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Bilde av Olsen, Jan Abel
Bilde av Olsen, Jan Abel
Professor Emeritus in health economics Department of Community Medicine jan.abel.olsen@uit.no 41332054 Tromsø You can find me here

Jan Abel Olsen

Job description

Jan Abel Olsen is now a Professor Emeritus of Health Economics in the Department of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, Norway. He is an adjunct professor in the Centre for Health Economics, Monash University, Australia.

Jan Abel has been visiting professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of York, and Bocconi University, Italy. He has published extensively in the leading health economics journals. His eclectic research interests include: measurement and valuation of health outcomes, EQ-5D, equality and fairness, determinants of health and wellbeing, healthcare financing and incentives. Jan Abel enjoys teaching and has written three books in health economics.

  • Matthew Robson, Gang Chen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Explaining subjective social status and health: Beyond education, occupation and income
    Social Science and Medicine 2025 DOI
  • Gang Chen, Jan Abel Olsen, Admassu Nadew Lamu :
    The influence of parents' and partner's education on own health behaviours
    Social Science and Medicine 2024 ARKIV / DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen, Gang Chen, Admassu Nadew Lamu :
    The relative importance of education and health behaviour for health and wellbeing
    BMC Public Health 2023 ARKIV / DOI
  • Jan Håkon Rudolfsen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Related variations: A novel approach for detecting patterns of regional variations in healthcare utilisation rates
    PLOS ONE 2023 ARKIV / DOI
  • Nils Gutacker, Jonas Minet Kinge, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Inequality in quality-adjusted life expectancy by educational attainment in Norway: an observational study
    BMC Public Health 2023 ARKIV / DOI
  • Admassu Nadew Lamu, Gang Chen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Amplified disparities: The association between spousal education and own health
    Social Science and Medicine 2023 ARKIV / DOI
  • Marie Hella Lindberg, Gang Chen, Jan Abel Olsen, Birgit Abelsen :
    Combining education and income into a socioeconomic position score for use in studies of health inequalities
    BMC Public Health 2022 ARKIV / DOI
  • Gang Chen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Extending the EQ-5D: the case for a complementary set of 4 psycho-social dimensions
    Quality of Life Research 2022 ARKIV / DOI
  • Espen Berthung, Nils Gutacker, Birgit Abelsen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Inequality of opportunity in a land of equal opportunities: The impact of parents' health and wealth on their offspring's quality of life in Norway
    BMC Public Health 2022 ARKIV / DOI
  • Gang Chen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    How is your life? understanding the relative importance of life domains amongst older adults, and their associations with self-perceived COVID-19 impacts
    Quality of Life Research 2022 ARKIV / DOI
  • Marie Hella Lindberg, Gang Chen, Jan Abel Olsen, Birgit Abelsen :
    Explaining subjective social status in two countries: The relative importance of education, occupation, income and childhood circumstances
    SSM - Population Health 2021 ARKIV / DOI
  • Espen Berthung, Nils Gutacker, Oddgeir Friborg, Birgit Abelsen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Who keeps on working? The importance of resilience for labour market participation
    PLOS ONE 2021 ARKIV / DOI
  • Jan Håkon Rudolfsen, Tore Solberg, Tor Ingebrigtsen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Associations between utilization rates and patients’ health: a study of spine surgery and patient-reported outcomes (EQ-5D and ODI)
    BMC Health Services Research 2020 ARKIV / DOI
  • Gang Chen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Filling the psycho-social gap in the EQ-5D: the empirical support for four bolt-on dimensions
    Quality of Life Research 2020 ARKIV / DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen, Marie Hella Lindberg, Admassu Nadew Lamu :
    Health and wellbeing in Norway: Population norms and the social gradient
    Social Science and Medicine 2020 ARKIV / DOI
  • Astrid Synnøve Buvik, Trine Strand Bergmo, Einar Bugge, Arvid Småbrekke, Tom Wilsgaard, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Cost-Effectiveness of Telemedicine in Remote Orthopedic Consultations: Randomized Controlled Trial
    Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) 2019 ARKIV / DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen, RoseAnne Misajon :
    A conceptual map of health-related quality of life dimensions: key lessons for a new instrument
    Quality of Life Research 2019 ARKIV / DOI
  • Admassu Nadew Lamu, Gang Chen, Thor Gamst-Klaussen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Do country-specific preference-weights matter in the choice of mapping algorithms? The case of mapping the Diabetes-39 onto eight country-specific EQ-5D-5L value sets
    Quality of Life Research 2018 ARKIV / FULLTEKST / DOI
  • Thor Gamst-Klaussen, Claire Gudex, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Exploring the causal and effect nature of EQ-5D dimensions: an application of confirmatory tetrad analysis and confirmatory factor analysis
    Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2018 FULLTEKST / ARKIV / DOI
  • Thor Gamst-Klaussen, Admassu Nadew Lamu, Gang Chen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Assessment of outcome measures for cost–utility analysis in depression: mapping depression scales onto the EQ-5D-5L
