I've always described economics - somewhat knowingly, somewhat dismissively - as the discipline of asking "then what?": tax rates go up... then what? A store reduces its hours... then what? The world needs a vaccine for COVID-19... then what? Then what?!? Then you make a vaccine!
A flaw of economics is that most of its topics can be reduced to sound bites such that the clueless masses can delude themselves into a sense of convinced mastery; these people often go on to win elections. But to a question like a vaccine, where the goal is unanimous and the outcome crystal clear, the details matter more than the rah-rah answer. And this is where my long-standing support for using prize incentives rather than the free market comes into the picture; my hunch is that a prize awarded to whoever invents the vaccine will do much more good than relying on patents. This might not necessarily change the speed of research, trials, or outcomes; I only see benefits in the aftermath of the success, in the answer to 'then what?'.
A prize, once-awarded, frees governments to leverage the idea as a true public good; a patent forces the inventor to clutch desperately to the innovation until every available dollar is squeezed from the market. It's not uncommon to vilify companies that set obscene prices for life saving products, but we average citizens don't make innovation very easy for inventors when we refuse to lift a finger in protest until the very last step of the process. Sadly, I have little to offer in terms of exactly how to lodge this complaint, that we should offer prizes instead of patents. Is it possible to politicize the patent office? Economics is about how the world revolves, not revolutions; I have much to learn about spin.
In these dizzying days, the timing feels right. The pandemic seems to have amplified calls for The End of Capitalism, and although I've defended capitalism in some respects I'm sympathetic to those who prefer a new direction; I'll lead the charge if the vision promises to eradicate poverty. But in the meantime, we remain stuck with a certain version of the status quo, so to me rewarding crucial inventions with prizes rather than patents seems like an obvious and necessary compromise. Otherwise, I fear the answer to the critical question - we have the vaccine... then what?
