It is a widely shared view in the population health field that the future of the analysis of population health lies in the assessment both of the length of life and health-adjusted quality of life, and the parallel examination of the average health and health distribution within a population....

Objective The treatments of ischaemic heart disease have drastically changed due to the developments in coronary-anterial bypass graft operations and coronary intervention procedures. The treatment outcomes of these procedures are compared using observational data. Method The data used are...

This paper tries to calculate quality of life (QOL) from subjective health evaluations in Japan following Cutler and Richardson (1997) and Groot (2000). It then extends the model in several ways. Firstly, while previous studies define the domain of QOL in an ad hoc manner, i.e. excluding...

International comparisons of horizontal inequity in health have recently become one of the most pertinent issues in health economics. Japan has not been included in these international comparisons. This omission is rectified in this paper, which focuses on Japan. Moreover, we consider its...

This paper examines the relationship between labor productivity and alcohol consumption based on research conducted with a limited sample of workers who drink alcohol. Estimation results show that in the case of males, the amount of alcohol consumed significantly raises labor productivity, with...

We compare health care inequity in Japan with that in other OECD countries in 2002 and 2003. To overcome Japanese data problems, we conducted an original survey. Although some problems remain, we obtained internationally comparable results on health care inequity for Japan. We test the...

This article examines the choice of health care in Japan by patients suffering from the common cold. Original data were obtained from a survey conducted by the authors. Empirical results show that the price elasticity of demand for medical services is between 0.23 and 0.36. This estimated price...