How to get the information needed to inform decision-makers—an economic perspective

Abstract

From an economic viewpoint, the amount of primary research conducted on a topic at any given point in time depends on grantmaker and researcher incentives. The potential addresses of research findings often set these incentives. Following this logic, there is an economic explanation provided for the availability of primary data in effcacy studies. This also explains the lack of data in other important fields of health care. This article evaluates why there are few studies on effectiveness and cost-effectiveness then discusses how research incentives might be changed to overcome this problem. As a result of cost containment efforts in some countries, this process has already been initialized.