ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors introduce the reader to some core economic concepts and explain how they affect decisions to invest in health promotion programs. Health economists examining health promotion programs aim to maximise the health outcomes from the scarce health resources spent on prevention. The authors summarise the evidence demonstrating that cost-effectiveness generally makes economic sense, but also explain how generating that evidence can be difficult. They outline how cost-effectiveness analysis is conducted and how it can inform decisions about investments in health promotion and discuss cost-benefit analysis. Policies including regulation, legislation and awareness-raising have traditionally been the most widespread means of promoting behaviour change; however, the evolving discipline of behavioural economics is beginning to change the way that policy-makers approach these issues. Behavioural economics is a discipline that applies insights from psychology to explain the human behaviour and economic decision-making of individuals and institutions.
