This paper investigates the degree to which the occurrence of vaccine-preventable diseases affects vaccination efforts against such diseases. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey on measles vaccinations in the United States between 1984 and 1990, the paper shows there is strong...

Law plays essential roles in public health. Law defines health officials' jurisdiction, and specifies how they exercise their authority. It is a tool of public health work used to establish norms for healthy behavior. Policymakers use the law's language of rights, duties and justice in the most...

Moral hazard--the tendency to change behavior when the cost of that behavior will be borne by others--is a particularly tricky question when considering health care. Kenneth J. Arrow's seminal 1963 paper on this topic (included in this volume) was one of the first to explore the implication of...