Economic modelling underpins decision-making in the entire field of animal health economics, so a good understanding of the issues and tools involved is vital. The aim of this hands-on course is to enable you to become familiar with using the relevant tools so that you can become more actively involved in economic decision-making, particularly with regard to disease control.
Many economic tools have been developed and are currently being applied to support decisions concerning animal health. These include basic methods such as partial budgeting, cost-benefit analysis and decision analysis, but also more advanced methodologies such as linear programming, the Markov chain and Monte Carlo simulation. You will learn about all of these, together with how to detail the critical steps in a systems analysis and choose appropriate modelling types and techniques.
By gaining greater knowledge of economic concepts and theory during this course, you will be able to contribute in an informed manner to economic decision-making discussions, policy development and implementation.
Applied Economic Modelling for the Veterinary Sciences is one of the online medical courses that is part of MSc Epidemiology Postgraduate Online; the online MSc program in Epidemiology offered by Utrecht University, University Medical Center Utrecht, MSc Epidemiology and Elevate Health.
By the end of the course, you should be able to:
• Analyze economic problems using basic methods such as partial budgeting, cost-benefit analysis and decision analysis
• Detail the critical steps in system analysis and choose appropriate modelling types and techniques
• Describe the use of more advanced methodologies such as linear programming, Markov chains and Monte Carlo simulations
• Describe the uses of social cost-benefit analysis and multi-criteria analysis
• Discuss the importance of animal health economics in decision-making, implementation and evaluation of animal health programs, and in policy development and implementation processes
To successfully complete this course, you need to participate actively in the discussion forums and complete the learning unit assignments, including:
• A proposal for a decision problem related to animal health.
To enrol to this course, you need:
• A BSc or MSc, or a similar level of academic ability
• A basic understanding of veterinary epidemiology, statistical and mathematical applications*.
• Basic MS Excel skills
• Sufficient proficiency in English reading and writing
You require some understanding of economics (at least in broad terms) from your previous education or professional experience. Terminology such as fixed and variable costs, supply and demand, depreciation and interest should be familiar.
You can gain the knowledge required for this course by following the course Economic Principles and Concepts in the Veterinary Sciences
Basic economic and microeconomic information is also available via Wikipedia.org and other internet sources, such as the following:
• http://www.freeeconomicsbooks.com
You will need to be able to do some basic calculations with the MS Excel functions.
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