The ‘invisible hand’ and the market for dental care

Abstract

In his classic The Wealth of Nations, economist and author Adam Smith famously described how allocating resources through free markets is the best way to achieve efficiency. He wrote that, in general, the “invisible hand” always will produce better outcomes than the visible hand of central planning, regulated prices or market quotas. Health economics, the discipline in which I was trained, applies the conceptual framework of economics to health care issues. Although there are many peculiarities in the market for health care services that make it different from other markets, the economic paradigm is still incredibly useful in helping to explain the outcomes we observe in various health care markets.