ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the broad issue of why economists would want to take an interest in mental illnesses and disorders. It also addresses some methodological issues that are of special significance in mental health care. The book considers the 'Theorems of Welfare Economics', and attention is then directed to the degree to which the Theorems are useful when Homo Economicus has a mental disorder. It addresses North American literature on the economics of mental health care. It should be noted that there is a convention in the literature in the United States to link 'mental illness' and 'substance abuse'. The book suggests that it is helpful to think of mental health care as entering a household production function as a commodity vector; and that it is possible to apply household production theory to describe and give meaning to 'the outputs' of mental health care.
