In an earlier episode, we learn that President Obama enjoys doing his own taxes, but Adam points out he would be better off with an accountant. Specialization and trade allow people to see improved efficiency but doing everything yourself can result in a lot of wasted resources. At the end of the series, we see President Obama is still working on his taxes and has made a lot of mistakes already.
The G Word with Adam Conover – Investing in Healthcare
Investments in human capital require an upfront cost but provide long-term benefits. Human capital is much broader than just education and includes any investment that improves the quality of production. These decisions include things like moving across the country or improving one’s health. The US government uses some of its tax receipts to invest in healthcare for its citizens. This investment has resulted in increases in life expectancy, especially for those that have been treated at the National Institute of Health.
The G Word with Adam Conover – Malaria vs. the Bald Eagle
In the 1940s, the US created the Center for Disease Control and investments large sums of money to eradicate malaria. The pesticides that were used, however, were responsible for almost eradicating the bald eagle, the US’s national bird.
The G Word with Adam Conover – Misaligned Medical Incentives
While doctors are likely to be focused only on saving lives, medical insurance companies may be focused on increasing the quantity of healthcare a person receives. In this brief scene, we consider whether it’s appropriate for insurance companies to charge without consent and whether doctors may be incentivized to do more than necessary to increase earnings.
The G Word with Adam Conover – Cost Benefit Analysis of Government Investment
The US economy has benefited tremendously from government investment in technological advancements designed to improve the US military’s firepower, but is it worth it? There are a number of equity considerations around the investments, but the efficiency gains are a bit more obvious. The research is funded by taxpayers, so it begs the question of what is the best use of funds. Adam questions how funds should be used, but essentially proposes viewers consider the tradeoffs that are present in each new advancement
The G Word with Adam Conover – External Benefits of GPS
The global positioning system (GPS) was originally developed for military purposes but has been made available to private companies since 2000. Allowing private companies to build new products and services using this technology has resulted in a massive increase in technological advancement in the US that provides significantly more economic benefit than the cost of operating the GPS system. Estimates place the value of GPS at $1.4 trillion from 1980 to 2019, but the federal government spends relatively little to operate the system.
The G Word with Adam Conover – GPS as a Public Good
Public goods are defined as products that are nonrival and nonexcludable, like the global position system (GPS) operated by the US federal government. The nonrival nature means that it isn’t costly for the government to provide the service to an additional user and the nonexcludability component means that anyone can access that service even if they don’t pay taxes to support the service. While GPS was initially developed for military purposes, the government has made the technology available for anyone with a GPS received and companies have created new products and services based on that technology.
The G Word with Adam Conover – Lemonade for Pictures
In order for bartering to be a successful payment of transactions, both sides must want what the other is offering and be willing to trade for it. Unfortunately, the seen above shows the difficulty of meeting the condition known as double coincidence of wants. Even though the man has Johnny Cash headshots, the young entrepreneur is only willing to accept US cash.
The G Word with Adam Conover – Weather Forecasts as a Public Good
Public goods are defined as products that are nonrival and nonexcludable, like weather forecasts in the United States. The nonrival nature means that it isn’t costly for the government to provide the service to an additional user and the non-excludability component means that anyone can access that service even if they haven’t paid for it. Weather forecasts were traditionally provided as a public good, but some companies have been working to change the excludability criterion to turn weather forecasts into an artificially scarce good.
The G Word with Adam Conover – Weather Forecasts as a Club Good
Club goods, also known as artificially scarce goods, are defined as products that are nonrival, but excludable. Previously, weather forecasts were widely available to everyone, even people who didn’t pay for the information, but private companies have limited the National Weather Service’s ability to provide that information. These private companies still use the data from the NWS, so it doesn’t cost the company to provide service to one more user (nonrival), however, they can withhold that information from people who don’t pay for the premium experience (excludable). Club goods create a deadweight loss to society because the price of the product is greater than the cost of production.