[ExI] Health system, again

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 13/04/2008, Samantha Atkins <sjatkins at mac.com> wrote:
> Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
>  > On 12/04/2008, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:
>  >
>  >
>  >> There is utterly no guarantee that the same would hold for
>  >>  a far larger, much more diverse society with entirely different
>  >>  government traditions. Cronyism and corruption have a much
>  >>  longer history in the U.S. than in Australia if for no other
>  >>  reason the U.S. has a much longer history.
>  >
>  > Have a look at this article:
>  >
>  > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
>
> I have a suspicion that the index varies inversely with the percentage
>  of a country's wealth that is owned or controlled by the government and
>  how much government permission and favor must be sought.   If there is
>  nothing much in government hands to buy, bribe, enter into conspiracy
>  with government officials then corruption should drop rapidly.
>  Governments put the Mafia to shame and are often more ill-tempered.

That's not how the list reads. Most of the countries near the top are
high taxing, high regulation. And I suspect that private enterprise
corruption and inefficiency is directly proportional to government
corruption and inefficiency. Do you think the Danish Government is
more likely to rip you off than a private firm (the only sort) in
Somalia, the libertarian paradise?




-- 
Stathis Papaioannou