What mechanism prevents competition and free markets from providing good performance in health care or education?
Perhaps a free market system (used very loosely) with the goal of pursuing profits would, as a byproduct, maximize the health of the people or of learning. I see no evidence that this is the case or that it should be the case. Indeed, in the case of healthcare I have very strong evidence that profit seeking isn't a great motivator.
The U.S. spends by far the most on healthcare as a percent of GDP. It spends far more for certain drugs than socialized systems, has worse health outcomes, and far greater health access inequality.
There is also a moral aspect. It is morally wrong for someone to profit from denying someone else healthcare. Unless a free market system can be devised in such a way that maximizing profit = maximizing healthcare then such a system is immoral. Cartels and cartel pricing come to mind as something that would prevent such a system from ever being successfully implemented.
In that case, you are an evil person, since you have profited by engaging in activities that don't deliver healthcare to others.
A person with even a basic understanding of economics would attempt to assign utility to human health and then measure whether or not a system is utility maximizing.
Personally I attempt to do this via revealed preferences - use people's choices to infer their values. And many people reveal that they don't care a great deal about health. For example, an obese person feels their health is less valuable than the enjoyment they receive from a cake or pie. Why should I assign a higher value to that person's health than they themselves do?
My statement wasn't that it is wrong to profit from doing something other than provide health care. My statement is the it is wrong to profit from denying someone care. I have not denied anyone care and I have not increased my income as a result of such denial.
You appear not to understand what profit is and your statement regarding a basic understanding of economics is ironic given this. Your response would have been better without resorting to such a tactic.
Your last paragraph is disconcerting to me. There is much wrong with your position. People do things that are against their long term interests. People sometimes do things they don't want to do. People can be manipulated into doing things they regret. Humans, are by and large, not rational. Part of the purpose of a society is having share responsibilities. To share our burdens. It is sometimes advisable for society as a whole to look out for our long term interests and this is a good thing.
Everybody disagrees with this. A more plausible statement would be that it ought to offer the best health/price trade-off. But even then only crazy fascists think that would be ideal. Go watch that Sliders episode where the CDC rules America.
> The goal of an educational system ought to be maximizing learning.
Really? Lots of people would disagree. You've avoided the question of what's worth learning, and I'd say it's far more important that an educational system instill a strong work ethic and a sense of morality that I can tolerate.
> Perhaps a free market system (used very loosely) with the goal of pursuing profits would, as a byproduct, maximize the health of the people or of learning.
You have created an impossible standard. No system you describe in three words is going to maximize your utility function, especially not one as absurd as yours. Also the free market vs. non-free market dichotomy is completely silly. With all the government funded research and state schools, you can't say that America's universities are a "free market". But they do have an important free market feature that lower-level public schools lack: choice of what school to attend.
> It is morally wrong for someone to profit from denying someone else healthcare.
I profit by not financing a tunnel through the mountain to the hospital. Sometimes an emergency vehicle takes too long to get to the hospital and this causes the patient to die. How is my behavior morally wrong?
> Indeed, in the case of healthcare I have very strong evidence that profit seeking isn't a great motivator.
No you don't.
EX: There is significant evidence the cheapest way to improve the public education system is to provide free, healthy, and tasty foods to students. Students are both better behaved, have better attendance, and are better able to learn. However, people seem more willing to pay for apple laptops than apples.
This has nothing to do with the "social cost" (whatever that is).
The definition breaks down for some of the earliest forms of public goods like irrigation systems. Roads and bridges are either 'rivalrous and excludible' or at best a major grey area. So, unless you want to really twist the definition it's simply a poor metric.
PS: Digital copy's of music is another area where excludible is debatable. Library books are another example where they are considered a public good even though they are both 'rivalrous and excludible'.
I don't see how law enforcement is more of a public good than donuts. There is enough wealth in the country, and enough means to provide decent donuts to everyone and decent law enforcement. Why are donuts not a public good when law enforcement is?
What, you don't agree with the use of public funds to supply the basic human right of donuts? Too bad, you have to pay anyway whether you like it or not.
If that sounds ridiculous to you, you now understand how many people feel about other uses of public funds that you happen to agree with.
Law enforcement, streets, libraries, museums, and education are commonly misclassified as public goods, but they are technically classified in economic terms as quasi-public goods because excludability is possible, but they do still fit some of the characteristics of public goods.
Since ERs can't turn away indigent patients, health care also has some degree of non-excludability, in practice. Perhaps the question of whether or not it's a public good lies at the heart of the health care debate. Here's the argument in favor: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/08/is-health-care-a-public-...
