I won’t be alone in choosing the thorny issue of healthcare as an introductory topic in AS microeconomics when we kick off next week. The agenda is vast and it is a topic that can be returned to on a regular basis as students accumulate a body of knowledge, concepts and fine-tune their evaluation skills. There is a streamed presentation available here

Initially I will focus on

Healthcare needs and wants and how these vary from country to country and change over time

*Factor inputs used in health care, capital-labour mix and introductory cost ideas
*Positive and normative statements
*Scarcity, choice, opportunity cost and applying the PPF concept to healthcare
*Different types of rationing and resource allocation mechanisms
*A brief look at comparative health care systems in the UK, France and the USA - touching on Obama’s proposed reforms
* Measuring health outcomes, introducing the concepts of equity and efficiency

I will return to market and government failure and intervention issues later on.