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Saying incentives work is a pretty banal economic insight. However, the primary reason Moderna and Pfizer they were able to get to market so fast was because t
by scoopertrooper 5y ago
Saying incentives work is a pretty banal economic insight.
However, the primary reason Moderna and Pfizer they were able to get to market so fast was because the FDA agreed to a compressed testing schedule, Moderna’s preexisting investments in mRNA technology, and publicly funded research around stabilising spike proteins.
The primary contribution of Trump (and other world leaders) was the willingness to commit to purchasing large amounts of the vaccine and to accept much of the risk of the attempt failed. This accelerated the roll out as they were able to begin manufacturing before being given emergency approval.
However, it’s worth noting that many other successful vaccines were developed by charitable foundations and government research institutions in roughly the same period of time as the American efforts.
https://cen.acs.org/pharmaceuticals/vaccines/tiny-tweak-behind-COVID-19/98/i38 https://cen.acs.org/pharmaceuticals/vaccines/tiny-tweak-behi...
- WalterBright 5y ago> Saying incentives work is a pretty banal economic insight. It should be banal, but it isn't generally recognized by government planners, who expect that self-sacrifice and altruism governs peoples' behavior rather than selfishness. Seattle is experiencing this as recent onerous regulations placed on landlords supposedly to protect renters is causing rents to rise and landlords to exit the business. https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/stop-new-rental-regulations-to-preserve-housing-supply/ https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/stop-new-ren...
- scoopertrooper 5y agoI feel like you didn't really respond to my point. Anyway, people of course respond to incentives. However, that doesn't always means that the outcomes will be positive. There is such a thing as a perverse incentive, even in a free market utopia.
- WalterBright 5y agoPerverse incentives in a free market are often the unintended result of regulation. For example, regulations to make it harder to fire people have the result of making employers pickier about who they hire.
- scoopertrooper 5y agoThe problem with you Murray Rothbard types is that you all too readily descend to panglossianism when evaluating market outcomes. It's no great insight that markets are generally the most efficient means of allocating resources. However, it's also no secret that greedy individuals will gleefully extract economic rents from their monopoly over resources when they feel free to do so.