ECON 002B. First-Year Seminar: The Health of Nations

Population health varies significantly across countries and even within countries and regions. We will study the factors that explain these variations, ranging from health care systems and access to health care to a broad range of socioeconomic factors, individual behaviors, and public policies that influence health and life expectancy. Students will prepare case studies examining how countries vary in addressing a range of health issues including communicable diseases and widespread noncommunicable conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes. We will also examine how countries prepare for emerging health threats, such as pandemics. Although our primary analytical frameworks will be based in economics, including behavioral economics, we will also integrate an interdisciplinary approach to studying these complex issues.
This course counts as 1 of the 8 economics credits needed to fulfill an economics major, but it does not take the place of ECON 001. It, therefore, cannot be used to fulfill the ECON 001 prerequisite for further work in the Economics Department.
Prerequisite: None.
Social sciences.
1 credit.
Fall 2025. Magenheim.
Catalog chapter: Economics
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/economics

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