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Economics: Health

Special Note

Please also see the library guide to COVID-19 and the Economy

Databases and Search Engines

EconLit. Most comprehensive index to scholarly journal articles in economics. It also lists books and dissertations, and indexes articles within 'collective works' (books consisting of collections of essays or individual papers). 

Health Systems Evidence. Free access point for evidence to support policy makers, stakeholders and researchers interested in how to strengthen or reform health systems as well as cost-effective programs, services and drugs.

IDEAS: Economics and Finance Research. A free bibliographic database on economics. Offering citations to thousands of full-text working papers, books and book chapters, and articles from peer-reviewed journals.

Global Health. Journals books and reports on a wide range of topics including health economics; part of the suite of databases from the Web of Science.

National Library of Medicine Health Policy and Services Research. Free access to digital collections of grey literature in Health Policy from the NLM.

NBER Papers in Health Economics. Studies on the economics of substance use, obesity, economic models of the determinants of health, and the determinants of the cost of medical care.

NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED). Archived site from York University's center for reviews and determination. 

OECD iLibrary. OECD publications and data, including a collection of health data and publications.  Some of this content is freely available on the OECD Health web site

PolicyFile. Public policy content including articles and reports from thinks tanks, non-governmental organizations, and international governmental organizations.

Wiley Online Library. Strong coverage in this discipline including access to some leading journals in the field.

Organizations

American Society of Health Economists. Professional organization dedicated to promoting excellence in health economics research in the United States.

Council on Health Care Economics and Policy. Non-partisan deliberative council that identifies critical issues generated by health system change, analyzes the economic impact of such changes.

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP).  Measures patient-level health data from local, state, and national data collection organizations (including hospitals, clinics, emergency departments and physician's offices.

International Society for Pharmacoeconomists and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Promotes the science of health economics and outcomes research and facilitates the translation of this research into useful information for health care decision makers.

Medpac. Independent Congressional agency charged to advise the U.S. Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program. 

RAND Health (Health Economics and Financing Program). Conducts studies on medical costs, insurance coverage, reimbursement models, and consumer health expenses, including proposed health care reforms.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Non-profit, grant-making, and research organization with reports and data on health economics topics such as health insurance, access to care, and health care and prescription drug costs.

Selected Data Sources

Please note our Public Health Librarian has put together an exhaustive guide to National and International Health Statistics and Data.

California Health Interview Survey. The largest state health survey in the United States conducted every two years on public health topics and access to health care for Californians.

CDC Wonder. Portal to studies concerning health-related topics such as AIDS/STDs, risk behaviors, and mortality and natality statistics.

Chronic Disease and Health Promotion Indicators Data.  Portal of raw data covering multiples factors relating to Chronic disease, its causes. and its prevention.

Country Health Rankings.  Includes high school graduation, obesity, smoking, unemployment, access to healthy foods, quality of air and water, income, and teen births in USA counties.

Global Health Observatory. Health and health-related information available from the World Health Organization. See their Global Health Expenditures Database.

IPUMS Demographic Health Surveys.  Facilitates use of the Demographic and Health Surveys, administered in low and middle-income countries with variables on the health and well-being of women, children, and births. Additional surveys are available from USAID.

Health Nutrition and Population Statistics. Health, nutrition and population statistics gathered from international sources. From the World Bank.

HCUPNet. Provides access to national health statistics and information on hospital inpatient and emergency department utilization.

IPUMS Health Surveys. Data and documentation for the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, from IPUMS. The 2020 round has detailed COVID questions. 

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Data on various health indicators at national and state levels. The Data Warehouse offers microdata such as the National Health Interview Survey.The National Vital Statistics System contains fast facts.

National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Study of adolescents in the United States followed into adulthood. Data on social, economic, psychological and physical well-being, the family, neighborhood, community, school, friendships, peer groups, etc.

OECD Health Statistics. Health and health systems data across OECD countries. Indicators include: health status, health care resources and utilization, expenditures & financing, social protection, pharmaceuticals, and demographic and economic variables.

Robert Wood Johnson Data Hub.Tracks state-level data allowing users to customize and visualize facts and figures on key health and health care topics.

Sage Data. Easy access to US and international economic, social, and political indicators.

SHADAC Data Center. User-friendly and easily accessible way to get health insurance coverage estimates from the Current Population Survey's Annual Social and Economic Supplement and the American Community Survey.

World Health Organization Mortality Database. Provides aggregated mortality counts and cause-of-death statistics and raw data files.

World Health Organization Global Health Observatory (GHO). Source of data on numerous international/cross-national health-related topics. The site also contains many links to other sources of cross-national health data.