Wilfrid Laurier University ECONOMICS 248: Economics of Health Fall 2013 Instructor: Hideki Ariizumi Email: hariizumi@wlu.ca Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 10:00-11:20 a.m. or by appointment Office: P3034 Phone: 884-0710 ext. 2277 Faculty Assistant: Sarina Wheeler ext. 2720 E-mail is typically the best way to contact me outside of office hours. All e-mail MUST include EC248 in the subject line. Otherwise, you should not expect a response. I check email regularly during the weekdays. I do not normally check e-mail in the evening or on weekends. Important information for all students. Please read carefully! Academic Integrity: ALL STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND ALL PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT POLICIES. I DIDN T KNOW THAT WAS CHEATING WILL NEVER BE AN ACCEPTABLE EXCUSE. I WILL TAKE ALL ALLEGATIONS OF ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT DIRECTLY TO OFFICIAL CHANNELS. NOTE THERE ARE NEW POLICIES FOR DEALING WITH ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT AT LAURIER, INCLUDING THE CREATION OF A CENTRAL REGISTRY OF OFFENCES. FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more information, please refer to the Laurier web page at http://www.wlu.ca/academicintegrity Accessible Learning: Students with disabilities or special needs are advised to contact Laurier s Accessible Learning Office for information regarding its services or resources. You can find it under Learning Services on Academic Info at the Laurier web page (http://www.wlu.ca/). Students are encouraged to review the Calendar for information regarding all services available on campus.
Course Description: There is a wide range of debated issues related to health and health care in modern societies. This course is designed to help students make sense of the health sector from an economics perspective. The goal of this course is to understand how the Canadian health care system works, by analyzing various policy problems in the health sector based on economic concepts and methods. Text: Jeremiah E. Hurley, Health Economics, First edition, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, ISBN-13: 978-0-07-091648-7. Course website: I will be using MyLearningSpace, mainly for announcements (for all the sections). I WILL NOT check e-mail in the MyLearningSpace internal e-mail system. To log in to the MyLearningSpace, please follow the instructions on the web: 1) Go to the Laurier main website (http://www.wlu.ca/), 2) choose the Resources tab and click MyLearningSpace. You can find all the necessary information there. Course Requirements: There will be online quizzes (see below), two midterm tests and a final exam. Weight Date Assignments 10% To be announced Midterm #1 20% Oct. 10 In Class Midterm #2 20% Nov. 7 In Class Final Exam 50% In exam period: December, 2013 Each exam covers all the materials up to the date, including the materials from prerequisites. This means that the second midterm exam covers the materials that might have tested in the first midterm exam. There will be no deferred midterm exam. If you miss a midterm exam (no documentation required), the weight will be transferred to the final exam. That is, your final exam will count 70%. The following scheme only applies to the students who write both midterm exams. For a risk diversification mechanism, I will count the highest grade of the two if you write both midterm exams. That is, your highest midterm score count as 40% instead of 20% each. Also as a learning experience, I value your improvement over the course. Hence, if you write both midterm exams and your final exam score is greater than both midterm exams, then I will count your final exam as 75% and your highest midterm score is counted as 15%. If you miss either one of the midterm exams, you are not eligible for this scheme because there are not enough data points to assess your improvement.
Quick summary of the scheme: Assignment Midterm #1 Midterm #2 Final If you write all the exams, but final exam is lower than the highest score of the 10% 40% highest score of the two 50% If you write all the exams, and final exam is even higher than the highest score of the 10% 15% highest score of the two If you miss the midterm #1, 10% missed 20% 70% If you miss the midterm #2, 10% 20% missed 70% If you would like to appeal your grade on your midterm exam, you must submit a written justification on the appeal within one week upon the return of your midterm exam. Assignments There will be three short assignments. Two highest marks out of three will be counted in your course grade (5% each). The assignments will be posted in MyLearningSpace. No late submission will be accepted. If you miss it, it will be marked as zero. But remember that I will count only two highest scores out of the three assignments. 75%
Course Outline (subject to some changes): Tuesday Thursday Week 1 Sept.10 Sept.12 Ch.01: Introduction Week 2 Sept.17 Sept.19 Ch.02: Efficiency and Equity Week 3 Sept.24 Sept.26 Ch.03: Basics of Markets Week 4 Oct.01 Ch.05: Individual-Level Demand for and Production of Health Oct.03 Ch.06: Determinants of Population Health Week 5 Oct.8 Oct.10 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Review Class Oct.15 Ch.07: Nature of Health Care as an Economic Commodity Oct.22 Ch.08: Demand for Health Care Oct.29 Ch.09: Demand for Health Care Insurance Nov.05 Review Class Nov.12 Ch.11&12: Systems of Health Care Finance, and Health Care Funding Week 11 Nov. 19 Ch.13: Physicians, Their Practices, and the Market for Physician Services Week 12 Nov.26 Ch.14&15: Hospitals and Pharmaceuticals Midterm I Oct.17 Oct.24 Oct.31 Nov.07 Midterm II Nov.14 Nov.21 Nov.28 Exam Period December 2013