Economics 797P - ST-Political Econ/PublicHealth

This course offers a survey of the Political Economy of Public Health. This is an emergent research stream that seeks to understand the distal political and economic causes of population health, and represents a return to the origins of public health, captured by Rudolph Virchow's famous dictum: "Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing more than medicine on a grand scale." It extends the social determinants of disease tradition, making it more dynamic and moving further upstream. Students will be taught various topics in heterodox economics and comparative political economy that are necessary to understand the patterning of health outcomes at a societal level. This course will focus primarily on the advanced market economies. The first part of the course will cover capitalist development and population health. Topics will include: (1) Capitalist development and life expectancy; (2) Ideology, individualism, and public health; (3) Class, race, and health inequalities; (4) The welfare state and health; (5) Financial crisis, austerity and health; (6) Deindustrialization and health; and (7) Mass incarceration and health. The second part will study corporate power, and examine corporations as disease vectors. We will consider corporations that produce and market tobacco, alcohol, sugary drinks and foods, automobiles, guns, and prescription drugs, including opioids. The last part of the class will cover healthcare and medicine, examining health insurance and drug innovation and pricing.

Open to Graduate students only.