, describing the details of a particular national arrangement, or going into a lot of details about particular empirical studies. It is also important to remember to be critical of all sources. Critical awareness of the reliability of evidence will be rewarded but a detailed knowledge is not expected. You probably will not have time to read all the sources, so scan through them quickly at first to pick-out those that have sections or chapters that will be most useful in the time you have. Remember the emphasis is on thinking like an economist and applying your knowledge of economic theory, not on memorised details. Your main resource is the economics you learned in this course, which you must now apply in a methodical way to the question above. Reading resources The standard arguments for why a publicly funded and provided national health service may be preferred to various forms of private provision are well rehearsed in the Economics of the Welfare State by Nicholas Barr (see your reading list). The other economic texts also cover related issues.