ABSTRACT
This chapter explores links between the economy, health and well-being in Scotland. It outlines trends in health care expenditures, to give an idea of the size of the public sector, both in absolute terms and relative to the rest of the Scottish economy. The chapter describes various processes in place to allocate resources in health care. It provides some of the processes for allocating resources across the public sector more widely because services beyond health care influence population health. The chapter analyzes trends in health and health inequalities, and discusses the most important performance indicator of the health system. Improvements in mortality and life expectancy also disguise substantial variations in trends between groups defined by socio-economic status. The socio-economic inequalities translate into large geographical differences in health. The chapter conclude with some thoughts on possible future policy directions that address the links between health and the economy.
