What Can Economics Say About Alzheimer's Disease?

Amitabh Chandra, Courtney Coile and Corina Mommaerts

No 27760, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) affects one in ten people aged 65 or older and is the most expensive disease in the United States. We describe the central economic questions raised by AD. Although there is overlap with the economics of aging and health, the defining feature of the “economics of Alzheimer’s Disease” is an emphasis on choice by cognitively impaired patients that affects health and financial well-being, and situations in which dynamic contracts between patients and caregivers are useful but difficult to enforce. A focus on innovation in AD prevention, treatment, and care is also critical given the enormous social cost of AD and present lack of understanding of its causes, which raises questions of optimal resource allocation and alignment of private and social incentives. The enormous scope for economists to contribute to our understanding of AD-related issues including drug development, efficient care delivery, dynamic contracting, long-term care risk, financial decision-making, and the design of public programs for AD suggests a rich research program for many areas of economics.

JEL-codes: G41 G51 G52 I11 I13 J14 J22 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-hea and nep-lab
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Published as Amitabh Chandra & Courtney Coile & Corina Mommaerts, 2023. "What Can Economics Say about Alzheimer’s Disease?," Journal of Economic Literature, vol 61(2), pages 428-470.

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