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QALYs and the capability approach

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Author Info
Richard Cookson (School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, UK)
Abstract

This explores the applicability of Sen's capability approach to the economic evaluation of health care programmes. An individual's 'capability set' describes his freedom to choose valuable activities and states of being ('functionings'). Direct estimation and valuation of capability sets is not feasible at present. Standard preference-based methods such as willingness to pay are feasible, but problematic due to the adaptive and constructed nature of individual preferences over time and under uncertainty. An alternative is to re-interpret the QALY as a cardinal and interpersonally comparable index of the value of the individual's capability set. This approach has limitations, since the link between QALYs and capabilities is not straightforward. Nevertheless, the QALY approach is recognisable as an application of the capability approach since it pays close attention to functionings, through the use of survey-based multi-attribute health state valuation instruments, and permits conceptions of value other than the traditional utilitarian ones of choice, desire-fulfilment and happiness. Furthermore, suitably re-interpreted, it can account for (i) non-separability between health and non-health components of value; and suitably modified it can also account for (ii) process attributes of care, which may have a direct effect on non-health functionings such as comfort and dignity, and (iii) sub-group diversity in the value of the same health functionings. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/hec.975
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Article provided by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. in its journal Health Economics.

Volume (Year): 14 (2005)
Issue (Month): 8 ()
Pages: 817-829
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Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:14:y:2005:i:8:p:817-829

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  2. Dolan, P. & Gudex, C. & Kind, P. & Williams, A., 1996. "Valuing health states: A comparison of methods," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 209-231, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Richard Cookson, 2003. "Willingness to pay methods in health care: a sceptical view," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(11), pages 891-894. [Downloadable!]
  4. Anand, Paul, 2003. "The integration of claims to health-care: a programming approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 731-745, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Culyer, A J, 1989. "The Normative Economics of Health Care Finance and Provision," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 34-58, Spring.
  6. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, 2003. "The Human Development Paradigm: Operationalizing Sen'S Ideas On Capabilities," Feminist Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 9(2-3), pages 301-317, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Hurley, Jeremiah, 2000. "An overview of the normative economics of the health sector," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 55-118 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Joshua A. Salomon & Christopher J.L. Murray, 2004. "A multi-method approach to measuring health-state valuations," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(3), pages 281-290. [Downloadable!]
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  1. Hans Keiding, 2005. "Capabilities and Equality of Health I," Discussion Papers 05-24, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Carmen Herrero & Juan Moreno-Ternero, 2008. "Opportunity analysis of newborn screening programs," Review of Economic Design, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 259-277, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Abellán Perpiñán, José Mª & Sánchez Martínez,Fernando I. & Martínez Pérez, Jorge E., 2007. "La medición del bienestar social relacionado con la salud/The Measurement of the Health Related Social Welfare," Estudios de Economía Aplicada, Estudios de Economía Aplicada, vol. 25, pages 823 - 24 , Diciembre. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Joanna Coast & Richard Smith & Paula Lorgelly, 2008. "Should the capability approach be applied in Health Economics?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(6), pages 667-670. [Downloadable!]
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