GLOBALIZATION HEALTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Course objectives

Knowledge and understanding: Students will learn the role of the health and public health sector in the economic development of countries; they will be able to understand the relevance of health in the process of accumulation of human capital and therefore in the process of economic and social growth; They also will be able to understand the role of the health sector in a globalized world where the international circulation of goods, services and people is at the same time a challenge and an opportunity for the populations. In the applied part of the course, student will be learning and get acquainted with the available data sources; learn how to master micro- and macro-level data; get familiar with the software Stata; Knowledge and comprehension Skills applied: Students will be able to use the logical and analytical methods to understand the various theories explaining the positive and negative impact of migration on the health systems of the countries of reception and origin; The theories of growth and economic development that consider the health factor as a fundamental variable to their realization. Moreover in the second part of the course, student will be learning to: - formulate the research question; - choose the right methodology to affront the issue; - write a research project on one of the topics studied during the course. Autonomy of Judgement: The students will develop an autonomous capacity of judgement, in a theoretical and practical perspective, on the economic analysis of the "health system" and of its economic-social consequences Communicative Skills: Students will develop the aptitude for economic reasoning and the ability to argumentation on economic and social analysis. Ability to learn: Students will be able to address other teachings of the theoretical and quantitative economic discipline thanks to what was learned during the course

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MARIA MADDALENA GIANNETTI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
Health is a major concern in both developed and developing countries. The health sector is in continuous expansion in developed economies and is responsible for a growing part of gross domestic product. The increasing life expectancy requires an increasing investment to take care of the ageing population and to cure the increased weight of chronic disease. In developing countries, the increasing awareness of the importance of health in growth and development and to escape poverty is putting strain on many governments. The aim of the course is to give students the instruments to analyse the relevance of the health sector in various areas of the economy. The course will focus on three main aspects. - The health as part of human capital, key element in the growth and development process of a country’s economy; - The economic impact of the increasing weight in international trade of health-related goods and services; - The effects on both origin and destination countries of the growing international migratory movement of health sector’s professionals (doctors, nurses and technicians).
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of economic principles, math (derivatives, max and min free and constraints; basic principles of differential equation), principles of statistics and econometrics.
Books
Selected chapters from the following books: -Glied S. and P. Smith (2011), The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics, Oxford University Press. -Lòpez-Casasnovas, B. Rivera and L. Currais (2005), Health and Economic Growth, The MIT press.
Teaching mode
The lecture is delivered in a traditional way with the presentation of the topic of the day and a deep explanation of the most difficult theoretical and analytical passages. During the lecture there might be some discussion on the daily topic. At the beginning of each lecture Questions and more explanations about the previous lectures can be asked. At the end of each macro-topic a lecture will be completely devoted to discussion among students on that matter
Frequency
The attendance is not compulsory but strongly suggested to get a better handling of the subject, clarify doubts that might arise and to favour a stricter interaction with the lecturer and classmates. That makes the learning process easier and more useful. Moreover, case studies might be discussed during the lecture and not being presented in the reference material to study.
Exam mode
The student final evaluation of the students will take into account various aspects: - the attendance and active participation to the lectures - 20% ; - a written essay on a topic chosen in agreement with the professor - 40%; - an oral examination on the program taught during the semester to verify the knowledge acquired and the ability to transpose this knowledge into the real life - 40%.
Bibliography
Publications and reports from international institutions/organizations such as OECD, EUROSTAT, WHO and others will be used. A reading list of journal articles will be given during the course.
Lesson mode
The lecture is delivered in a traditional way with the presentation of the topic of the day and a deep explanation of the most difficult theoretical and analytical passages. During the lecture there might be some discussion on the daily topic. At the beginning of each lecture Questions and more explanations about the previous lectures can be asked. At the end of each macro-topic a lecture will be completely devoted to discussion among students on that matter. Students might be asked at different stages of the course to read and critically present some scientific articles related to the topics covered. These exercises will contribute to the final evaluation
VINCENZO SALVUCCI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
As part of the course, the role of healthcare and the healthcare sector in the economic development of countries, especially developing countries, will be studied. In this context, the growing importance of health economics and the rise of research in this sector will be highlighted. However, the course aims to be a theoretical-practical course, in which students will learn to use most of the basic functions and some of the advanced functions of the statistical program "Stata", applied to health data. There will be a study of the variables of interest, the most frequent research questions and the most used tools in this sector. Furthermore, precisely because of the importance that statistical data have, we will talk about the importance of statistical data in this context, the most used data sources and the related problems they have, examples of databases will be presented and we will also study the structure of complex databases. We will proceed with a descriptive and causal analysis of health data from surveys, inequalities in the health sector, in outcomes, characteristics and access will be analysed, also trying to delve deeper into the differences between different subgroups within the same population. The text used in the course, in English and available free of charge on the World Bank website, is "Analyzing health equity using household survey data: a guide to techniques and their implementation" (O'Donnell et al., 2007).
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of economic principles, math, principles of statistics.
Books
O'Donnell, O., Van Doorslaer, E., Wagstaff, A., & Lindelow, M. (2007). Analyzing health equity using household survey data: a guide to techniques and their implementation. The World Bank.
Frequency
Attendance is optional
Exam mode
The final evaluation of the students will take into account various aspects: - the attendance and active participation to the lectures (10% of the final grade); - a written essay (there's not a written exam) and a do-file on a topic chosen in agreement with the professor (30% of the final grade); - an oral examination on the program taught during the course and on the essay and do-file presented (60% of the final grade).
Lesson mode
Teaching in presence with the use of personal or lab's computers
  • Lesson code10592231
  • Academic year2024/2025
  • CourseHealth Economics
  • CurriculumSingle curriculum
  • Year2nd year
  • Semester1st semester
  • SSDSECS-P/01
  • CFU9
  • Subject areaEconomico