Risky health behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, drug use, unprotected sex, and poor diets and sedentary lifestyles (leading to obesity) are a major source of preventable deaths. This chapter overviews the theoretical frameworks for, and empirical evidence on, the economics of risky...

"Guzick's premise is that the United States has a health care industry as opposed to a health care system. His book is organized around three elements of health care delivery: access, quality, and cost. He introduces the economic principles behind the function and dysfunction of the health care...