[extropy-chat] Are vaccinations useless?

[Robin Hanson]

On 3/18/2006, I wrote:
>Rafal Smigrodzki  wrote:
> >BTW, the Rand study he quotes is junk.
>
>The RAND study is the single most informative study we have about the
>overall (marginal) health value of medicine in rich nations today.  I know
>Rafal has complaints about it, but one can find imperfections in any
>study.  I challenge Rafal to point to another study he thinks is more
>informative.   We could then compare flaws.

Well it has been a month now, and Rafal hasn't offered a study he prefers,
using the method he says he prefers, i.e., aggregating studies of specific
treatments.   Let me suggest that this is because there are no such studies.
Rafal prefers the conclusion he guesses would be the result of such a
study to the conclusion of the actual studies I have pointed him to.   The
actual studies have flaws, while of course his hypothetical study need have
none.


Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323