Allocation of scarce resources. The U.S. budget deficit. Control over the allocation process

Abstract

These classic economic issues-clearly distinct from financial issues-remain unaddressed by government and industry leaders working to resolve the AIDS epidemic. So says Sandra Panem, Ph. D., author of The AIDS Bureaucracy: Why Society Failed To Meet the AIDS Crisis and How We Might Improve Our Response (Harvard University Press, 1988). 'We have not done well in developing a strategic view of the needs generated by the AIDS crisis, identifying and marshaling resources, nor developing a mechanism for allocating those resources', she says. But that view is retrospective, so this health policy researcher is quick to add a disclaimer: 'We should not focus on the question of whether we have done enough', she says, emphasizing the need to develop a framework that promotes flexible access to scarce resources. Panem separates the financial issues from the economic issues, but adds that both need critical attention. The financial issues center mainly on cost. 'We don't know what this crisis will cost or whether we can afford it', she says. The economics issues center on allocation of scarce resources, such as money, trained personnel, and research facilities.