Tag: healthcare

The second largest economy in the world, with a record expansion to its current economic status: China. With a phenomenal population, massive migration to the cities and incredible infrastructure development, China has fast become a key economic player, with environmental and pollution problems to match.

The price of China’s economic development may be too high for some people. Increases in incomes, growth and employment may be good news, but is the cost too high? Do economic growth and progress mean poor health and if so, is this a price worth paying

Another big topic within China is the impact on inequality. With growth accelerating in urban areas, population movement from the rural to the urban has been a common feature across China, but this has also created greater inequality. This population movement has separated families and played a role in creating barriers of access to health and education.

The following article from the BBC considers a range of indicators within China and you may also want to review some earlier blog postings on the Sloman News Site which analyse the Chinese economy.

Cement and pig consumption reveal China’s huge changes BBC News (21/9/15)


  1. What are the key drivers of China’s development?
  2. What are the costs and benefits of rural-urban migration?
  3. To what extent do you think there may be a trade-off between quality and quantity when it comes to infrastructure projects? Or is Chinese labour simply more efficient relative to countries such as the UK?
  4. How should we measure economic development? If access to education and health care is limited in the more rural areas, but widely available in the larger cities, does this suggest a country that is developing?
  5. What are the main externalities that China must tackle? Are they domestic issues or global ones? What about the solutions?
  6. If a key driver of Chinese growth and development is government investment in infrastructure projects, is this true and sustainable growth or do you think it might slowly disappear if the government doesn’t continue to invest?
  7. Do you think the relative success of China can be replicated in other emerging nations and in particular in nations within Africa?

In the UK, we have a dominant public healthcare sector and a small private sector. In the blog Is an education monopoly efficient? we looked at the idea of an education monopoly and why that may create inefficiencies in the system in comparison with competitive private markets. Does the same argument hold for the market for healthcare? The NHS is largely a state monopoly, although market forces are used in certain areas, which does bring some benefits of competition. However, was the NHS to be privatized, would we see further efficiency gains? As we stated in the previously mentioned blog: ‘the more competition there is, the more of an incentive firms have to provide consumers with the best deal, in terms of quality, efficiency and hence price.’

Privatisation of the NHS has always been regarded with skepticism – of all the British welfare state institutions, the NHS is the most symbolic. However, we have recently seen a takeover of a NHS hospital by a private firm. It’s not privatisation, but it is a step towards a more privately run healthcare system.

Hinchingbrooke hospital in Cambridge is only small, but has a history of large debts – £40m and yet only a turnover of about £105m. This new strategy will still see the NHS owning the hospitals, but the private firm becoming liable for the hospital’s debts and essentially taking over the running of it. However, Circle aims to repay all the debts within 10 years and make a profit. There are many skeptics of this bold new approach, suggesting that Circle’s numbers don’t add up, especially with the flat NHS spending we’re going to see. However, the firm does have a positive track record in terms of making efficiency savings and whilst success will undoubtedly be a good thing – it may bring up some pertinent questions for the way in which the NHS is and should be run.

Hinchingbrooke hospital deal shakes up NHS Financial Times, Nicholas Timmins (10/11/11)
Failing NHS hospital is taken over by private firm for the first time in history Mail Online, Jenny Hope (11/11/11)
Andrew Lansley’s NHS is all about private sector hype Guardian, John Lister (11/11/11)
Circle clinches hospital management deal Reuters, Tim Castle (11/11/11)
Will profits come before patients in a hospital run by a private company? Independent, Oliver Wright (11/11/11)
Hospital group’s liabilities capped at £7m Financial Times, Sarah Neville and Gill Plimmer (10/11/11)
First privately run NHS hospital ‘is accident waiting to happen’ Guardian, Randeep Ramesh (10/11/11)
Government rejects hospital privatisation claims BBC News, Democracy Live (10/11/11)


  1. What are the benefits of competition?
  2. What are the market failures within the healthcare market? To what extent do you think that public sector provision (in the form of the NHS) is the most effective type of intervention?
  3. Is this just the first step towards privatisation of healthcare?
  4. Do you think private ownership of hospitals with significant debts is a good strategy?
  5. Why do you think Unison have argued that Circle’s takeover is ‘an accident waiting to happen’?
  6. Does privatisation mean that profits will be more important than patient care?








  1. What is a PFI?

This podcast is from the Guardian. The first part consists of a report by Anna Dixon, Director of Policy at the King’s Fund (an independent ‘think tank’). The podcast considers “the economics of healthcare. Why are the Americans so opposed to adopt a system of socialised medicine? Does the NHS make economic sense? And how will the squeeze on public finances impact upon our most cherished of services?”

The Business: The NHS and economic recovery Guardian podcast (19/8/09)


  1. How do the UK and US healthcare systems differ?
  2. Why does the US system result in greater healthcare inequality than the National Health Service system in the UK?
  3. For what reasons may Americans resist healthcare reform?
  4. What lessons can be learned by the NHS from the US healthcare system?
  5. Compare the issues of monopoly power of drug companies, doctors and hospitals in the two systems? In which system is the countervailing power of purchasers likely to be greater?

As economists we often argue that choice is a good thing as it will help to create more efficient and dynamic markets. Public-sector reform has tended to focus on the introduction of choice as a way of making public services more responsive to consumer needs. But is choice always a good thing? The article linked to below from the Guardian considers the trade-off between choice and central planning.

We’re getting choice, whether we want it or not Guardian (16/3/2008)


1. Explain how increased choice helps to make the public sector more responsive to consumer needs.
2. Discuss whether centrally planned provision of public services, such as healthcare, is likely to lead to more or less efficient services.
3. Assess the extent to which increased choice in the provision of health services is likely to make health care more responsive to people’s healthcare needs.