The Cost Disease - Why Computers Get Cheaper and Health Care Doesn't (Paperback)

Why are the costs of health care and higher education rising so dramatically? How can we keep them affordable for lower- and middle-income American families? The exploding cost of health care in the United States is a source of widespread alarm. Similarly, the upward spiral of college tuition fees is cause for serious concern. In this concise and illuminating book, the well-known economist William J. Baumol explores the causes of these seemingly intractable problems and offers a surprisingly simple explanation. Baumol identifies the "cost disease" as a major source of rapidly rising costs in service sectors of the economy. Once we understand that disease, he explains, effective responses become apparent. Baumol presents his analysis with characteristic clarity, tracing the fast-rising prices of health care and education in the United States and other major industrial nations, then examining the underlying causes, which have to do with the nature of providing labor-intensive services. The news is good, Baumol reassures us, because the nature of the disease is such that society will be able to afford the rising costs.

General

Imprint:	Yale University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	September 2013
First published:	September 2013
Authors:	William J. Baumol
Contributors:	David De Ferranti • Monte Malach • Ariel Pablos-Mendez • Hilary Tabish • Lilian Gomory Wu
Dimensions:	202 x 130 x 18mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	249
ISBN-13:	978-0-300-19815-7
Categories:	Books > Business & Economics > Economics > General Books > Medicine > General issues > Health systems & services > General Promotions
LSN:	0-300-19815-9
Barcode:	9780300198157

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