From private club to professional network: An economic history of the Health Economists' Study Group, 1972-1997

Health Economics

Volumn 7, Issue SUPPL. 1, 1998, Pages

  Croxson, Bronwyn ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; HEALTH ECONOMICS; HISTORY OF MEDICINE; MEDICAL RESEARCH; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS REVIEW ORGANIZATION; UNITED KINGDOM;

EID: 0031717450     PISSN: 10579230     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/hec.4730070904     Document Type: Article

References (70)

1. Rogers, B. Men Only: An investigation into men's organisations. London: Pandora, 1988.
2. Tarrow, S. Power in movement: social movements, collective action and politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
3. Coote, C.R. The other club. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1971.
4. Cowell, F.R. The Athenaeum: club and social life in London, 1824-1974. London: Heinemann, 1975.
5. Eeles, H.S. and Earl Spencer. Brooks's, 1764-1964. London: Published for Brooks's by Country Life Limited, 1964.
6. LeJeune, A. The gentlemen's clubs of London. London: Studio Editions, 1979.
7. Timbs, J. Club life of London with anecdotes of the clubs, coffee-houses and taverns of the metropolis, Volume I. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1866.
8. Ward, H. History of the Athenaeum, 1824-1925. London: Printed for the Club, 1926.
9. Woodbridge, G. The Reform Club 1836-1978, a history from the club's records. New York and Toronto: Privately printed for Members of the Reform Club, 1978.
10. Maynard,A. and Sheldon,T. Health Economics - has it fulfilled its potential? In: Maynard, A. and Chalmers, I. (Eds) Non-random reflections on health services research: On the 25th Anniversary of Archie Cochrane's Effectiveness and Efficiency. London: British Medicial Journal Publishing Group, 1997.
11. Klamer, A. The new classical macroeconomics: conversations with the new classical economists and their opponents. Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books, 1984.
12. Muth, J.F. Rational expectations and the theory of price movements. Econometrica. 1961; 29: 315-335.
13. Coats, A.W. Britain: the rise of the specialists. In: Coats, A.W. (Ed) Economists in government: an international comparative study. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1981.
14. Williams, A. All cost effective treatments should be free... or, how Archie Cochrane changed my life! Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 1997: Forthcoming.
15. Ashmore, M., Mulkay, M., and Pinch, T. Health & efficiency: a sociology of health economics. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, date
16. Williams, A. Health economics: The cheerful face of the dismal science? In: Williams, A. (Eds) Health and economics: proceedings of Section F (Economics) of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Bristol, 1986. Basingstoke: MacMillan, 1987.
17. Association of University Teachers of Economics, the precursor to the Royal Economics Society.
18. There were also a number of conferences and seminars addressing public economics in general and health economics in particular: in 1970 in York there was a conference called The Economics of Medical Care; the European Office of WHO devoted a conference to health economics in 1973; and the International Economic Association (IEA) sponsored a special conference on Public Finance and another on Health Economics, Perlman, M. (Eds) The economics of health and medical care: proceedings of a conference held by the International Economic Association at Tokyo, 1973. London and Basingstoke: MacMillan, 1994.
19. I am indebted to Tony Atkinson for alerting me to the existence of the Money Study Group.
20. Johnson H.G. (Ed) Readings in British monetary economics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972.
21. Johnson H.G. and Nobay A.R (Eds) Issues in monetary economics: proceedings of the 1972 Money Study Group Conference. London: Oxford University Press; 1974.
22. cf. Matthews, R.C.O. The economics of professional ethics: should the professions be more like business? Economic Journal 1991; 101:737-50.
23. Coats, A.W. The development of the agricultural economics profession in England. Journal of Agricultural Economics 1976; 27: 381-92.
24. The risk of this type of 'quality debasement externality' is common where a good is franchised: one franchise holder may be concerned that their reputation will be adversely affected if another provides goods of poor quality. Williamson, O. The economic institutions of capitalism. MacMillan: London, 1985.
25. Wiseman, J. The theory of public utility price - an empty box. Oxford Economic Papers 1957; 9: 56-74.
26. Olson, M. The logic of collective action. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass, 1965.
27. Hauser, M.M. (Ed) The economics of medical care. London: Allen and Unwin, 1972.
28. 'AD HOC MEETING AT YORK ON 25th JULY 1972' undated circular, c.1972.
29. Circular letter From Tony Culyer, Bob Lavers, Alan Williams, 17 August 1972
