本文主旨在延伸Grossman的健康資本模型,延伸考慮醫療需求以及不確定性的二分性。醫療需求可分為兩類:預防性以及治療性醫療需求;而不確定性亦可分為兩類:罹病的不確定性,以及治療的不確定性。 本文除建立醫療需求及不確定性的二分模型外,亦應用模擬的方法得到類似Grossman比較靜態之結果如下:第一,當治療性醫療的價格下降時,預防性醫療的需求會減少,而治療性醫療的需求會增加;第二,當工資率上升時,預防性醫療的需求將減少,而治療性需求將增加;第三,當健康資本的折舊率上升時,將帶動預防性以及治療性醫療需求之增加。 在考慮不確定性的隨機模型中,由於不確定性之存在以及效用函數的凹性,將使得風險趨避者有更高的健康需求。但在最適情況下,不確定性下的健康資本邊際價值將較確定性下小,因此在隨機模型中,健康資本存量將較大。
The main purpose of this paper is to extand Grossman's health capital model, both consider the dichotomous medical consumption and uncertainty. Medical consumption is separated into two kinds: preventive and curative medical consumption, and uncertainty is separated into two kinds as well: the uncertainty of getting ill and the uncertainty of curing for illness. In addition of modeling the dichotomous medical consumption and uncertainty, I apply the method of simulation to point out some similar results to the original Grossman's comparative statics results: (i) when the price of curative medical consumption decreases, the consumption of preventive medical care decreases, and the demand for curative medical consumption rises; (ii) when the wage rate rises, it makes the use of preventive medical care decrease, and the demand for curative medical care rise; (iii) when the depreciation rate increases, both curative and preventive medical care increase. In the stochastic model considering uncertainty, I conclude that because of the uncertainty and the concavity of the utility function, the risk-averse individual values health more. However, the marginal valuation of health capital, at optimum, is smaller in the uncertain case than in the certain case, and thus I conclude that the stock of health capital is larger in the stochastic case. This is the same as our intuition.