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Health care, overconsumption and uneconomic growth: a conceptual framework
Citation
Hensher, M and Canny, B and Zimitat, C and Campbell, J and Palmer, A, Health care, overconsumption and uneconomic growth: a conceptual framework, Social Science and Medicine, 266 Article 113420. ISSN 0277-9536 (2020) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2020 The Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113420
Abstract
Concerns have grown in recent decades that economic growth in many rich countries may, in fact, be uneconomic. Uneconomic growth occurs when expansion in economic activity causes environmental and social costs that are greater than the benefits of that additional activity. Health care has enjoyed a close historical relationship with economic growth, with health care spending consistently growing faster than GDP over the long term. This paper explores the possible relationship between health care and uneconomic growth. It summarises the rapidly growing evidence on the harms caused by poor quality health care and by the overuse of health care, and on the environmental harms caused by health care systems. Further, it develops a conceptual framework for considering the overconsumption of health care and the joint harms to human health and the natural environment that ensue. This framework illustrates how health-damaging overconsumption in the wider economy combines with unnecessary or low-quality health care to create a cycle of "failure demand" and defensive expenditure on health care services. Health care therefore provides important sectoral insights on the phenomenon of uneconomic growth. There are rich opportunities for interdisciplinary research to quantify the joint harms of overconsumption in health and health care, and to estimate the optimal scale of the health sector from novel perspectives that prioritise human and planetary health and well-being over GDP and profit.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | environmental harms, failure demand, health care, overconsumption, right care, uneconomic growth |
| Research Division: | Economics |
| Research Group: | Applied economics |
| Research Field: | Health economics |
| Objective Division: | Economic Framework |
| Objective Group: | Other economic framework |
| Objective Field: | Other economic framework not elsewhere classified |
| UTAS Author: | Hensher, M (Professor Martin Hensher) |
| UTAS Author: | Canny, B (Professor Ben Canny) |
| UTAS Author: | Campbell, J (Dr Julie Campbell) |
| UTAS Author: | Palmer, A (Professor Andrew Palmer) |
| ID Code: | 141348 |
| Year Published: | 2020 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 4 |
| Deposited By: | Menzies Institute for Medical Research |
| Deposited On: | 2020-10-15 |
| Last Modified: | 2020-11-17 |
| Downloads: | 23 View Download Statistics |
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