tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post363702722385468776..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: The Problem with Governments Intervening in the MarketJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-53782975836763866272019-06-14T17:19:02.242-04:002019-06-14T17:19:02.242-04:00@JEL
And yet, while the rich in Canada, might be ...@JEL<br /><br />And yet, while the rich in Canada, might be able to get strings pulled and get relatively better care compared to the poor, the poor in Canada still get vastly better care than the poor in America do.<br /><br />It doesn't matter so much if the well off can get a greater comparative benefit out of a system - what truly matters is that the system adequately serves the needs of the most underprivileged.<br /><br />If no one ever went hungry in a society because even the poorest people had more than enough good and healthy food to eat, then it wouldn't really matter if the rich could find ways to game the system and get even more food beyond that.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-13558010101358844702019-06-14T11:31:33.450-04:002019-06-14T11:31:33.450-04:00There is also, of course, simply the question of a...There is also, of course, simply the question of ability to work the system, which the well-off and educated are most likely to have. I have come to call this the "Deutsche Bahn ticket machine problem." These machines are wonders of German engineering that allow you to buy tickets for trains (of many types) trams (including rural trams) and buses, at various prices depending on your age, the number of travelers, and whether you wish to convey a dog or a bicycle. There are also a dazzling array of discounts available: for groups of five (but no more or fewer), for travel on weekends entirely within the _Land_, to specific destinations on specific days, and so-on. But operating the machines is, therefore, inevitably, highly complex, and so the discounts go almost entirely to well-educated persons with good German. The poor and ill-educated press the minimum number of buttons and thus pay the higher rack rate.<br /><br />Related is also the problem with influence, which also tends to be concentrated in the hands of the same people. Canada has, in principle, entirely socialized medicine: no doctor can work except for the state. So the medical outcomes should be relatively similar for rich and poor, right? (setting aside issues like smoking, which afflict the poor more than the rich). It does not work that way. Rather than having medical care rationed by ability to pay, it is rationed by contacts: who knows socially a doctor who can pull strings and get their friend an appointment. And who knows doctors socially? And so much the same people get good care in Canada as would get it in the States, and the same people bad care.<br /><br />Conclusion: any system is regressive in proportion to the difficulty of using it, and if it available to the well-off, the well-off will inevitably get the greatest benefit from it. <br /><br />JEL <br /> JELhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09832281006019107329noreply@blogger.com