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Need for economics research (and economists ?) in Access to Medicines work. Gita Sen. Macro-economics. Links to: direction of international funding govt budgets and health financing impoverishment , catastrophic expenditures health sector reform and health system change .
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Need for economics research (and economists ?) in Access to Medicines work Gita Sen
Macro-economics • Links to: • direction of international funding • govt budgets and health financing • impoverishment, catastrophic expenditures • health sector reform and health system change
Industry studies • The study of firms in markets - industrial organization focuses on firm behavior in imperfectly competitive markets, the acquisition and use of market power by firms • modeling, game theoretic approaches, static and dynamic models • concentration / competition /measuring mkt power, oligopoly studies, strategic interactions among firms (non-cooperative and cooperative oligopoly / tacit collusion • costs and pricing (oligopolistic pricing and price discrimination, predatory pricing), cartels and price-fixing • entry barriers, product differentiation, horizontal anti-trust policy (mergers, alliances, joint ventures), strategic investment • asymmetric information, auctions, networks • patents and technology diffusion • role of government competition policy
Need for theory devt • Regulation and anti-trust in the arena of public goods – under-theorised • Public goods - non-rivalrousand non-exclusionary; externalities are a subset of public goods • Position of drugs derives from different parts of health • preventive and public health, primary care, infectious diseases seen as public goods • tertiary care typically seen as private goods – Question; is a healthy population overall a public good? equity as a public good (Wilkinson and Pickett) ?– much work to be done that needs progressive technical economics.
Institutional opportunities • Health economics associations – IHEA (International Health Economics Association) with affiliated national associations – health economists • Particular universities and research institutions – north and south – consortium of industrial economists?