"I’m a University of Chicago guy, I look to incentives.
The financial system was built and is largely run today by agents—people who make money taking a fee from other people’s transactions. Both stock buyers and stock sellers are customers, the brokers don’t care who wins, they just want a percentage of the trade. Therefore, they compile and distribute in useful form all the data anyone might want to trade, for the same reason breakfast cereal makers try to come up with any cereal anyone might want to eat.
The healthcare system was built and run by principals, people who make money by selling healthcare services. Information is jealously guarded for the same reason Coca-Cola won’t tell anyone its secret formula. The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t collect and publish information about drugs so people can make up their own minds which ones they want, they evaluate the information in secret and tell you which drugs you can take. If you get a medical test, the results go to your doctor, not to you. If you ask a hospital what the fatality rate is for your doctor performing a certain kind of surgery, they won’t tell you, because they’ll say you’ll misunderstand the information.
In both professions are there are moves to change things, but they are fighting against huge, entrenched economic interests. Some people want to make investment advisors fiduciaries, responsible not for providing clients with honest information and efficient execution of instructions, but for making choices for clients in their own best interest. Healthcare reformers are trying to pry more information out of providers and putting more choice in the hands of patients.
While there are pros and cons to both models—plenty of good, honest information but you’re responsible for your own choices versus restricted information but experts are looking out for you—I think the former is winning, mainly due to improvements in information technology. Healthcare information is slowly being extracted and made available to individuals, despite the frantic efforts of the profession. Attempts to legislate brokers taking responsibility for their customers’ finances will fail, mainly because you can’t legislate responsibility, but also because brokers have little useful expertise"
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2020-05-17 02:36 pm (UTC)"I’m a University of Chicago guy, I look to incentives.
The financial system was built and is largely run today by agents—people who make money taking a fee from other people’s transactions. Both stock buyers and stock sellers are customers, the brokers don’t care who wins, they just want a percentage of the trade. Therefore, they compile and distribute in useful form all the data anyone might want to trade, for the same reason breakfast cereal makers try to come up with any cereal anyone might want to eat.
The healthcare system was built and run by principals, people who make money by selling healthcare services. Information is jealously guarded for the same reason Coca-Cola won’t tell anyone its secret formula. The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t collect and publish information about drugs so people can make up their own minds which ones they want, they evaluate the information in secret and tell you which drugs you can take. If you get a medical test, the results go to your doctor, not to you. If you ask a hospital what the fatality rate is for your doctor performing a certain kind of surgery, they won’t tell you, because they’ll say you’ll misunderstand the information.
In both professions are there are moves to change things, but they are fighting against huge, entrenched economic interests. Some people want to make investment advisors fiduciaries, responsible not for providing clients with honest information and efficient execution of instructions, but for making choices for clients in their own best interest. Healthcare reformers are trying to pry more information out of providers and putting more choice in the hands of patients.
While there are pros and cons to both models—plenty of good, honest information but you’re responsible for your own choices versus restricted information but experts are looking out for you—I think the former is winning, mainly due to improvements in information technology. Healthcare information is slowly being extracted and made available to individuals, despite the frantic efforts of the profession. Attempts to legislate brokers taking responsibility for their customers’ finances will fail, mainly because you can’t legislate responsibility, but also because brokers have little useful expertise"
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