Macroeconomics and the people's health

These three presentations were developed for a number purposes and audiences. They were last edited in Sept 2017.  

The first presentation, "The political economy of health" (Viewonline / DownloadPPT / Handout), is an introductory note for people who are unfamiliar with the field of political economy generally and its application to health policy and practice specifically.

The second presentation, "The political economy of global health: an historical perspective", takes an historical look at the political economy of global health (Viewonline / DownloadPPT / Handout).

The third presentation, "Macroeconomics, national and global: implications for health",  starts off with an introduction to macroeconomics generally, first at the national level and then globally.  This latter discussion is focused around trade and global economc governance as it is expressed in the governance of trade.  From here we proceed to explore the transnational corporation (TNC) and its role in relation to the global value chain.  From here we explore the supposed contradiction between the TNC and the nation state and highlight the importance of applying a global class analysis to any analysis of global governance and the engagements (conflict and collaboration) between corporate and political leaders.  Finally we return to the analysis developed in the historical presentation and review the dynamics of global economic governance as reflected in the ups and downs of the decades since WWII (viewonline / downloadPPT / handout).  

Global Health Watch is an extremely useful source for further reading on the political economy of health: 

Vol 5 is shortly to be released. It will be only available in Print (from Zed Books) for the first six months or so and then published in open PDF. Each volume starts with an overview of the PE of Health and then goes on to look at different facets of health care and social determinants.  Well worth reading.