30. Johnson (1972) see note 20, above.
31. Circular letter from R.Lavers, c.July 1972.
32. Letter from A. Culyer generally circulated, 25 September 1973.
33. Notes taken by Alan Williams after an SSRC Economics Committee consultation with convenors of study groups, 4 March 1980.
34. Arrow, K.J. Social choice and individual values New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1963.
35. Tatchell, P.M. (Ed) Economics and health: proceedings of the first Australian Conference of Health Economists. Canberra: Australian National University, 1980.
36. Culyer A.J. and Horisberger B. (Eds) Economic and medical evaluation of technologies: Symposium, Wolfsebery Switzerland, 1982. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1983.
37. The first issue appeared in December 1973.
38. Letter circulated by Dave Parkin and Brian Yule re Heart c.1984.
39. It is not safe to assume that the people in HEART were the most active attenders: there are several years when Alan Williams and Penny Mullen do not appear in HEART, and they were two of the most regular and active participants at HESG meetings.
40. Circular letter from A. Culyer announcing the Oxford meeting, 15 January, 1973.
41. Circular letter from Geoff Ferster announcing Exeter Meeting, 9 October, 1973.
42. The first meeting was called a 'jamboree', and others were called 'symposiums' or 'meetings'. Various types of meeting organisation were tried, including putting participants into sub-groups ('syndicates') to discuss papers, published works, or topics; various different lengths of session were tried; and sessions with and without chairs or discussants were used.
43. The first meeting to use this format was Canterbury 1974.
44. The papers presented at this meeting were subsequently published in Epidemiology and Community Health, 1979; 33: 1-2.
45. Subsequent joint meetings were held with the Institute of Health Services Managers in 1987 and with the Faculty of Public Health Medicine in 1993. Special meetings with overseas groups were held in Vadstena in 1985 and Barcelona in 1989.
46. The first time there is a record of this is Exeter 1973 December meeting.
47. Letter from Tony Culyer to David Owen, 14 October 1975.
48. Timbs (1866) p. 16 see note 7 above.
49. Circular letter to all members of HESG from A. Culyer, undated, announcing meeting with SSM July 1978.
50. Circular letter from David Parkin to all HESG members, undated - announcing the 1981 meeting.
51. It may be the case that HESG meetings are deliberately structured to include two evenings to maximise the time available for social interaction.
52. Thunhurst, C. Close encounters of an economic kind. Radical Community Medicine 1985; 24: 18-26.
53. Lee, K. and Mills, A. The role of economists and economics in health service planning: a general overview. In: Lee, K. (Eds) Economics and health planning. London: Croom Helm, 1979.
54. There are few easily available records relating to this grant, although they do exist in the Public Records Office at Kew.
55. Letter from A. Culyer to all HESG members 17 November 1981.
56. Culyer, A.J. HESG Annual Report to the ESRC. 1985/ 6.
57. This proposal seems to have been made with the support of the Strategy Group of senior health economists at York.
58. e = 0.2 membership would fall to 266.
59. The Institute of Economic Affairs, a market-liberal think tank.
60. Circular letter from John Hutton to all members, 13 September, 1990.
61. These included Dickson Young Group, Enterprise House, Ocean Village; Knight Chapman Executive Search; Shandwick Consultants; Welsh Office; and the MRC.
62. As used here, the term 'Industry' incorporates pharmaceutical companies, consultancy organisations, accounting firms, and organisations like the Health Economics Consortium at York.
63. I am grateful to Carol Propper for suggesting this point.
64. With two exceptions, men were more likely than women to chair/discuss a paper with at least one female author. Women were more likely to discuss papers with at least one female author, but there was no noticeable pattern with respect to female chairs and the author's sex.
65. This is the only year for which financial information survives, prior to 1993.
66. Information about the content of papers has been drawn from interviews, two surveys of authors presenting papers to HESG meetings, and a detailed study of the 764 papers presented to all HESG meetings which attached topic-related keywords to each paper.
67. Carr-Hill, R.A. Health economics - or is it medical care micro-economics? Radical Community Medicine 1985:24:27-31.
68. Some people drew a distinction between health economists and economists working in health, arguing that individuals falling into the latter category identify with networks and associations other than HESG, notably the Royal Economic Society, the European Economic Society, and US-based associations.
69. Maynard and Sheldon (1997), see note 10 above.
70. Kuran, T. The tenacious past: theories of personal and collective conservatism. Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation 1988; 10: 143-171.