International Health Economics

[ivar1951]

What are the career prospects for a person with a Master's in International Health Economics.

 

Which is the best place in the UK/Europe for this degree?

 

Can a person do a Ph.D in this subject, preferably in the US?

[jaw17]

There aren't many schools that offer graduate programs in health economics with a strong international orientation, particularly in the US, so you definitely have to poke around a bit depending on your specific interests. One of my colleagues holds an MSc in International Health Policy from LSE, which I believe also has a health economics track within that degree; I've also heard excellent things about the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. However, you do not necessarily need a master's in order to apply to US PhD programs, which are typically funded, so if you know that's what you want to do then I would suggest applying directly. Personally, I'll be attending the PhD program in health economics at the Wharton School at Penn in the fall with a focus on global pharmaceutical markets, and I looked closely at Harvard's programs (either the international economics stream of their PhD in Health Policy, or the economics stream within the SD in Population and International Health through HSPH).

 

Frankly, if you have the math qualifications I would recommend just biting the bullet and going for a "regular" PhD in economics. Harvard and MIT both have really strong international health folks, as does Princeton; I'm sure that there are other less competitive ones that are escaping me at the moment, too.

[ivar1951]

There aren't many schools that offer graduate programs in health economics with a strong international orientation, particularly in the US, so you definitely have to poke around a bit depending on your specific interests. One of my colleagues holds an MSc in International Health Policy from LSE, which I believe also has a health economics track within that degree; I've also heard excellent things about the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. However, you do not necessarily need a master's in order to apply to US PhD programs, which are typically funded, so if you know that's what you want to do then I would suggest applying directly. Personally, I'll be attending the PhD program in health economics at the Wharton School at Penn in the fall with a focus on global pharmaceutical markets, and I looked closely at Harvard's programs (either the international economics stream of their PhD in Health Policy, or the economics stream within the SD in Population and International Health through HSPH).

 

Frankly, if you have the math qualifications I would recommend just biting the bullet and going for a "regular" PhD in economics. Harvard and MIT both have really strong international health folks, as does Princeton; I'm sure that there are other less competitive ones that are escaping me at the moment, too.

 

Thank you for this useful information. How bright are the career prospects in Internatiobnal Health Economics, particularly in organisations like World Bank, IMF, WHO, etc. Also will firms like Lehman Brothers be interested in students from this field?

[jaw17]

I would recommend contacting the specific programs you're looking at to ask for information on their placements. The few people I know with health economics PhDs have had success working with the various multilateral agencies that you mentioned, keeping in mind of course that the UN and Bretton Woods organizations are quite competitive no matter what your degree is in. I suspect that academia is a bit trickier, since you'd always be competing against other people with a stricter disciplinary focus. I have no idea about the prospects at financial or consulting firms, and admit to being a bit confused by the pursuit of such widely disparate career tracks.

 

I'd be curious to learn more about your specific interests in this area; having read through some of your previous posts, it sounds like this may be a relatively new area of interest and/or a backup plan depending on how your current LSE studies turn out. I'm the first to admit that narrower health economics programs are likely less rigorous than their general economics counterparts, but since they are few and far between they are still quite competitive. And the degree itself will only be as valuable as the reputation of the school/department combined with the contacts you make through their networks.

[berkeleyecon]

There are only 3 US PhD programs I can think of that offer health economics with a strong international focus: Berkeley's Econ, Princeton's Econ and Harvard PIH Economics track program. The career prospects in organisations like the World Bank, IMF, WHO, etc. are quite bright coming out of any of these schools but you have to get into them first. For Lehman Brothers? What does Lehman Brothers do that comes close to Health Economics?

[ivar1951]

Thank you both of you for your valubale inputs which have been encouraging and useful.

 

One more question, how competitive is getting into a good US Health Economics PhD programme?

[berkeleyecon]

it is hard to answer the question. there are clearly fewer students interested in health economics (internationally) than ones interested in development economics. there are even a lot fewer faculty members who research these areas. at the schools that produce the most high quality research in this field (harvard, berkeley, princeton and yale in my opinion), i'd say to get to work with any of these faculty members (miguel, gertler, paxson, case, deaton, kremer, canning, bloom, hsiao, udry) is just as competitive as doing development economics there. it is hard to generalize without knowing much about your background. the kind of research that these folks do in international health economics is sometimes intersection between demography and economics, sometimes between macroeconomics and epidemiology and more recently microeconomic models of behavior applied to health.

 

what are your specific interests in this field?

[cuass]

Is this program still available?

I did not find it at this department.

[Elliephant]

One more question, how competitive is getting into a good US Health Economics PhD programme?

 

Hard.

 

Health policy programmes are not like generic econ programmes in that they are highly specialised and want students who can demonstrate not only unwavering commitment but also very specific research interests (and aptitudes to match). A friend of mine with an excellent academic background and who has been doing health policy research for a couple of years didn't get accepted at Harvard's HSPH, despite strong LOR connections and what sounded to me like a really good fit. He'll be starting his MPH there instead. The majority of accepted applicants already have solid health policy, epidemiology, or similar experience upon application, plus a well-thought-out research direction. You can sometimes get away with having less math and upper-division theory, but only if your work or research record is effulgent.

 

I don't mean to be discouraging, but I think it's important to know what you're dealing with.

 

I would add Wharton's health management PhD, Yale, and Johns Hopkins to the list of very top programmes, and then North Carolina and Michigan (all in that order). NYU's Steinhardt also belongs in there if you're more into the health than the economics.

[appl09]

There are different doctoral programs at HSPH. I will only mention the two that are very economics based.

 

The Health Policy program, under the GSAS aegis but managed by HSPH is very domestically focused and very much a health services program. You have to be a very good fit for the faculty in the HSPH's HMP and HMS's HCP departments. Otherwise, it is tough to get into. As you note, epidemiology and biostats for this program helps a lot.

 

Then there is the Health Economics Doctoral Program, managed by HSPH and its GHP department. That program is much more economics-based and pretty much only with a focus on developing countries. For this program the only thing that helps is just solid math background, just like a regular econ program.