As the health care debates ramp up, and the cynics among prepare to have our hopes for some kind - ANY KIND - of solution dashed, patience can really be at a premium.
Greg Mankiw, an economist whom I hold in considerable esteem, posted a piece today examining the reasons why US doctors make so much more than any other doctors in the world. With full credit going to my former college roommate, are we the only ones who see this issue as one created by a false constraint on supply? The AMA governs how many medical schools exist in the US, as well as the class sizes of those schools. Could we simply take the top ten percent of the failed applicants for med school, build some more schools, and increase the supply of doctors, thereby driving down labor costs? If not, why?
