The Economic and Political Costs of Britain’s National Health Service

In 1939, Eli Ginzberg, future author of many books and articles on health care, first met Aneurin Bevan, future architect of Britain’s National Health Service. At the time neither man could have predicted an involvement in health care. Ginzberg was researching a book on labor mobility in the mining valleys of Wales, an area of high unemployment. The book which emerged, A World Without Work, ¹ still reads with amazing freshness: it is a reminder of how, in those days, an aspiring young economist could write a compelling analysis of labor market policies without loading it down with technical jargon or mathematical models. Bevan was a rebellious, radical Labour Member of Parliament. The prospect of a Labour Government, let alone the prospect of Bevan himself becoming Minister of Health, seemed remote. The occasion of the meeting was a visit by Bevan to the valleys—where his parliamentary constituency was—to discuss some issues of the day with his constituents.