Why are Some People Healthy and Others Not?: The Determinants of Health Populations (Social Institutions and Social Change)

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Review “The book is collectively written by several members of the Population Health Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. After many years of interaction, these authors, representing various disciplines (e.g., biological, cultural, social, economic), formulated ideas about both the determinants and measurement of health and the proper role of the health care delivery system… [T]he book focuses on strategies for improving human health both through the development of better evaluation and data systems, and by formulating better health policies while promoting efficient and effective management of the health care delivery system. General; undergraduate through professional.” —H. S. Pitkow, Choice “This volume is as much a challenge for political theorists as it is a collection for policy analysts; and it would be a shame if it were only to circulate within the realm of public policy.” —Katherine Fierlbeck, Canadian Journal of Political Science “[T]he book synthesizes the literature from many disciplines but presents a paradigm of health that is almost universally accepted in both academic and health policy circles: namely, that health is determined through the interplay of a host of varied factors, with medicine merely one of many potentially useful ones… [T]he book successfully emphasizes the possible contributions to the health of populations of resource reallocations from medical to non-medical activities… [T]he book effectively highlights the trade-offs between medical expenditures and other activities that may enhance health.” —Peter C. Coyte, The Canadian Journal of Economics “At the heart of this book lies a fundamental critique of two cornerstones of contemporary health policy: the role of modern medical care in the production of health, and the role of individual “life style choices” in the production of disease… Overall this book is both an invaluable resource for recent developed-country social epidemiology and a stimulating critique of received theories and observations in the social science of health and illness.” —Constance A. Nathanson, Contemporary Sociology Read more About the Author Theodore R. Marmor is professor of public policy and management and professor of political science at Yale School of Management. He currently sits on the editorial board of both the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice and Journal of Health, Politics, Policy, and Law as well as on the international advisory board of the London School of Economics (Health and Social Care). He is an author or co-author of numerous books and author of over a hundred scholarly articles. Read more