Estimating the marginal value of public expenditure on health and social care
Theme 5: Empirical work on the marginal productivity of public expenditure in health and care
An estimate of the range of the beneficial effects of changes in public expenditure on health and social care will provide, for the first time, an estimate of the MVPF across and within each of these two categories of public expenditure. An estimate of MVPF is important for a wide range of resource allocation decisions, including the overall level of public expenditure, as well as its allocation across and within sectors. When combined with estimates of the non marginal effects of these different categories of expenditure, the benefits of any proposed change in public expenditure and its allocation can be assessed. As well as reflecting the additional beneficial outcome that could be gained with additional resources, it also reflects the benefits forgone if current resources are committed to specific investments and policies. Therefore, this work will also provide a more complete picture of the range of opportunity costs of investing in specific projects or committing different types of public expenditure.
Aims
The overall aim of the project is to build on the firm foundations provided by existing work on the marginal productivity of NHS and ASC expenditure by extending the analysis to include a range of other beneficial effects. These include the interactions between NHS and ASC expenditure, the impact on carers and on paid production in the wider economy. We will also examine how these beneficial effects tend to be distributed, informing an assessment of the likely equity impact of changes in public expenditure and how it is allocated.
Project Team
Francesco Longo, Andrea Salas Ortiz, Karl Claxton, James Lomas
Contact
Francesco Longo francesco.longo@york.ac.uk