THE EFFICACY OF HEALTH PROMOTION, HEALTH ECONOMICS AND LATE MODERNISM

This paper argues that the application of health economics to the eval uation of health promotion strategies provides an example of the appli cation of a modernist framework to an inherently late modern practice. The hegemony of health economics is explained in terms of the organiz ational need for 'ontological security' that the rhetoric of rationali ty provides in an era of inherent change and disorder. In the light of this argument the paper examines the most developed framework for eva luating the cost-effectiveness of health promotion.