The cost disease : why computers get cheaper and health care doesn't / William J. Baumol; with contributions by David de Ferranti ...[et. al.].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baumol, William J.

Contributor:

De Ferranti, David M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medical care--United States--Cost control.

Medical care, Cost of--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

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.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Why Health-Care Costs Keep Rising

2. What Causes the Cost Disease, and Will It Persist?

3. The Future Has Arrived

4. Yes, We Can Afford It

5. Dark Sides of the Disease: Terrorism and Environmental Destruction

6. Common Misunderstandings of the Cost Disease: Cost Versus Quality and Financial Versus "Physical" Output Measures

7. The Cost Disease and Global Health

8. Hybrid Industries and the Cost Disease

9. Productivity Growth, Employment Allocation, and the Special Case of Business Services

10. Business Services in Health Care

11. Yes, We Can Cut Health-Care Costs Even If We Cannot Reduce Their Growth Rate

12. Conclusions: Where Are We Headed and What Should We Do?

Notes

References

About the Authors

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613916792

9781283604345

1283604345

9780300188486

030018848X

OCLC:

811206317