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Health economists are concerned with the organization of the market for health services and the net yield of investment in people for health.The "optimum" use of resources for the care of the sick and the pro- motion of health defines the special field of inquiry.Toward a Definition of Health Eeonomies SELMA J. MUSHKIN, Ph.D.T WO RECENT dev-elopments, each trace- able to scientific advances in medicine, have focused attention onilealtlh economics.First, new therapeutic products lhave pro- vided specifics for maany infectious diseases thlat, less than 20 yeairs ago, were importanit causes of death in the United States anid other industrial nlatioIns.These changes in medical teclhniques, wlichl lhave in-creased the plhysiciani's capacity to deal effectively with (liseases, lhave altered pat- ternis ii the organi%zationi of lhealtlh services.Concomito'antly, probleimis associated witlh the
Selma J. Mushkin (Wed,) studied this question.