

Why cheaper computers lead to higher tuition - GICodeWarrior
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/steven-pearlstein-why-cheaper-computers-lead-to-higher-tuition/2012/10/05/5dced2a0-0fd6-11e2-acc1-e927767f41cd_print.html

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jalanco
This would be a more interesting article if the author understood that the
real reason for the increasing cost of both education and healthcare is the
decoupling of the buyer and the seller. With healthcare, the decoupler is
health insurance; with higher education, it is the student loan. (Doesn't
everybody understand this fact by now?)

I experienced the former, once again, just yesterday at the doctor's office.
He explained several procedures he wanted me to undergo. When I asked him
specifically about one of them, he explained "because your insurance covers
it." I shit you not. When I laughed he looked puzzled.

And anyone who had seen how easy it was to get a student loan in the past 10
or 15 years, with very little qualifying information required, should
understand the latter point.

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tsewlliw
Doubly interesting to me -- when I realized that programming pays well because
automation puts people out of jobs, or perhaps forces them to learn new
skills, I started moving from hard libertarian to embracing certain pieces of
socialism.

I don't buy into the coming stagnation bit though, once automating those
services is the best bang/buck, it WILL be done.

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malandrew
What about technology putting people out of work in the goods sector and then
those out of work people trying to get jobs in the services sector? The high
rates in services coupled with out-of-work goods employees seeking to now
perform services jobs should act as a self-correcting force on prices in
education and healthcare.

I know that there is "retraining friction", but that should be temporary and
shouldn't lag more than a few years (1-4 years) on average.

It doesn't need to just apply to people who lose their jobs in goods, but also
people who are never trained to perform those jobs at all when younger because
it had been forecasted that those jobs would be automated away.

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MaysonL
non-print version: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/steven-pearlstein-
why...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/steven-pearlstein-why-cheaper-
computers-lead-to-higher-
tuition/2012/10/05/5dced2a0-0fd6-11e2-acc1-e927767f41cd_story.html)

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Evbn
It is relatively higher, not really higher. As a fraction of average hourly
wage, tuition is cheaper than ever. Problem is that wages are not evenly
distributed.

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Evbn
<http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumols_cost_disease>

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alipang
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol%27s_cost_disease>

