recovering economist
I love this phrase “lapsed economist.”
It’s a gentle jab at a former life.
Like, “recovering alcoholic.”
Or, “former drug addict.”
I feel the same way about all that ridiculous time in school.
“I’m a lapsed economist,” he liked to tell people when they asked what he did.
–Peter Pomerantsev, Nothing Is True And Everything Is Possible
Somehow healthcare got put in the category of rights.
And rights are free, you see.
Unfortunately, making healthcare free while it is an economic good, can cause a lot of unintended consequences.
If only we can find a way to make healthcare a non-economic good.
I mean, imagine saying the price is zero no matter how much you consume of any other economic good?
“While the goal of free, unlimited, lifetime health care is laudable, the economics are tricky. We now pointed this out, as respectfully as possible, to the presumptive prime minister. Because there is so much emotion attached to health care, it can be hard to see that it is, by and large, like any other part of the economy. But under a setup like the U.K.’ s, health care is virtually the only part of the economy where individuals can go out and get nearly any service they need and pay close to zero, whether the actual cost of the procedure is $ 100 or $ 100,000.“