I have long been concerned about things in the social field, and I have written many articles to discuss issues such as medical care, education and pension, and I will talk about this topic today.
I always believe that it is not appropriate to fully industrialize the supply of social products such as medical care, education, and pension, but such social products are not complete public goods and still have market attributes, so some of them can and should be released to the private sector and implement market-oriented operations.
Regarding what is a "public good" and a "quasi-public good", let's first look at what Baidu says.
Generally speaking, public goods (in this case, pure public goods) are those that are consumed by society as a whole. Strictly speaking, it is a product that is non-competitive and non-exclusive in the process of consumption, and it is a product that no one person consumes reduces the goods and services that others consume in the same way. Public goods have three characteristics: First, they are non-competitive. The marginal cost is zero. The marginal cost referred to here refers to the marginal cost of increasing the consumer to the supplier, e.g. adding a television audience does not lead to an increase in the cost of launching. The marginal cost of congestion is zero. The consumption of each consumer does not affect the quantity and quality of consumption of other consumers. For example, the public goods provided by the departments of national defense, foreign affairs, legislation, justice, public security, environmental protection, industrial and commercial administration, and various departments engaged in administration belong to this category and will not change due to the increase or decrease of some population enjoyment during the period. The increase in the number of consumers in such products does not reduce the consumption of any one consumer, and the increase in consumers does not increase the cost of the product. It is not competitive in consumption and belongs to the product of benefit sharing. The second is non-exclusivity. Non-exclusivity means that certain products are put into the field of consumption, no one can exclusive them, and it is impossible to exclude others from the consumption of the product, not to allow him to enjoy the benefits of the product, and the owner must pay a high fee if he must do so, so it is not cost-effective, so no one can be prevented from enjoying such products. For example, in environmental protection, the air, noise and other pollution are removed, bringing people to enjoy fresh air and a quiet environment, if you want to exclude someone in this area to enjoy fresh air and a quiet environment, it is technically non-exclusive. The third is indivisibility. Non-exclusivity means that certain products are put into the field of consumption, no one can exclusive them, and it is impossible to exclude others from the consumption of the product, not to allow him to enjoy the benefits of the product, and the owner must pay a high fee if he must do so, so it is not cost-effective, so no one can be prevented from enjoying such products. For example, in environmental protection, the air, noise and other pollution are removed, bringing people to enjoy fresh air and a quiet environment, if you want to exclude someone in this area to enjoy fresh air and a quiet environment, it is technically non-exclusive.
A hybrid product is a product that has the attributes of both a public good and a private product. Between public goods and private goods, there are also many products and services that do not have the attributes of pure public goods or private goods, but to a certain extent, have the properties of both products, which are usually called hybrid products or quasi-public goods. Quasi-public goods are also known as "mixed goods". Such products usually have only one of the above two characteristics, while the other is not sufficient. On the whole, a hybrid product cannot be both non-competitive and non-exclusive, otherwise it becomes a pure public good. Similarly, a hybrid product cannot be competitive and exclusive at the same time, otherwise it becomes a private product. Since mixed products have the attributes of both public goods and private goods, they can be divided into the following three categories according to the different combinations of the two product attributes: first, non-crowded public goods: non-competitive and exclusive at the same time, this kind of mixed products have the attributes of non-competition of public goods and the exclusive attributes of private goods. Parks, for example, are this type of hybrid product. Under the condition that the number of visitors does not exceed a certain number, the increase of tourists will not affect the utility level of the original tourists, that is, the consumption of the park is non-competitive; However, parks can put up fences or railings to keep non-ticket buyers out, i.e., their consumption is also exclusive. The second is crowded public goods: non-exclusive and competitive at the same time, such mixed products have the non-exclusive attributes of public goods and the competitive attributes of private goods. Publicly owned pastures, for example, are this type of hybrid product. Since the pasture is publicly owned, everyone can go to the pasture to graze, that is, the pasture has non-exclusive properties. However, if the livestock carrying capacity of the pasture is exceeded, the use of the pasture becomes competitive. The third is the spillover of interests of public goods: under certain conditions with non-competition and non-exclusivity, this kind of mixed products under certain conditions with non-competition and non-exclusivity means that as long as it does not exceed a certain limit, the consumption of the product is non-competitive and non-exclusive, but if it exceeds a certain limit, it has the characteristics of competition and exclusivity. For example, a bridge that does not charge is non-competitive and non-exclusive as long as it does not produce congestion, but if it is crowded, it is competitive, and in order to solve the congestion problem, the government adopts the method of toll collection, so it also has exclusivity. Obviously, this kind of mixed product is different from the first two types of mixed products, the first two types of mixed products have the attributes of both public goods and private goods, while the latter is at different times or under different conditions, either with the attributes of public goods or private goods.
From the above definition, it is not difficult to see that education, medical care and pension are not pure public goods, but quasi-public goods. Since it is a quasi-public good, it has certain industrial attributes, and the market should be opened to the people. One of these three types of goods should be considered a public good, and that is "basic public services". What needs to be emphasized here is the word "basic", that is to say, this basic service must not be a "high-end service", as long as it can ensure that the most basic service requirements can be met. Specific to the three industries of education, medical care and elderly care, "basic" education is to meet the needs of students in the compulsory education stage to be able to pass the examination. Note that the word "pass" is meant to be a basic standard, while "good" and "excellent" do not necessarily mean "basic". Therefore, in this sense, cram schools belong to the industry that can be opened up by the private sector, and in this cram school, people who are willing and able can improve their children's grades to "excellent" by accepting paid services. In the same way, high-quality schools or high-quality educational resources are always scarce, and the effective means to solve scarcity is actually the market. If parents want their children to go to better schools, the best way is to allow the establishment of private schools with high-quality teachers and implement high-quality and preferential prices. The same is true for medical care, the software and hardware conditions of public hospitals do not have to be very demanding, and they can be charged low or even no fees, but they need to make an appointment to queue up according to the severity of the disease, and if you want to see a doctor "not difficult", then you can go to a private hospital for medical treatment. When I went to Singapore more than 20 years ago to visit the public hospital, the average daily temperature in Singapore was 30 degrees, and the public hospital had a room for eight people and only had ceiling fans and no air conditioning, but the charges there were very low. If you feel that you can't accept this condition, then you can go to a high-priced private hospital. The same is true for the elderly, public nursing homes are also basic, if you want to get better services, you can go to private high-end nursing homes at your own expense.
Of course, there are two major prerequisites here, one is that the level of basic services cannot be perfunctory, first of all, we must ensure that we achieve "passing", otherwise we will lose the "basic" attribute of supporting people's livelihood; The other is to encourage private investment in social service enterprises, including private schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and clubs for the entertainment of the elderly (instead of the so-called "universities for the elderly"). On the topic of "universities for the elderly", I have mentioned more than once in the past that such institutions are not "learning for the elderly", but "for the elderly", and their attributes are not "basic", but "icing on the cake" services. It is necessary to allow these institutions to hire high-quality resources at high salaries, so that excellent teachers, doctors, etc., can have the conditions to obtain higher incomes.
You might say, it's not fair, why should people pay a premium price to get quality social services? What I want to say is that in the context of scarce resources, it is actually fairest to use the market to regulate supply. If the market is not allowed to regulate, there will be other means to regulate in the face of resource scarcity, the most common of which is the intervention of power or favors, which is actually more unfair. To be honest, many people have now understood the truth that everything that can be bought with money is actually the cheapest thing.
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