The Economics of Medical Tourism A Case Study for the USA and India

Dr. Marc Piazolo and Dr. Nursen Albayrak Zanca
Additional contact information
Dr. Marc Piazolo: University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern Graduate School of Management
Dr. Nursen Albayrak Zanca: University of the Incarnate Word H-E-B School of Business

from Óbuda University, Keleti Faculty of Business and Management

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to demonstrate a simple Ricardian model of international trade for health care industries of the USA and India. Our motivation is to illustrate that specialization and free trade result in gains from international trade. We will shed some light on the economics of outbound as well as inbound medical tourism. By adopting the model of comparative advantage to the costs of medical surgeries, we will show that trade between our two model countries – India and the USA – is beneficial to both of them. By specializing on the type of surgery they are most efficient in producing, it will enhance the well being of both nations. Numerical examples and graphical presentations help to support our arguments. In addition, we will lift some of the more restrictive assumptions. By including transportation costs, barriers of trade as well as a larger variety of surgical services, the central message of the beneficial effect of specialization still remains, even though the general picture becomes slightly blurred. There is evidence for support of a more multi-polar international system of trade in medical services.

Keywords: medical tourism; Ricardian model; comparative advantage; international trade; gains from trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
ISBN: 9786155018015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://kgk.uni-obuda.hu/sites/default/files/8_MARKPIAZOLO_MedicalTourism.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (http://kgk.uni-obuda.hu/sites/default/files/8_MARKPIAZOLO_MedicalTourism.pdf [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://kgk.uni-obuda.hu/sites/default/files/8_MARKPIAZOLO_MedicalTourism.pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pkk:meb010:123-142

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Proceedings-8th International Conference on Mangement,Enterprise and Benchmarking (MEB 2010) from Óbuda University, Keleti Faculty of Business and Management Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Alexandra Vécsey ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).