HealthEconomics.wiki · Interactive explorer

Equity–Efficiency Allocation Explorer

Allocate a fixed healthcare budget across three fictional populations. Compare total health gained with who receives the gains, then change the fairness principle and examine why reasonable choices can differ.

One budget, several defensible questions

Efficiency asks how much health the budget produces. Equity asks whether the distribution of resources and outcomes is fair. The answer depends partly on which differences between people are treated as ethically relevant.

AllocateDivide 60 budget units among the populations.
CompareObserve total health and its distribution.
InterpretExplain the value judgement behind the result.

Allocation exerciseAll data are fictional and use abstract budget units.

Choose a fairness principle

The selected principle changes the question highlighted by the explorer. It does not automatically decide the allocation.

Equal allocation treats identical budget shares as the relevant form of fairness. Examine whether equal inputs produce fair outcomes when needs, barriers and capacity to benefit differ.

Allocate the 60-unit budget

Move each control or choose a preset. Health yield represents the expected QALYs produced by one budget unit before rounding.

Population A: lower need

Good service access and comparatively better baseline health.

Need score35 / 100Baseline health75 / 100Access barrier15 / 100Health yield1.20 QALYs/unit
20 units
060

Population B: rural access barriers

Greater health need and substantial geographic barriers to care.

Need score75 / 100Baseline health62 / 100Access barrier80 / 100Health yield0.80 QALYs/unit
20 units
060

Population C: greatest disadvantage

Highest health need, worst baseline health and moderate access barriers.

Need score90 / 100Baseline health55 / 100Access barrier60 / 100Health yield1.00 QALYs/unit
20 units
060
60 of 60 units allocatedBudget fully allocated

What this allocation produces

The measures describe different features of the same allocation. None is a complete measure of fairness by itself.

Total expected health60.0 QALYs12.0 fewer than the maximum-health preset
Budget reaching higher-need populations66.7%Combined share for Populations B and C
Health reaching the worst baseline health33.3%Share of health gain received by Population C

Interpret the trade-off

Equal budget shares produce unequal health gains because the populations have different expected health yields.

Under equal allocation, the relevant question is whether identical inputs are fair despite different needs and barriers.

Try this: Select “Most total health,” then compare who receives the gain and who receives none.

How the explorer calculates and interprets results

Expected health gain equals allocated budget units multiplied by the fictional health yield for each population. The maximum-health comparison allocates all 60 units to the population with the highest health yield. This deliberately simplified model makes the distributional tension visible; real analyses require evidence about feasible scale, diminishing returns, subgroup effects, uncertainty and opportunity costs.

  • The explorer does not calculate a universal equity score.
  • The fairness principles are value judgements, not empirical findings.
  • The need, baseline health and access scores are illustrative rather than validated measurement scales.
  • An equity-informed decision should report total outcomes, their distribution, uncertainty and the reasons for prioritising particular differences.