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  • 2020
  • Working Paper

What Can Economics Say About Alzheimer's Disease?

By: Amitabh Chandra, Courtney Coile and Corina Mommaerts
  • Language:English
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Abstract

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) affects one in ten people aged 65 or older and is the most expensive disease in the United States. We describe the central economic questions raised by AD. While there is overlap with the economics of aging, the defining features of the ‘economics of Alzheimer’s Disease’ is an emphasis on cognitive decline, choice by cognitively impaired patients, and a host of issues where dynamic contracts between patients and caregivers are hard to enforce. There is enormous scope for economists to contribute to our understanding of AD-related issues, including drug development, efficient care delivery, dynamic contracting within the family and with care providers, long-term care risk, financial decision-making, and public programs for AD. These topics overlap with many areas of economics—labor economics, health economics, public finance, behavioral economics, experimental economics, family economics, mechanism design, and the economics of innovation—suggesting the presence of a rich research program that should attract many economists.

Keywords

Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Economics

Citation

Chandra, Amitabh, Courtney Coile, and Corina Mommaerts. "What Can Economics Say About Alzheimer's Disease?" NBER Working Paper Series, No. 27760, August 2020.
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About The Author

Amitabh Chandra

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Vertex and the Cure for Type 1 Diabetes By: Amitabh Chandra, William J Anderson and Silvia Mare
  • Achieving Universal Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: Addressing Market Failures or Providing a Social Floor? By: Katherine Baicker, Amitabh Chandra and Mark Shepard
  • Regulatory Incentives for Innovation: The FDA's Breakthrough Therapy Designation By: Amitabh Chandra, Jennifer Kao, Kathleen Miller and Ariel D. Stern
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