The one-year specialisation in Health Economics and Policy equips you with the knowledge and practical skills to analyse the complex challenges facing public health and healthcare systems at an advanced level. At the same time, you learn how to translate theoretical insights and empirical evidence into clear and actionable policy advice that improves health outcomes and promotes equity.
What sets the Health Economics and Policy specialisation at VU Amsterdam apart is its strong emphasis on public policy. By combining core courses in health economics with targeted coursework in public economics, you can follow a unique and policy-oriented track. You’ll learn from instructors who actively contribute to shaping healthcare policy and who maintain close links with health authorities, ministries, and Amsterdam’s university hospital UMC, one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands.
- In Period 1 (Sep–Oct), you’ll take methods courses in Microeconomics and Econometrics. These give you a strong foundation for the rest of the programme — both for the Health Economics core courses and for a wide choice of electives.
- In Period 2 (Nov–Dec), you’ll take the first core course: Public Health Economics. This course explores how economic mechanisms shape the health-related decisions of individuals such as risky behaviors, and the consequences of such decisions for broader societal outcomes such as health disparities. It equips you with empirical tools to assess the impact of public health policies such as vaccination programmes, with attention to ethical considerations and real-world relevance. In the same period, you’ll choose an elective from a wide set of related applied courses. The recommended elective is Public Economics, which gives you the tools to analyse taxation, public debt, government efficiency, public goods, and more.
- In Period 3 (Jan), you will write a Policy Brief on a topic of your choice, with individual supervision from a lecturer. This sharpens your skills in independent, policy-oriented writing.
- In Period 4 (Feb–Mar), the second field course Economics of Healthcare takes centre stage and shifts the focus from health-related behavior of individuals and public health interventions to the functioning of the health care sector. You’ll examine how healthcare systems can be organised, financed, and regulated in a way that optimises accessibility, quality and affordability. You will also choose another elective course. A recommended elective is Economics of the Welfare State, which examines how welfare programs can be designed in ways that are both fair and efficient.
- In Periods 5 and 6 (Apr–Jun), you’ll write your master’s thesis, with personal supervision from a faculty member, making an original contribution to Health Economics research.
The start date of this programme is September 1st.