Econometric analysis of selected health issues in Australia

This thesis investigates several health economic issues relevant to health policies in Australia using two national individual-level datasets and a set of innovative econometric models. The studies in this thesis provide comprehensive empirical evidence to help to understand and quantify the complex relationships across a range of variables on health status and health related behaviour of Australian individuals. In particular, the thesis examines the impact of health status on labour force outcomes, individuals’ decisions on health care utilization and purchasing private health insurance, and individuals’ health production. A new econometric model, stochastic frontier ordered probit model, is also presented for analysing efficiencies in individuals’ health production. This thesis consists of four self-contained studies.