This paper examines the role of medical care in improving health and compares that value of better health produced by medical care with the costs of that care. Valuing medical care requires measuring the health of the population. We start by developing a measure of the nation's health capital --...

This paper examines the role of medical care in improving health and compares that value of better health produced by medical care with the costs of that care. Valuing medical care requires measuring the health of the population. We start by developing a measure of the nation's health capital --...

Given a choice between spending more money on medical care or on other consumption goods, which should society choose? Should the National Institutes of Health devote a larger part of its research budget to AIDS or to cancer? Has the increased inequality of income in the United States led to...