title: The way around health economics' dead end.
abstract: Many leading health economists hold misconceived ideas about central components of their work. In particular, they assume that their methods are in principle value-neutral. This belief is demonstrably false. Health economic investigations incorporate mainly unexpressed theories of health. Unless this fact is recognised health economics will shortly reach a conceptual and practical dead end. The way to avoid this dead end is to express implicit theories of health, and explicitly to base philosophically and economically justifiable policy proposals on them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Seedhouse
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000191:economics; D009520:New Zealand; D011640:Public Policy; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D040841:Resource Allocation; D012945:Social Values; D013598:Systems Theory; D026712:Value of Life