Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the economics of skin cancer, particularly the economics of skin cancer prevention. The chapter starts with a discussion of the contribution that the discipline of economics can offer to an understanding of skin cancer, explaining the separate but related tasks of description, prediction and evaluation. The discussion covers the important distinction between “positive” and “normative” economics and its significance for policy prescriptions about what constitutes “value” and the rationale for government intervention. Using these concepts of description, prediction and evaluation, the chapter then explores what is known about the economics of skin cancer and skin cancer prevention, using the situation in Australia as a case study. Readers already familiar with economic theory may choose to skip to Section 2 of this chapter for its particular applications to skin cancer prevention.
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Carter, R. (2004). Skin cancer prevention: an economic perspective. In: Hill, D., Elwood, J.M., English, D.R. (eds) Prevention of Skin Cancer. Cancer Prevention — Cancer Causes, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0511-0_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0511-0_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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