MSc HEALTH ECONOMICS (3 YR)

Code  MED-7006D   (20 Credits)

This module aims to equip you with an understanding of health economics, its value and limitations. It is suitable for students with and without an economics background as the course covers fundamental economic principles and their application to health care. These will include concepts of opportunity cost, supply and demand, efficiency and equity. The module uses these principles to explore relevant topics in health and healthcare. The following topics are covered:

• The application of economic principles to system level health policy issues such as health care priority setting

• Alternative models of health care financing and organisation

• Inequity and inequalities in health and healthcare

• The use of economic evaluation of health care interventions using techniques such as cost effectiveness analysis and cost benefit analysis

• The determinants and consequences of health, and the economics of health behaviour

Code  MED-7008E  (20 Credits)

On this module you will understand and critically appraise the economic studies of health care interventions; understand the range of evaluation techniques and appropriate circumstances for application; and appreciate the links between economic evaluation and economic theory, health service research and decision making and to have confidence to conduct further economic evaluation studies.

Code MED-7022D  (20 Credits)

The purpose of this module is to provide students with a broad introduction to the methods used in Health Science Research. . The skills to be developed include being able to:

1. Recognise basic quantitative and qualitative research designs

2. Recognise different data collection techniques

3. Acquire a basic understanding of both statistical analysis and qualitative analysis

4. Critically appraise of the research literature.

ONLY AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS TAKING THE HEALTH ECONOMICS PROGRAMME

Code MED-7013E   (20 Credits)

This course builds on the quantitative methods covered in Introduction to Research Methods. It will add depth to the basic knowledge already acquired in that module on measurement, survey instruments, study designs and statistics. Students will also take part in practical sessions where they will apply the statistical knowledge gained to describe and analyse datasets.

Code  DEV-7038A  (20 Credits)

This module provides you with an introduction to the theory and practice of impact evaluation. The focus will be on issues around evidence-based policy making, approaches to wellbeing, and their practical application in terms of evaluating the effect of development interventions on the quality of people’s lives. The first part discusses the notion of evidence-based policy, introduces the students to the area of evaluation and reviews the role of programme theory in evaluation. The second part addresses the theory of welfare, with particular reference to poverty, inequality, and multi-dimensional ill-being as well as cost effectiveness. The third part considers policy and evaluation in practice looking at a range of sectors and contexts.

Code  ECO-7001B  (20 Credits)

This module builds on the material covered in the Autumn Semester modules Financial Econometrics, Econometric Methods, and Econometric Theory. The approach is more advanced than Financial Econometrics and Econometric Methods, and more applied than Econometric Theory. Many students find the material useful when they embark on empirical dissertations in the summer. Broadly, the module is divided into two halves: time series methods (including ARIMA modelling, stationarity testing, ARCH and GARCH models, VAR models and Granger causality testing, cointegration); cross section and panel data methods, models for treatment effects, and models for binary and ordinal outcomes.

Code  ECO-7003A  (20 Credits)

This is an advanced module in microeconomic theory, designed for postgraduate students with a strong background in economics. The topics covered in this module include the duality approach to demand theory, firm theory, general equilibrium theory, game theory, choice under uncertainty, agency theory and the economics of asymmetric information. The rational-choice foundations of microeconomics are also critically examined.

Code  ECO-7011A  (20 Credits)

Introducing micro and macro economic analysis, this module will familiarise you with a wide range of economic tools which can be applied to issues relating to your Applied Training Programme. It covers, in particular, consumer and producer choice, market equilibrium, market structure, externalities and public goods, the macroeconomics of inflation, unemployment and growth and macroeconomic policy.

Code MED-7013E   (20 Credits)

This course builds on the quantitative methods covered in Introduction to Research Methods. It will add depth to the basic knowledge already acquired in that module on measurement, survey instruments, study designs and statistics. Students will also take part in practical sessions where they will apply the statistical knowledge gained to describe and analyse datasets.

Code  MED-7007X  (60 Credits)

The purpose of this module is to illustrate the depth of skills and knowledge that have been developed through the MSc programme. The skills to be developed further include being able to: 

1. Gain practical experience in conducting research in an area of self-chosen content or subject material

2. Gain practical experience of presenting their research in a written format

3. Apply their knowledge of qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies to their own area of self-chosen content or subject materia

Students will be encouraged to consider their dissertation work for publication either within the University or in refereed academic journals.