Health economics

Abstract

Health economists are multiplying. An increasing number of academic units focus on research and teaching in this area. Notable examples in Britain are the Centre for Health Economics (University of York), the Health Economics Research Unit (University of Aberdeen) and the Health Economics Research Group (Brunei University). Health economists can also be found within departments which have a broader health focus, such as the Department of Public Health and Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. However, the impact of health economics on psychiatry has not been widespread. In the 1996 addition of HEART (the directory of health economists) only 26 (8%) of 331 economists cite psychiatry, mental illness, mental health, addiction, alcohol, community care, case management, schizophrenia, or depression as a key interest. Even so, there are specialised units such as the Centre for the Economics of Mental Health (Institute of Psychiatry), and interest in health economics is also growing among psychiatrists (Wilkinson & Pelosi, 1988; Goldberg, 1991).