Economic Foundations of Cost Effective Analysis

Alan M. Garber and Charles E. Phelps

No 4164, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In order to address several controversies in the application of cost-effectiveness analysis, we investigate the principles underlying the technique and discuss the implications for the evaluation of medical interventions. Using a standard von Neumann-Morgenstern utility framework, we show how a cost-effectiveness criterion can be derived to guide resource allocation decisions. We investigate its relation to age, gender, income level, and risk aversion. Cost-effectiveness analysis can be a useful and powerful tool for resource allocation decisions, but in the presence of heterogeneous preferences and personal characteristics, a cost-effectiveness criterion that is applied at the population level is unlikely to yield pareto-optimal resource allocations.

Date: 1992-09
Note: EH
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published as Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 16 (1997): 1-31.

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