Bobo’s Unempirical World

Bobo engages in his trademark style of argument, focusing on abstractions and ignoring evidence about whether or not markets actually work for a given problem. Cohn does a good job pointing out the problems, and I think the most important one is near the end — the comparison with other countries.   Brooks asserts that “there is no dispositive empirical proof about which method is best.”  But the policies of virtually every other country in the world give us the chance to compare a relatively “free market” in health care to more state-oriented approaches, and the evidence is unambiguous.   The “free market” delivers coverage to many fewer people for more money, and usually far more money.   Although Brooks likes portraying debates between an imaginary ‘Burke” and “Rousseau” while casting himself in the former position, in this case it’s Brooks who’s ignoring all the empirical evidence to cling to his abstract beliefs about the benefits of markets.    And he does this despite the fact that — between the inelasticity of demand, lack of informed consumers, and strong incentives insurers have to deny coverage to vulnerable groups  — there’s no good reason to expect health care markets to work even in theory.