• Biosimilars
  • Drug Development/R&D
  • All Topics
OHE OHE
Newsletter SignupSubscribe

News & Insights
  • News
  • Events
  • Insights
  • Bulletin
  • News
  • Events
  • Insights
  • Bulletin

News & Insights

  • News
  • Events
  • Insights
  • Bulletin
Newsletter SignupSubscribe
  • News
  • Events
  • Insights
  • Bulletin

Close
OHE OHE
  • Research & Publications
  • News & Insights
  • Education
  • Innovation Policy Prize
  • Events
  • About Us
  • OHE Experts
  • Contact Us
Newsletter SignupSubscribe

Research & Publications

All Publications

Filter by:
  • Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
  • Biosimilars
  • Cell and Gene Therapies
  • Chronic Diseases
  • Combination Therapies
  • COVID-19 Research
  • Digital Health
  • Drug Development/R&D
  • Emerging Markets
  • EQ-5D and PROMs
  • Health Care Systems
  • Health Data and Statistics
  • Health Technology Assessment
  • Precision Medicine
  • Real World Evidence
  • Use of Medicines
  • Value-Based Pricing
  • Vaccine Research
  • Economics of Innovation
  • Measuring and Valuing Outcomes
  • Policy, Organisation and Incentives in Health Systems
  • Value, Affordability and Decision Making

News & Insights

  • News
  • Events
  • Insights
  • Bulletin

Education

  • Education Hub
  • OHE Graduate School
  • EVIA Programme

Innovation Policy Prize

  • The Prize Fund
  • 2022 Prize Fund

Latest Research & Publications

Proposal for a General Outcome-based Value Attribution Framework for Combination Therapies

CombTher_Adobe_photoguns_portrait
Read more
© photoguns
  • Digital Health

Navigating the Landscape of Digital Health – United Kingdom

Healthcare_Adobe_elenabsl
Read more

2021 OHE Annual Report to the Charity Commission

charityreport_lina-trochez-unsplash_landscape
Read more
© Lina Trochez/Unsplash

Supporting the Era of Green Pharmaceuticals in the UK

Sustainability_AdobeStock_270582392_landscape
Read more

Quality of life and wellbeing in individuals with experience of fertility problems and assisted reproductive techniques

Quality of life assisted reproduction Cover
Read more
  • Cell and Gene Therapies
  • Value, Affordability, and…

Health Technology Assessment of Gene Therapies: Are Our Methods Fit for Purpose?

gene_therapies_national-cancer-institute-unsplash_landscape
Read more
© NCI/Unsplash
  • Drug Development/R&D
  • Economics of Innovation
  • Health Policy and Regulation

Limitations of CBO’s Simulation Model of New Drug Development as a Tool for Policymakers

CBO-US_mayer-tawfik-K4Ckc0AxgDI-unsplash_landscape
Read more
© Mayer Tawfik/Unsplash
  • Measuring and Valuing Outcomes

When Generic Measures Fail to Reflect What Matters to Patients: Three Case Studies

PROMS_unsplash_National Cancer Institute_landscape
Read more
© NCI/Unsplash
Close
OHE
  • All Publications

    Filter by:
    • Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
    • Biosimilars
    • Cell and Gene Therapies
    • Chronic Diseases
    • Combination Therapies
    • COVID-19 Research
    • Digital Health
    • Drug Development/R&D
    • Emerging Markets
    • EQ-5D and PROMs
    • Health Care Systems
    • Health Data and Statistics
    • Health Technology Assessment
    • Precision Medicine
    • Real World Evidence
    • Use of Medicines
    • Value-Based Pricing
    • Vaccine Research
    • Economics of Innovation
    • Measuring and Valuing Outcomes
    • Policy, Organisation and Incentives in Health Systems
    • Value, Affordability and Decision Making
    • News
    • Events
    • Insights
    • Bulletin
    • Education Hub
    • OHE Graduate School
    • EVIA Programme
    • The Prize Fund
    • 2022 Prize Fund
  • Events
  • About Us
  • OHE Experts
  • Contact Us
Newsletter SignupSubscribe
Back
  • News
11 min read 16th March 2012

Allocating Resources Based on “Happiness” – OHE Lunchtime Seminar

OHE’s invitational lunchtime seminar held March 14th featured the research of Prof Paul Dolan of the LSE on using measures of subjective wellbeing – “happiness” – as the bases for health care resource allocation decisions. OHE’s invitational lunchtime seminar held…

Share:
  •  Twitter
  •  LinkedIn
  •  Facebook
  • has-icon Email
Using Happiness to Value Health

OHE’s invitational lunchtime seminar held March 14th featured the research of Prof Paul Dolan of the LSE on using measures of subjective wellbeing – “happiness” – as the bases for health care resource allocation decisions.

Using Happiness to Value Health

OHE’s invitational lunchtime seminar held March 14th featured the research of Prof Paul Dolan of the LSE on using measures of subjective wellbeing – “happiness” – as the bases for health care resource allocation decisions.  Prof Dolan’s basic argument is that current measures of gains in health related quality of life, such as QALYs, are incomplete because they do not measure the end result that everyone desires, which is a feeling of wellbeing.  If that is indeed the goal of society, then money is best allocated to those services that provide the greatest amount of happiness.  (Prof Dolan has summarized his research in a recent OHE publication, available on this website.)

With respect to health care, this could mean spending relatively more on helping improve the mental states of individuals than on their physical status.  So, for example, a group of patients who find it difficult to cope with a chronic illness might be allocated relatively more resources, aimed specifically at improving a sense wellbeing, than another group of patients who are coping well.

Following Prof Dolan’s explanation of the concepts, participants engaged in a wide-ranging discussion of the implications of increasing the emphasis on happiness measurement.   Most agreed that happiness measurement clearly could apply to allocating resources across sectors – e.g. housing v. social care v. health care — and also be useful in evaluating individual health technologies or treatments.

Download Dolan, P. (2011) Using happiness to value health. London: Office of Health Economics.

  • Health Technology Assessment…
  • Events

Related News

MicrosoftTeams-image-6_0
  • News
  • June 2022

OHE’s 60th Anniversary Party – Celebrating Our Achievements and Looking Forward

Read more
  • News
  • January 2020

OHE Lunchtime Seminar: Personalised Medicine: Is it an oil-rush or oil-spill?

Read more
  • News
  • September 2019

OHE Lunchtime Seminar: Closing the ‘Know-do’ Gap for Health Systems Reform at the Policy Level

Read more
  • News
  • August 2019

OHE Lunchtime Seminar: How Do We Measure the ‘Value’ in Value-based Care?

Read more
footer_ohe_logo

Leading intellectual authority on global health economics

Sign Up for the OHE News Bulletin

Newsletter SignupStart Sign Up

Research & Publications

News & Insights

Innovation Policy Prize

Education

Events

About Us

OHE Experts

Contact Us

Sign Up for the OHE News Bulletin

Newsletter SignupStart Sign Up

The Office of Health Economics (OHE) is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (registered number 09848965) and its registered office is at 2nd Floor Goldings House, Hay’s Galleria, 2 Hay’s Lane, London, SE1 2HB.

Terms & Conditions

Privacy Policy

Cookies Policy

© 2023 Website Design

An error has occurred, please try again later.An error has occurred, please try again later.

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

 Twitter
 Facebook
 LinkedIn
 Copy
 Email
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!