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Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

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Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#261

Post by nradov »

kaesar14 wrote: post #126
nradov wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the primary bottleneck in the supply of new doctors is lack of federal (Medicare) funding for residency slots. Every year, students graduate from US accredited medical schools but are unable to enter clinical practice because they can't get matched to a residency program. Ask Congress to increase funding. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-fun...

Using an AMA source is disingenuous since it’s a professional cartel with a massive vested interest in keeping doctor supply as limited as possible.

Do you have a substantive comment to contribute or are you going to stick with baseless low-effort snark? The comment I posted is true and correct. You could verify it with other independent sources if you bothered to do any research.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#262

Post by leetcrew »

photochemsyn wrote: post #90

Mindless consumption is nothing but a disease, of the mental illness variety. People who get a dopamine burst or some similar neurotransmitter release when they go shopping have been indoctrinated into patterns of behavior that do them no good in the long run. They'll end up with a house crammed with possessions they never use, bought on a whim in order to make themselves feel better. A better mentality is to always…

> The claim that economic growth relies on consumer confidence (high levels of consumption) is also pretty suspect and relies a lot on how you define 'growth' - what's wrong with a steady-state economy with a stable human population and fixed levels of demand for goods and services, anyway?

on a micro level, most people would prefer for their QOL to increase over time. I was happy to live like a college student when I was in college, but I wouldn't be happy to live that way as a 35 yo. this can't happen for everyone without some amount of growth.

you rightly call out that people often spend money on temporary kicks that don't actually improve their QOL. but if you take a more intentional approach to spending, there are lots of opportunities to exchange money for less stress or more free time. for example, not everyone can afford an in-unit washer/dryer, but it sure is nice to have one.

and then on a macro level, there is the unfortunate reality that we are a tribal species, constantly locked in a prisoner's dilemma with the other tribes. the more tribes onboard to the "steady state" model, the greater the incentive to defect and outgrow/dominate the others.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#263

Post by kaesar14 »

nradov wrote: post #261
kaesar14 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using an AMA source is disingenuous since it’s a professional cartel with a massive vested interest in keeping doctor supply as limited as possible.

Do you have a substantive comment to contribute or are you going to stick with baseless low-effort snark? The comment I posted is true and correct. You could verify it with other independent sources if you bothered to do any research.

Yeah sure.

Fighting residency expansion: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-03-02-doctor-shorta...

Fighting expansion of care to other types of practicioners: https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/scope-practice/...

Why would you believe the AMA's line on this? Do you think the professional association that represents all doctors, one of the highest paid and influential professions in the country, has no power to control the amount of residencies are funded by the government? They have no reason to increase the number of doctors, absolutely none. They benefit in every way from having constrained supply.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#264

Post by olalonde »

teh64 wrote: post #231
olalonde wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What would the incentive of healthcare providers to lower prices? In case of life or death emergencies, your insurance or ambulance driver would send you to a reasonably priced doctor, and doctors that charge unreasonable prices would go out of business. But my guess is that life or death emergencies do not account for most doctor visits. > Also blaming "corporatism" is basically just a meme at this point, because…

So for life or death decisions, the ambulance driver would first go on some price comparison website or ask the insurance and see "ok, this person wants a doctor in the $10,000-15,000 range, the closest of which is 30m away. The hospital next door costs at least $50,000 minimum, so we will not send them there for life saving medical care." And what incentive would insurance have to send me to a reasonably priced doct…

It feels like you don't understand or don't believe in free enterprise in general, not just when it comes to medicine. All the theoretical issues you mention do not actually occur in industries that are closer to a free market.

There is no cost problem in "tech". In fact, many services are literally free of charge. Despite Google having a near-monopoly on search, it is unable to charge users for it. Demand for software developers has grown massively in the past decades and yet, wages have only slightly gone up.

Anyways, I didn't mean to start a debate on the merits of free enterprise. I was hoping that we could at least agree that artificial limiting the supply of doctors causes medicine to be more costly, regardless of the economic system.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#265

Post by dageshi »

mabbo wrote: post #206
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #2

Being poor in general, during your childhood, scars you for life. It makes you penny wise and pound foolish, adverse to taking risks in your career and investments, can destroy your confidence in yourself, while always having to look over your shoulder monetarily speaking. Habits that even after you remove poverty from your live, you still feel the the anxiety and triggers in your head.

