NIH VideoCast - An Economist's View of Health Inequalities

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An Economist's View of Health Inequalities

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Air date:	Friday, March 14, 2008, 10:00:00 AM Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views:	Total views: 106 * This only includes stats from October 2011 and forward.
Category:	Special
Runtime:	01:25:43
Closed captioning:	Check box to display CC outside of the video Note: You can drag the captioning window around and resize it
Description:	OPASI ROUNDS Lecture Series Dr. Deaton will discuss “social determinants of health.” Health economics has traditionally been concerned with "industrial organization" of health care provision, including insurance, incentives, etc. It is only recently that economists have seriously addressed the issue of why wealth, income, education, and race are correlated with health outcomes, with the associated issues of social justice, and with trying to disentangle causation. The arguments about justice are very strong, both nationally and internationally. But many of the prescriptions of the public health literature, which argue that improving health requires direct social and economic action, on wealth and income inequalities, on tax policy, on educational policy, or to deal with racism in medicine, are at best part of the story, and are sometimes wrong. If we ignore more complex mechanisms, and recommend policies based on a misinterpretation or superficial interpretation of the evidence, there is a risk that we will hurt the people that we wish to help. The Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI) provides the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its constituent Institutes and Centers (ICs) with the methods and information necessary to manage their large and complex scientific portfolios, identifies – in concert with multiple other inputs – important areas of emerging scientific opportunities or rising public health challenges, and assists in the acceleration of investments in these areas, focusing on those involving multiple ICs.

NLM Title:	An economist's view of health inequalities / Angus Deaton.
Author:	Deaton, Angus. National Institutes of Health (U.S.)
Publisher:
Abstract:	(CIT): OPASI ROUNDS Lecture Series Dr. Deaton will discuss "social determinants of health." Health economics has traditionally been concerned with "industrial organization" of health care provision, including insurance, incentives, etc. It is only recently that economists have seriously addressed the issue of why wealth, income, education, and race are correlated with health outcomes, with the associated issues of social justice, and with trying to disentangle causation. The arguments about justice are very strong, both nationally and internationally. But many of the prescriptions of the public health literature, which argue that improving health requires direct social and economic action, on wealth and income inequalities, on tax policy, on educational policy, or to deal with racism in medicine, are at best part of the story, and are sometimes wrong. If we ignore more complex mechanisms, and recommend policies based on a misinterpretation or superficial interpretation of the evidence, there is a risk that we will hurt the people that we wish to help.
Subjects:	Health Policy Healthcare Disparities Sociology, Medical--economics
Publication Types:	Lecture Webcast
NLM Classification:	W 84.1
NLM ID:	101470397
CIT Live ID:	6093
Permanent link:	https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=6093

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