    BJPsych Open 2018 ARKIV / DOI
  • Admassu Nadew Lamu, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Testing alternative regression models to predict utilities: mapping the QLQ-C30 onto the EQ-5D-5L and the SF-6D
    Quality of Life Research 2018 ARKIV / DOI
  • Admassu Nadew Lamu, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Yes, health is important, but as much for its importance via social life: The direct and indirect effects of health on subjective well‐being in chronically ill individuals
    Health Economics 2018 ARKIV / DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen, Admassu Nadew Lamu, John Cairns :
    In search of a common currency: A comparison of seven EQ‐5D‐5L value sets
    Health Economics 2018 ARKIV / DOI
  • Mashhood Ahmed Sheikh, Birgit Abelsen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Education and health and well-being: direct and indirect effects with multiple mediators and interactions with multiple imputed data in Stata
    Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 12. September 2017 ARKIV / FULLTEKST / DOI
  • Admassu Nadew Lamu, Thor Gamst-Klaussen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Preference Weighting of Health State Values: What Difference Does It Make, and Why?
    Value in Health 2017 ARKIV / DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    Determinants of (inequalities in) health: an overview
    Oxford University Press 2017 DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    The healthcare delivery system: an overview
    Oxford University Press 2017 DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    Costs and the cost-effectiveness treshold
    Oxford University Press 2017 DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    Unwarranted variations in healthcare utilization
    Oxford University Press 2017 DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    Exogenous determinants of health
    Oxford University Press 2017 DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    Funding sources: an overview
    Oxford University Press 2017 DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    The social environment and health
    Oxford University Press 2017 DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    Beyond cost-effectiveness: priority setting
    Oxford University Press 2017 DOI
  • Mashhood Sheikh Ahmed, Birgit Abelsen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Differential Recall Bias, Intermediate Confounding, and Mediation Analysis in Life Course Epidemiology: An Analytic Framework with Empirical Example
    Frontiers in Psychology 23. November 2016 ARKIV / DOI
  • Admassu Nadew Lamu, Jan Abel Olsen :
    The relative importance of health, income and social relations for subjective well-being: An integrative analysis
    Social Science and Medicine 2016 ARKIV / DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen, EB Lerner, D Persse, F Sterz, M Jr Lozano, MA Brouwer et al.:
    Chest compression duration influences outcome between integrated load-distributing band and manual CPR during cardiac arrest
    Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica 2016 DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    Principles in Health Economics and Policy
    Oxford University Press 2017
  • Jan C Frich, Marianne Bahus, Gina Knutson Barstad, Reino Heikkilä, Karin Müller Mikaelsen, Jan Abel Olsen et al.:
    Bedre prioritering og tilgang: Dette er ekspertgruppens anbefalinger
    Dagens medisin 07. March 2024 FULLTEKST
  • Jan C Frich, Marianne Bahus, Gina Knutson Barstad, Reino Heikkilä, Jan Abel Olsen, Karin Müller Mikaelsen et al.:
    Rapport fra ekspertgruppen om tilgang og prioritering: Nedsatt av Helse- og omsorgsdepartementet
    2024 DATA / FULLTEKST
  • Richard Norman, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Expanding the Scope of Value for Economic Evaluation: The EQ-HWB
    Value in Health 2022 DOI
  • Marie Hella Lindberg, John Wildman, Birgit Abelsen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    The lasting impact of circumstances on health and efforts in adulthood
    2022
  • Marie Hella Lindberg, John Wildman, Birgit Abelsen, Jan Abel Olsen :
    The lasting impact of circumstances on health and efforts in adulthood
    2022
  • Marie Hella Lindberg, Gang Chen, Jan Abel Olsen, Birgit Abelsen :
    A Cross-Country Study of Subjective Social Status: The Relative Importance of Education, Occupation, Income and ‘the Silver Spoon’ 
    2021
  • Richard Norman, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Competing Views on the English EQ-5D-5L Valuation Set
    Value in Health 2020 DOI
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    Equity considerations in Norway: past, present, future
    2019
  • Marie Hella Lindberg, Jan Abel Olsen, Gang Chen, Birgit Abelsen :
    Towards a composite index for socio-economic position when studying health inequalities
    2019
  • Oddgeir Friborg, Nina Emaus, Jan H Rosenvinge, Unni Bilden, Jan Abel Olsen, Gunn Pettersen :
    Correction: Violence affects physical and mental health differently: The general population based Tromsø Study
    PLOS ONE 2019 DOI
  • Marie Hella Lindberg, Jan Abel Olsen, Gang Chen, Birgit Abelsen :
    A composite index for socioeconomic position when studying health inequalities
    2019
  • Jan Abel Olsen :
    Rollemodeller i folkehelsepolitikken
    Nordlys 07. June 2019
  • Kjell Arne Røvik, Jan Abel Olsen :
    Når Helse Nord «glemmer» Universitetssykehuset
    Nordlys 23. October 2018

    • The 50 latest publications is shown on this page. See all publications in Cristin here →

    Publications outside Cristin

    Books

    Olsen JA: Principles in health economics and policy, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2017