My wife grew up very close to the poverty line, with her parents always just about to lose the house. And she has this anxiety. (Edit: to be clear, she's a successful civil engineer, considered one of the best in her field locally and makes great money- she has nothing to worry about.) In order to help with it, we have a bank account that our bills come out of that has a little more than 6 months worth of all our bil…

It's both logical and financially wise. Nothing is more valuable than time when you need it. That money will give you time when you need it.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#266

Post by JamesSwift »

tootie wrote: post #20
cs137 wrote: post #12

I worked in a grocery store in the late '90s, and the older customers (who grew up in the Great Depression) always carried penny pouches, because they remembered a time when one had to keep track of cents to survive. This is how I know that, even if we miraculously fixed our medical system tomorrow and outlawed private health insurance by a constitutional amendment, we'll still have, thirty years from now, 60-year-ol…

My grandma did this. Never left a penny on the sidewalk, always took the bread from a breadbasket home. Even my parents absorbed some of that behavior despite being born in the next generation.

Yep, my parents are baby boomers and definitely have this ingrained in them. I also have some habits around eating where I (usually) waste nothing, which was instilled in me by my grandfather.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#267

Post by Loic »

stu2b50 wrote: post #199
ciconia wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> scars you for life. You could also say being poor in childhood teaches you how to be frugal. I regard this as a healthy habit and better discipline I wish I had with money (coming from a middle-class family). Another way to look at frugality is just an aversion to spending money on whatever it is that society or mass media tell you you have to buy, an important and healthy attitude one can have, IMO.

There’s a fine line between frugality and being stuck in a local optima. Sometimes, expensive things are better in the long run, because they serve their purpose better and last longer.

My approach is to always buy the first "stuff" cheap and then try to use it the best possible way. If it breaks or I see the limits with the "stuff", then I go for the good and expensive one. This way I know I need it but I can also better assess the quality.

This of course after having spent too much on high quality "stuff" with little use.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#268

Post by twblalock »

ciconia wrote: post #191
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #2

Being poor in general, during your childhood, scars you for life. It makes you penny wise and pound foolish, adverse to taking risks in your career and investments, can destroy your confidence in yourself, while always having to look over your shoulder monetarily speaking. Habits that even after you remove poverty from your live, you still feel the the anxiety and triggers in your head.

> scars you for life. You could also say being poor in childhood teaches you how to be frugal. I regard this as a healthy habit and better discipline I wish I had with money (coming from a middle-class family). Another way to look at frugality is just an aversion to spending money on whatever it is that society or mass media tell you you have to buy, an important and healthy attitude one can have, IMO.

One of the other aspects of being poor is the assumption that any windfall you get will be nickeled and dimed away from you pretty soon, so the only way you'll ever be able to enjoy it is to spend it all immediately.

That turns out to be the opposite of frugality.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#269

Post by nradov »

kaesar14 wrote: post #263
nradov wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a substantive comment to contribute or are you going to stick with baseless low-effort snark? The comment I posted is true and correct. You could verify it with other independent sources if you bothered to do any research.

Yeah sure. Fighting residency expansion: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-03-02-doctor-shorta... Fighting expansion of care to other types of practicioners: https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/scope-practice/... Why would you believe the AMA's line on this? Do you think the professional association that represents all doctors, one of the highest paid and influential professions in the country, has no…

The AMA is literally lobbying Congress to expand residency program funding, and even putting their own money into it. Did you even read the article?

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#270

Post by Melatonic »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #2

Being poor in general, during your childhood, scars you for life. It makes you penny wise and pound foolish, adverse to taking risks in your career and investments, can destroy your confidence in yourself, while always having to look over your shoulder monetarily speaking. Habits that even after you remove poverty from your live, you still feel the the anxiety and triggers in your head.

I have seen it also go other ways though - I think it really depends on the family and how they deal with being poor. Families who are poor in currency but very rich in love and social connections seem to still produce great adults who might have some of the scars you are talking about but also are able to overcome them.
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