Health Economics: A Report on the Field

This study documents who health economists are, what they do, and what they think about professional and policy issues. Using primary data obtained through a mail survey of 518 health economists, we found that health economists are well trained by the standards of their profession. Most are employed in noneconomics departments in universities, where they spend their time very differently from their cousins in economics departments. There is a clear dichotomy in policy views among health economists. The characterization of the field as composed of “narrow” neo-classicists and “broad” eclecticists is supported by our data.