This edition examines the economics of health care systems in a non-technical manner. It is written in a highly accessible manner for economists and non-economists alike. It is very timely and includes the latest evidence of health care reforms and their implications from a number of countries with different systems.

PART ONE: MARKETS AND MARKET FAILURE IN HEALTH CARE
Health Care Financing Reforms: Moving into the New Millenium
Markets and Health Care: The Basic Theory
Market Failure in Health Care
PART TWO: HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS AND THEIR OBJECTIVES
Methods of Funding Health Care
Economic Objectives of Health Care
PART THREE: A REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
Countering Consumer Moral Hazard
Countering Doctor Moral Hazard
Countering Moral Hazard in the Hospital Sector
Achieving Equity
PART FOUR: FUTURE CHALLENGES
Future Considerations: Setting The Health Care Budget
Health Care Financing Reforms: Where Are We Now?

CAM DONALDSON is Health Foundation Chair in Health Economics and ESRC Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM) Public Service Fellow, Centre for Health Services Research, School of Population & Health Sciences and Business School (Economics), University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

KAREN GERARD is Senior Lecturer, Health Care Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, University of Southampton and Senior Visiting Fellow, Health Economics Research Centre, Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oxford, UK.

CRAIG MITTON is a Research Scientist in the Centre for Healthcare Innovation and Improvement in the British Columbia Research Institute for Children's and Women's Health and Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

STEPHEN JAN is Lecturer, Health Economics and Financing Programme, Health Policy Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.

VIRGINIA WISEMAN is Lecturer in Health Economics, Gates Malaria Programme, Health Policy Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.