Some goods and services are normally left to the market mechanism. Health care is often described as an exception to the rule. Society wants care to be allocated equitably; it wants the financial burden to be kept within bounds; it wants treatments to be both medically effective and economically efficient. These shared concerns lead to a demand for State intervention which this book seeks impartially to appraise and evaluate.

Originally published in 1984, this book attempted to fill a gap by providing a broad-ranging structural analysis of the health care sector and the political and economic forces which influence its shape and contents, both in the western world and developing countries. The contributors examine the relationships of capitalism to health care, in terms of its influence on the physical environment, the incidence of social diseases and the prevailing (20th Century) view of what constitutes health itself; and in terms of the consequences of the new medical industrial complex it has created, such as the declining provision of health care for the poor and disadvantaged and the growing power of the pharmaceutical industry.

a Should be of interest to everyone working for a just and caring health system anywhere.a Barbara Ehrenreich"

Zhou presents a collection of papers that are based on lectures presented at the 36th Annual Public Lecture-Seminar Series conducted by his Department of Economics at Western Michigan University. The six chapters explore Medicare reform, managed care and its effect on the health care system, efforts to cover the uninsured, the effect of health insurance on labor market and employment decisions, and the role of tax policy in health care. The contributions largely limit themselves to analysis of existing institutions and eschew broad proscriptions for the American health-care system. c. Book News Inc.

Health care is a social concern, closely connected to the pursuit of collective goals. That is why some have said that mortality and morbidity, too important to be left to the individual and the market, are properly the focus for public policy. One reason for intervention might be equity: the nation might take the view that none of its citizens, irrespective of economic status or geographical location, ought to be denied adequate access to medical attention. Another reason might be economy: the cost of care is rising and a rational society will want to ensure that the rise is not excessive. A third reason might be efficacy: scarce inputs should not be wasted, and that means economic analysis as well as scientific testing in order to identify value for money. The Political Economy of Health Care examines the potential contribution of state intervention to health care. Impartial and unbiased, it reaches the conclusion that a wide range of differing opinions must be carefully considered if informed debate is ever to lead to consensus in this complex, confusing but vitally important area of social life.

In recent years there has been increasing discontent with the abstract nature of mainstream economics. Not only does this make the subject less relevant to real issues, it drives a wedge between economics and other disciplines ostensibly addressing the same issues. Borderlands of Economics explores the ways in which economics might be reconnected, both with the real world and with other disciplines.