This book is primarily written for medical students, students of economics and health professionals who want a broad understanding of health economics, covering a wide range of different perspectives and topics. We believe there is a need for a textbook in health economics that goes beyond the traditional neoclassical framework for thinking about the economics of health and adopts a balanced and pragmatic approach that combines alternative perspectives from economics, epidemiology, medicine, psychology and other disciplines. Such a broad approach might be useful in understanding and tackling health policy challenges. Thus, our book is also for the (health) economist interested in taking a broad interdisciplinary perspective. Courses for which the book is intended include health economics for medical students; introducing health economic theory for economics students; and health economics (as part of a course in general economics).

In addition, the book is a useful reference for professionals wanting a broad overview of the field, such as health professionals and public health trainees; postgraduate students and scholars of ethics, economics, health and social policy, health technology assessment, public health, epidemiology, health services research; and healthcare and public health analysts in government agencies and the life sciences industry.

It is our great pleasure to thank those people who have helped to make our idea a reality: Alison Howson from Agenda Publishing convinced us to write down our thoughts and criticisms and turn them into a book. She provided unfailing advice and moral support for our endeavour. Richard Cookson proved to be an excellent intellectual sparring partner and took the pain of reading the whole final manuscript. Without him our line of reasoning and many of the arguments presented here would have been much weaker and less convincing. Any flaws in thinking and factual errors are, of course, solely ours.

We tremendously enjoyed writing this book and we hope you enjoy reading it. We would welcome suggestions and comments, positive or negative, for future editions.