发展经济学研讨会 

【总第33期】

 
【时间】 4月13日，星期三，12:00—13:30
【地点】：明德主楼734会议室
【主题】：Depression Hurts, Depression Costs: The Medical Spending Attributable to Depression and Depressive Symptoms in China
【主讲人】：秦雪征 (北京大学)
 
【摘要】：Due to fast economic growth and lifestyle changes, China is experiencing a rapid epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Mental disorder such as depression is an important yet often neglected NCD, and is becoming a growing cause of disability, suicides and disease burden in China. This paper provides the first nationally representative estimate of the medical cost attributable to depression and depressive symptoms among the adult population in China. Based on the 2012 CFPS (China Family Panel Studies) survey, our results indicate that these mental health conditions have significant impacts on the individual expected medical expenditure, and they jointly contribute to 14% of total personal medical expenditure in China, with depression and depressive symptoms account for 4.76% and 9.25%, respectively. Given that patients with mental illness in China face several hurdles in seeking appropriate mental healthcare, we speculate that the high depression-related healthcare costs are mainly driven by the cost-shifting effect from mental healthcare to general healthcare, as mental disorders are often co-existent with other NCDs such as diabetes and hypertensions. As an implication, our study calls for an urgent reform of China’s mental health and insurance systems to remove the policy-induced obstacles for the access to mental healthcare resources.


【演讲人简介】
秦雪征，2009年获得纽约大学经济学博士，现为北京大学经济学院副教授，博士生导师，主要研究领域为卫生经济学，劳动经济学，应用计量经济学。在《Health Economics》、《China Economic Review》、《经济学（季刊）》、《世界经济》等中英文期刊上发表论文40余篇。