on Health Jobs

I'm starting to think that while growth in the healthcare sector is good for the economy in the current jobs crisis over the long run it is not ideal. Here is Ryan Avent in his book The Gated City:

(People are) moving to places where job growth is heavily concentrated in non-export industries with very low productivity growth: largely health care and education.

It is less likely to innovate and as Sarah Kliff points out, with 1 in 5 people moving into the profession we are less likely to stem the debilitating cost growth in the health care sector. What I am personally worried about is that this going to draw highly intelligent, productive members of our society away from densely populated, highly productive regions of the country (New York, San Francisco, DC & Boston) to less desirable, sprawl ridden areas of the country. Drawn away to fill jobs, while very much needed and admirable, that will give little in the way of innovation and economic growth. These individuals would be better suited working in a densely packed metropolis with a multitude of biotech, pharmaceutical and health research firms to feed off of and innovate. Not parts of the countries whose greatest claim to fame is the availability of cheap land.

on Sin Taxes

The Economist has a piece on how the effectiveness of sin taxes is leading to a government shortfall in revenues (UK Government). What they fail to address is how the gains lifespan, that will result from such a change in behavior, will effect the economy. A longer life span will lead to more productivity per person, an expansion of the work force and therefore a greater expansion of the economy in comparison to one with more drinking, smoking and gas consumption. While a short term problem it certainly is (much in the same way the EPA's critics claim higher environmental standards are bad for business) the long term gains far outweigh it.