| Description |
1 online resource (xxi, 249 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Part I: The survivable cost disease. Why health-care costs keep rising ; What causes the cost disease, and will it persist? ; The future has arrived ; Yes, we can afford it ; Dark sides of the disease : terrorism and environmental destruction ; Common misunderstandings of the cost disease : cost versus quality and financial versus "physical" output measures ; The cost disease and global health -- Part 2: Technical aspects of the cost disease. Hybrid industries and the cost disease ; Productivity growth, employment allocation, and the special case of business services -- Part 3: Opportunities for cutting health-care costs. Business services in health care ; Yes, we can cut health-care costs even if we cannot reduce their growth rate -- Conclusions : Where are we headed and what should we do? |
| Summary |
"The exploding cost of health care in the United States is a source of widespread alarm. Similarly, the upward spiral of college tuition fees is cause for serious concern. In this concise and illuminating book, well-known economist William J. Baumol explores the causes of these seemingly intractable problems and offers a surprisingly simple explanation. Baumol identifies the "cost disease" as a major source of rapidly rising costs in service sectors of the economy. Once we understand that disease, he explains, effective responses become apparent. Baumol presents his analysis with characteristic clarity, tracing the fast-rising prices of health care and education in the U.S. and other major industrial nations, then examining the underlying causes of the phenomenon, which have to do with the nature of providing labor-intensive services. The news is good, Baumol reassures, because the nature of the disease is such that society will be able to afford the rising costs."--Publisher's description |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-235) and index |
| Notes |
English |
|
Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on Sept. 26, 2012) |
| Subject |
Prices -- United States
|
|
Medical care -- United States -- Costs
|
|
Medical economics.
|
|
Medical care, Cost of.
|
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Fees and Charges
|
|
Economics, Medical
|
|
Health Care Costs
|
|
Universities -- economics
|
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BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economics -- Microeconomics.
|
|
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economic Conditions.
|
|
Medical economics
|
|
Medical care, Cost of
|
|
Prices
|
| SUBJECT |
United States |
| Subject |
United States
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2012938269 |
| ISBN |
9780300188486 |
|
030018848X |
|
0300179286 |
|
9780300179286 |
|
9786613916792 |
|
661391679X |
|
