Conjoint Analysis
A method for measuring how individuals value different attributes of a good or service by analysing their evaluations of combined alternatives.
Encyclopaedia
Explore comprehensive, evidence-informed explanations of key health economics concepts, including their development, application and relationships to other concepts. Published entries are validated through human expert review.
Constant Hazard
A survival pattern where the instantaneous risk of an event stays the same at every point in time, matching an exponential distribution.
Constrained Optimisation
A mathematical approach to finding the best outcome, such as maximum health benefit, subject to limiting conditions, such as a fixed budget.
Consumer Choice
The process by which individuals select among available goods and services to maximise satisfaction given their preferences and budget constraints.
Consumer Surplus
The difference between the maximum a consumer would pay for a good and what they actually pay, the net benefit of the transaction.
Contact Rate
A parameter in an infectious disease model representing how often individuals come into contact with one another in a way that could transmit infection.
Contingent Valuation
A stated preference method that elicits willingness to pay for a good or outcome by describing a hypothetical scenario and asking for a monetary value.
Contingent Valuation Method
The formal methodology underlying contingent valuation surveys, covering scenario design, elicitation format, and survey administration procedures.
Continuous Model
A mathematical model in which time or another key variable flows continuously rather than advancing in discrete steps.
Contract Theory
A branch of economic theory analysing how agreements can be structured to align incentives when information is imperfect or unequally distributed.
Control Variates
A variance reduction technique exploiting a related quantity with known expected value to reduce the variance of the estimate actually wanted.
Convergence
The property of an iterative process, such as a Markov chain Monte Carlo run, settling into a stable pattern reflecting the target distribution.
Cook's Distance
A regression diagnostic identifying observations with disproportionately large influence on estimated coefficients, based on how much fitted values would change if removed.
Correlation
A statistical measure of how closely two variables move together, ranging from negative one to positive one.
Correlation Coefficient
A measure quantifying the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two variables, ranging from negative one to positive one.
Correlation Matrix
A table showing the pairwise statistical correlation between each pair of variables, used to represent how uncertain model parameters move together.
Cost
The economic value of resources consumed or displaced when a healthcare service, programme or intervention is provided.
Cost Allocation
The process of assigning shared or indirect costs to specific departments, services, or patients using a defined allocation basis.
Cost Disease
A phenomenon in which the cost of services in labour-intensive, low-productivity-growth sectors, such as healthcare, rises persistently relative to more automated sectors.
Cost Minimisation
An approach to selecting among interventions already shown to produce equivalent outcomes, in which the choice reduces to the lowest-cost option.