Despite spending far more on medical care, Americans live shorter lives than the citizens of other high-income countries. The situation has been getting worse for at least three decades. This paper describes the main scientific methods for guiding the allocation of resources to health -...

In this note we discuss how a cost–benefit analysis could be formulated in a second-best world where lump-sum taxation is not available. The question is how the government's budget is balanced. Different options are available. A value added tax or an income tax or a profit tax could be...