学点经济学：什么是看不见的大手

What Is the Invisible Hand?

什么是看不见的手?

But does the "invisible hand" really work in a modern economy? For a telling example, you need look no further than the health-care system. There are many healthy young people in the U.S. who, acting out of sheer self-interest, choose not to purchase health insurance—thus saving themselves hundreds, and possibly thousands, of dollars per month. this results in a higher standard of living for them, but also higher premiums for comparably healthy people who choose to protect themselves with health insurance, and extremely high (and often unaffordable) premiums for elderly and unwell people for whom insurance is literally a matter of life and death.

但“看不见的手”在现代经济中真的有用吗？举一个很好的例子，你只需看看医疗保健系统就可以了。在美国有很多健康的年轻人出于纯粹的自身利益，选择不购买健康保险——这样每个月可以节省数百甚至数千美元。这会给他们带来更高的生活水平，同时对于那些选择用健康保险来保护自己的同样健康的人来说，保费会更高，对于老年人和身体不好的人来说，保险简直就是生死攸关的事，保费也极高(而且往往难以承受)。