    Olsen JA: Helseøkonomi: Effektivitet og rettferdighet, Cappelen Akademisk Forlag, 2006 

    Dolan P, Olsen JA: Distributing health care: Economic and ethical issues, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002  

    Some selected publications:

    Chen G, Olsen JA, Lamu AN: The influence of parents’ and partner’s educations on own health behaviours, Social Science and Medicine, 2024

    Olsen JA, Chen G, Lamu AN: The relative importance of education and health behaviour for health and wellbeing, BMC Public Health, 2023

    Lamu AN, Chen G, Olsen JA: Amplified disparities: The association between spousal education and own health, Social Science and Medicine, 2023

    Olsen JA, Lindberg MH, Lamu AN: Health and wellbeing in Norway: Population norms and the social gradient. Social Science and Medicine 2020

    Olsen JA, Lamu A, Cairns J: In search of a common currency: A comparison of seven EQ-5D-5L value sets. Health Economics, 2017 

    Olsen JA:  Concepts of equity and fairness in health and health care, in Smith PC, Glied SA (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics, Oxford University Press, 2011

    Olsen JA: Priority preferences: 'End of life' does not matter, but total life does, Value in Health 2013

    Olsen JA: Hva menes med "sykdommens alvorlighetsgrad"? Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening, 2013

     

    Olsen JA, Donaldson C, Shackley P. Implicit vs explicit ranking: On inferring ordinal preferences for health care programmes based on differences in willingness-to-pay.  Journal of Health Economics, 2005; 24 (5): 990-996.

    Olsen JA, Donaldson C, Pereira J. The insensitivity of ‘willingness-to-pay’ to the size of the good: new evidence for health care, Journal of Economic Psychology, 2004; 25: 445-460. 

    Olsen JA, Richardson J, Dolan P, Menzel P. The moral relevance of personal characteristics in setting health care priorities, Social Science and Medicine, 2003; 57: 1163-1172.  

    Olsen JA. A note on eliciting distributive preferences for health, Journal of Health Economics, 2000; 19: 541-550. 

    Olsen JA, Richardson J. Production gains from health care: What should be included in cost-effectiveness analyses? Social Science and Medicine, 1999; 49: 17-26. 

    Olsen JA: Theories of justice and their implications for priority setting in health care, Journal of Health Economics, 1997; 16: 625-639

    Research interests

    • Priority setting: Efficiency and equity in healthcare
    • Measuring and valuing health outcomes; Quality-adjusted-life-years (QALYs)
    • Inequalities in health
    • Regional variation in healthcare utilization

    Current Research

    • Multi Instrument Comparison of generic quality of life (QoL) instruments (Grant 221452 from The Research Council of Norway, and grant from the Australian NHMRC)
    • Tracing causes of inequalities in health and well-being (Grant 273812 from The Research Council of Norway)

    Teaching

    HEL 3007 Health Economics and Policy
    Lecture notes: Health economics 2020


    Member of research group

    Helsetjenesteforskning   Norsk innhold Health services research   English content

    CV

    Work address
    Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway.

    Education 
    PhD (Dr Philos), thesis: Some methodological issues in economic evaluation in health care, University of Tromsø (1994). MSc in Economic geography (1981), MA in Economics and business administration (1979),  Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).

    Current positions

    • Since May 2024, Professor Emeritus, retired after 25 years as Professor of health economics and health services research, Department of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø (UiT), Norway
    • Since 2010, Adjunct Professor, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Previous positions

    • 1980-81   Research associate, Department of Social Sciences, UiT
    • 1982-85   Research associate, Department of Economics, UiT
    • 1986-98   Associate professor, Department of Economics, UiT
    • 1992-96   Adjunct Professor, Aberdeen University, Scotland
    • 2004-06   Adjunct Professor, Bocconi University, Italy
    • 2006-11   Adjunct Professor, University of Oslo, Norway
    • 2011-24   Part time researcher at Norwegian Institute of Public Health

    Research Fields
    Measuring and valuing health outcomes; QALYs; EQ-5D; Efficiency vs equality trade-offs in health and healthcare; The relationship between health related quality of life (HRQoL) and subjective well-being (SWB); Tracing causes of inequalities in health and well-being; Health care financing

    Books

    • Olsen JA: Principles in Health Economics and Policy (2nd edition), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2017
    • Olsen JA: Helseøkonomi: Effektivitet og rettferdighet, Cappelen Akademisk Forlag, Oslo, 2006
    • Dolan P, Olsen JA: Distributing health care: Economic and ethical issues, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002
    • Also translated into Polish: Dystrybucja usług medycznych. Zagadnienia ekonomiczne i etyczne, CeDeWu, 2008

    Publication profile

    95 peer reviewed journal articles, of which more than half appear in level 2 journals (similar to A and A*) in the Norwegian Scientific Index (CRIStin). In total 30 articles published in the three most prestigious health economics journals (JHE, HE, SS&M). In most of this published work I have played a leading role, as signaled by being sole author (15), first author (16), or last author (46).  My H-index: 43.

    Teaching experience
    Graduate courses at universities in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Tanzania, South Africa, UK.