%0 Journal Article
%T Club Goods in the Health and Wellness Sector
%A Roger Lee Mendoza
%J Current Research Journal of Economic Theory
%D 2012
%I Maxwell Science Publication
%X This study applies club theory to privately-provided and publicly-funded services within the health and wellness sector. Specifically, it examines the theoretical and practical premises and dilemmas of club provision, production, distribution and regulation using illustrations derived from cross-cultural settings. Because health and wellness contain public or merit good aspects and the quality of services in this sector is difficult to systematically evaluate even from a regulatory standpoint, tensions inevitably and constantly arise between efficiency and equity objectives. These tensions often have broader and longer-term policy implications, for excludability is both the cardinal virtue and vice of health and wellness clubs offering vital social resources rather than durable or non-durable goods and their complimentary goods. Although many of the club issues we explore in health care present opportunities for public policy intervention, the study sounds a cautious note. It proposes a set of efficiency and accountability criteria to establish, or at least gauge, the necessity, extent and consequences of such intervention. To the famous idiom, ¡°if it ain¡¯t broke, don¡¯t fix it,¡± we therefore hasten to add ¡°and, if it¡¯s broke, think more than twice before you even try to fix it.¡±
%K Club
%K distributional efficiency
%K economies of scale/scope
%K equity
%K excludability
%K externalities
%K optimality
%K policy intervention
%K production
%K provision
%K rivalry
%K transaction costs
%U http://www.maxwellsci.com/jp/abstract.php?jid=CRJET&no=199&abs=02