Costly Efficiencies: Health Care Spending, COVID-19, and the Public/Private Health Care Debate

Costly Efficiencies: Health Care Spending, COVID-19, and the Public/Private Health Care Debate
Mouré, Christopher. (2022). Review of Capital as Power. Vol. 2. No. 2. May. pp. 17-45. (Article - Journal; English).

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Alternative Locations

https://capitalaspower.com/2022/05/moure-costly-efficiencies-healthcare-spending-covid-19-and-the-public-private-healthcare-debate/, https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/253655

Abstract or Brief Description

* Winner of the 2022 RECASP First Essay Prize *

Proponents of private healthcare often claim that the private sector is more ‘efficient’ at delivering healthcare services. This paper tests the privatization thesis in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a large sample of countries, I investigate how healthcare privatization affects the correlation between COVID-19 death rates and healthcare spending (as a share of GDP). In countries with healthcare that is mostly public, I find no correlation. However, in countries with significant healthcare privatization, I find that greater healthcare spending was associated with more COVID-19 deaths. This result is consistent with the theory of ‘capital as power’, which argues that to earn profits, the private sector seeks to strategically limit the provision of social goods.

Language

English

Publication Type

Article - Journal

Keywords

capital as power COVID-19 health profit sabotage

Subject

BN International & Global
BN Power
BN Science & Technology
BN Business Enterprise
BN Capital & Accumulation
BN Comparative
BN Crisis
BN Industrial Organization
BN Institutions

Depositing User

Jonathan Nitzan

Date Deposited

04 May 2022 15:39

Last Modified

10 May 2022 09:55

URL:

https://bnarchives.yorku.ca/id/eprint/739

Available Versions of this Item

• Costly Efficiencies: Health Care Spending, Covid-19, and the Public/Private Health Care Debate. (deposited 25 Dec 2021 00:23)
  • Costly Efficiencies: Health Care Spending, COVID-19, and the Public/Private Health Care Debate. (deposited 04 May 2022 15:39) [Currently Displayed]

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