Comments on: 2010 World Map: GDP vs Health http://anadder.com/2010-world-map Wed, 16 May 2012 05:25:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: michael http://anadder.com/2010-world-map/comment-page-1#comment-56298 michael Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:19:39 +0000 http://anadder.com/?p=4335#comment-56298 Glad you liked it and I recommend checking out Gapminder as a whole, it has a lot of great data. A gap in the sense that Gapminder uses is usually something directly related to people's well-being. Because of this I think most of these gaps are bad -- however some are indeed more related to culture (eg. number of children per family) and these would be more neutral. I don't think there's any disguising needed about diminishing returns since it's a general economic principle that happens to be true most of the time. However I think we're looking at different scales. What I mean by it is that when you're very poor the smallest spending increases lifespan dramatically because the most effective measures are relatively cheap (vaccines, sewage, clean water). At the other end, we get to a society where the "easy" health problems are solved so it's natural that the "hard" ones are less cost efficient. This would be true even in a rich country with a perfect healthcare system. Glad you liked it and I recommend checking out Gapminder as a whole, it has a lot of great data. A gap in the sense that Gapminder uses is usually something directly related to people’s well-being. Because of this I think most of these gaps are bad — however some are indeed more related to culture (eg. number of children per family) and these would be more neutral.

I don’t think there’s any disguising needed about diminishing returns since it’s a general economic principle that happens to be true most of the time. However I think we’re looking at different scales. What I mean by it is that when you’re very poor the smallest spending increases lifespan dramatically because the most effective measures are relatively cheap (vaccines, sewage, clean water). At the other end, we get to a society where the “easy” health problems are solved so it’s natural that the “hard” ones are less cost efficient. This would be true even in a rich country with a perfect healthcare system.

]]> By: Sabio Lantz http://anadder.com/2010-world-map/comment-page-1#comment-55577 Sabio Lantz Sat, 26 Jun 2010 15:11:30 +0000 http://anadder.com/?p=4335#comment-55577 "<b><i>GAP</i></b>" is one of those classical tell-tale political words. I typically dislike the way it is used: as if "Gaps" are always bad things. So I was wondering where your post was going to take it. But I was pleasantly surprised and liked your bullets. Most importantly, for me, is your last bullet of the "logarithmic" scale revealing the diminishing returns on healthcare. I think in most "democratic" governments this diminishing returns is disguised by governments and/or spreads in insurance costs and thus, lack of personal felt consequences on health "purchases" by citizens results in high healthcare costs. There are many others causes of high cost, of course. But this seems large to me. The solutions I see: (1) a benign dictatorship (vulnerable to evil) or (2) truly free markets (vulnerable to evil). Alas. “GAP” is one of those classical tell-tale political words. I typically dislike the way it is used: as if “Gaps” are always bad things. So I was wondering where your post was going to take it. But I was pleasantly surprised and liked your bullets. Most importantly, for me, is your last bullet of the “logarithmic” scale revealing the diminishing returns on healthcare. I think in most “democratic” governments this diminishing returns is disguised by governments and/or spreads in insurance costs and thus, lack of personal felt consequences on health “purchases” by citizens results in high healthcare costs.

There are many others causes of high cost, of course. But this seems large to me. The solutions I see: (1) a benign dictatorship (vulnerable to evil) or (2) truly free markets (vulnerable to evil). Alas.

]]>