The public financing of pharmaceuticals : an economic approach 1. Introduction : public pharmaceutical expenditure 2. Incentives for innovation in the pharmaceutical market 3. Price regulation systems in the pharmaceutical market 4. Regulation and competition in pharmaceutical markets 5. Mechanisms to encourage price competition in the pharmaceutical market and their effects on efficiency and welfare 6. Reference pricing as a pharmaceutical reimbursement mechanism 7. Insurance in public financing of pharmaceuticals 8. Economic evaluation and pharmaceutical policy 9. Prescriber incentives 10. Economic considerations regarding pharmaceutical expenditure in Spain and its financing 11. Review of economic studies of the pharmaceutical industry published over the last 20 years This book provides a complete approach to the economics of financing medicines and policy implications for the efficiency and equity of health systems. In all health systems with majority public financing pharmaceutical reimbursement is one of the key factors in policies of change and transformation of health services in order to face the future with guarantees of financial sustainability