New book published July 2024: Health Economics of Well-being and Well-becoming across the Life-course
The Public Health and Prevention Economics Research Group (PHERG) have co-authored a new book called Health Economics of Well-being and Well-becoming across the Life-course. The book was co-edited by Professor Rhiannon Tudor Edwards and Dr Catherine Lawrence, published by Oxford University Press, and is available to buy from July 2024.
About the book
Health economics of prevention is fundamental to improving our health and well-being. In this book we advocate the concept of “well-becoming”. Public health is about improving the 
health of the population, reducing inequalities and creating, as a society, good life-course health opportunity architecture. Health Economics of Well-being and Well-becoming across the Life-course follows a life-course model with chapters aligned to pregnancy and early years; adolescence; working age; and older age phases of life. It enables the reader to think about older age in a different way and asks them to consider where we should be investing in cost-effective interventions to support the prevention of chronic disease, disability, and premature death later in life. In this book we set out an agenda for diversifying health economics research and policy support in the field of public health and prevention economics relating to well-being and well-becoming. This book is for health economists, public health and health system researchers, students of health economics, medicine and public health, as well as policymakers both local and national.
Many past and present PHERG colleagues have co-authored chapters of this book – we thank them for their contribution. We hope you enjoy the book!
Chapters in the book
- Chapter 1: Introduction
Rhiannon T. Edwards, Catherine L. Lawrence, Bethany F. Anthony, Lucy Bryning
- Chapter 2: Cross-cutting Themes Influencing Well-being and Well-becoming across the Life-course
Llinos H. Spencer, Ned Hartfiel, Mary Lynch, Nathan Bray, Bethany F. Anthony, Catherine L. Lawrence, Rhiannon T. Edwards
- Chapter 3: Well-being in the Early Years and Childhood
Lucy Bryning, Bethany F. Anthony, Nathan Bray, Huw Lloyd-Williams, Joanna Charles, Lorna Tuersley, Catherine L. Lawrence, Rhiannon T. Edwards
- Chapter 4: The Well-being and Well-becoming of Adolescents and Young Adults
Alexander Torbuck, Eira Winrow, Huw Lloyd-Williams, Catherine L. Lawrence, Rhiannon T. Edwards
- Chapter 5: Well-being of the Workforce
Bethany F. Anthony, Llinos H. Spencer, Lucy Bryning, Huw Lloyd-Williams, Catherine L. Lawrence, Rhiannon T. Edwards
- Chapter 6: Living Well for Longer
Carys Stringer, Lucy Bryning, Llinos H. Spencer, Bethany F. Anthony, Victory Ezeofor, Catherine L. Lawrence, Rhiannon T. Edwards
- Chapter 7: Dying Well
Carys Stringer, Eira Winrow, Kalpa Pisavadia, Catherine L. Lawrence, Rhiannon T. Edwards
- Chapter 8: Diversifying Health Economics to Provide a Life-course Lens on Health, Well-being, and Well-becoming
Rhiannon T. Edwards, Catherine L. Lawrence, Abraham Makanjuola
Book endorsements
“This book offers a novel and challenging view of the role of health economics.”
Mike Drummond, Professor Emeritus, University of York
“This book is a breath of fresh analytical and empirical air. The authors and editors set out – persuasively – their approach to conceptualising, understanding, evidencing and operationalizing the economic case for promoting health, well-being and ‘well-becoming’ at different life stages and by taking a life-course perspective. It deserves to be widely read and widely acted upon.”
Martin Knapp, Professor of Health and Social Care Policy, LSE
“This book is a perfectly timed addition to the current health economics literature. With the importance of ‘prevention’ at its very core, this book illuminates not only the significance of well-being in our modern day lives but also the dynamic nature of what really matters to us as we transition through our life course within its well-becoming narrative. This book calls for diversification of health economics as a discipline with greater attention to the benefits of interdisciplinary working, the need for bi-directional learning with the Global South and planetary well-being. If anyone is interested in the direction of health economics as a discipline, this is an absolute must read!”
Emma McIntosh, Professor of Health Economics, University of Glasgow
“Building on 30 years work, and galvanized by the recent experience of living through the Covid pandemic, Edwards and her colleagues have thrown us a lifeline. In moving the dial of thinking upstream, within a framework of the life-course, they have restored the discipline to its roots in sound social administration.”
Prof Dr John R Ashton C.B.E., Former President of the United Kingdom Faculty of Public Health
Publication date: 20 June 2024