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That is, for sure, a big difference, BUT...whether or not that cost is considered "labor cost" or not, i.e. whether or not it's part of the cost of digging tun
by rossdavidh 6y ago
That is, for sure, a big difference, BUT...whether or not that cost is considered "labor cost" or not, i.e. whether or not it's part of the cost of digging tunnels, is different. The healthcare is being paid for out of general taxes, not as part of the budget for that tunnel, so it doesn't get accounted for as part of the cost of the tunnel. And probably shouldn't, but in the U.S. it is.
- pas 6y agoIt's part of labor cost in many other countries too, since it's a percentage of the wages, so if health care is very expensive wages have to be high. (As a first order guess.) But simply the problem is that the US economy is brutally productive, so the price of every input (labor, raw materials, capital) is priced according to their opportunity costs. If the same labor could make something that would then lead to a lot of profit in some other sector, then construction has to pay that high labor cost too. http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs-236-alex-tabarrok-on-why-are-the-prices-so-dmn-high.html http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs-236-alex-tabarr...