Non-market resource allocation and the public’s interpretation of need: an empirical investigation in the context of health care

The concept of need is central to the non-market allocation of many public resources, although the definition of need to serve as a basis for such resource allocation often remains contested. This study uses a discrete-choice experiment to investigate the general public’s interpretation of need in the context of health care resource allocation, focusing on three commonly cited definitions of need: need as a person’s baseline health status; need …