Market Theories in Health and Healthcare Flashcards
What are markets
- are a flora for hte interaction of soverign individuals and producers; where sellers and consumers exchange goods and services without the need of government intervention
What does a market consist of
- demand side
- supply side
How do markets adjust
- they adjust using quantity and price signals
What is a market equilibrium
- this is a situation where the price (equalibrium price) in a given market is such that the quantitiy demanded is equal to the quantity supplied
What is a perfectly competitive market
- this is the market in which there is no intervention or regulation by the state
What do free markets automatically lead to
- free markets will automatically lead to equilibrium, a situation where the quantity supply matches the quantity demadned
what is the invesible hand theory
- according to the invisibile hand theory each of us acting on our own self-interests generates a demand for goods and services that compels others to deliver those goods and services in the most efficient manner
What 4 assumptions does a market being completely free and liberal work under
- Effectiveness
- efficiency
- allocative efficiency
- operational efficiency
what is effectiveness
- Does not necessarily imply efficiency, it simply means that production or consumption of goods or services will yield satisfaction or utility
What is efficiency
- this is concerned with maximinsing social benefits with the resources available and minimisng costs for a given level of benefit
Name two types of efficiency
- allocative efficiency
- operational efficiency
What are allocative efficiency
- judges whether an activity is worthwhile doing
- describes a situation where resources are allocated and commodities distributed in a way that maximises social welfare
What is operational efficiency
- judges for worth doing activities, what is the best way of providing them
- describes a situation where producers produce a given level of output at minimum average cost
What is a perfect compeition market
- It is both allocatively and productively efficient
What are the assumptions of the perfect compeition market
- price taking behaviour
- profit maximising behaviour
- market constestability
- product homogeneity
- consumer sovereignity
What is price taking behaviour
- No one supplier has enough control over the market to influence prices; sellers accept the price given by the market
What is profit maximizing behaviour
- all producers seek to maximize their profits, producers can undercut competitors only by reducing their own costs of production
What is market contestability
- even if there are few sellers in the market they have to make pricing and output decisions based on the threat of competition
What is product homogeneity
- in a market goods and services must be standardized and indistinguishable from one seller to the next
What is consumer sovereignty
- consumers are rational and knowledgeable; they will only purchase those goods and services where benefits exceed costs
what are the imperfections with the health care market
- For some areas of healthcare there may be many suppliers (like in primary care) but not for others ( like specialist services)
- there are barriers to entry into the healthcare system
- many health care products (syringes or over the counter medicine) are homogenous, most health care services are by nature heterogenous
- patient sovereignty is limited
What are the barriers to entry into the healthcare system
- restrictions in the number and size of medical schools
- requirement for licenses to permit doctors and other healthcare professionals to practice
- high fixed costs to make the initial investment and enter the market (hospital care and diagnostic services)
- high sunk costs; investments in specific assests such as hospitals cannot be moved from one market to another
- many healthcare products are homogenous but most healthcare serivces are heterogenous
How is patient sovereignty limited
- consumption of some items of health care cannot be planned such as emergency visits
- in some chronic conditions patients are not aware of their health status
- some patients are incapable of making decisions
- other patients become too anxious when having to make a decision
- information of new developments in treatment may get through to health care providers long before it does to consumers
- patients often rely on health care professionals to help them make decisions
- patients find it very difficult to judge the beneftis of health care
- patients also face difficulties in evaluating and comparing the quality of health care received
Who decides how much the NHS receives
the government