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Normative foundations for equity-sensitive population health evaluation functions

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Standard models for the evaluation of population health, such as the so-called models of aggregate Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs), or aggregate Healthy Years Equiva- lent (HYEs), are usually criticized on equity grounds. We provide in this paper normative justi_cations for alternative equity-sensitive models, such as the so-called models of mul- tiplicative QALYs, multiplicative HYEs, and generalizations of the two. Our axiomatic approach assumes social preferences over distributions of individual health states experi- enced in a given period of time. It conveys informational simplicity, as it does not require information about individual preferences on health.

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  • Moreno-Ternero, Juan D. & Østerdal, Lars Peter, 2014. "Normative foundations for equity-sensitive population health evaluation functions," DaCHE discussion papers 2014:1, University of Southern Denmark, Dache - Danish Centre for Health Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:sduhec:2014_001
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    1. Moreno-Terneroy , Juan D & Østerdal, Lars Peter, 2015. "The implications of equal value of life and prioritarianism for the evaluation of population health," DaCHE discussion papers 2015:1, University of Southern Denmark, Dache - Danish Centre for Health Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Population health; equity; HYEs; QALYs; axioms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General

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