What is public health? public goods, publicized goods, and the conversion problem Jonathan Anomaly
By: Anomaly, Jonathan
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Material type: 
ArticleSubject(s): ECONOMIA DE LA SALUD | SALUD PUBLICA | POLITICA SANITARIA
In:
Public Choice v. 195, n. 1-2, April 2023, p. 43-53Summary: Public health programs began as an attempt to fight infectious diseases that are difficult to address without collective action. But the concept and practice of public health has ballooned to encompass an expanding list of controversial public policy goals ranging from reducing obesity to raising self-esteem. As the list of controversial goals expands, support for “public health” measures contracts. I’ll briefly defend the view that we should define public health as the provision of health-related public goods. I’ll then show that being a health-related public good is not a sufficient condition for counting as a public health goal, since virtually any private good can be converted into a public good by government fiat. This is the conversion problem, which challenges the way we ordinarily think about public goods and public health.
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| Artículos | IEF | IEF | OP 1443/2023/195/1/2-3 (Browse shelf) | Available | OP 1443/2023/195/1/2-3 |
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| OP 1443/2023/195/1/2 Public Choice | OP 1443/2023/195/1/2-1 The political economy of public health | OP 1443/2023/195/1/2-2 Public choice and public health | OP 1443/2023/195/1/2-3 What is public health? | OP 1443/2023/195/1/2-4 Inframarginal externalities | OP 1443/2023/195/1/2-5 Federalism and pandemic policies | OP 1443/2023/195/1/2-6 Epidemic disease and the state |
Resumen.
Bibliografía.
Public health programs began as an attempt to fight infectious diseases that are difficult to address without collective action. But the concept and practice of public health has ballooned to encompass an expanding list of controversial public policy goals ranging from reducing obesity to raising self-esteem. As the list of controversial goals expands, support for “public health” measures contracts. I’ll briefly defend the view that we should define public health as the provision of health-related public goods. I’ll then show that being a health-related public good is not a sufficient condition for counting as a public health goal, since virtually any private good can be converted into a public good by government fiat. This is the conversion problem, which challenges the way we ordinarily think about public goods and public health.
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