The coronavirus crisis reveals what’s gone wrong with health care investment

This is a debate in which market economies of the West should be prepared to engage more openly with China, where something more resembling a market economy with Chinese characteristics than a strict command economy has evolved. There are lessons to be learned on both sides.

The pursuit (or cult) of market capitalism has led to underinvestment in essential services such as health care, sanitation, infrastructure and the environment, as financial markets that are skewed towards short-term gain have neglected the need to develop suitable vehicles for social investment.

This latter point is particularly important because it also highlights the failure of capital markets (which have for too long been preoccupied with devising sophisticated but ultimately risky financial products) to come up with a balanced and sustainable development financing model.

For example, as the coronavirus takes its toll on public health and the economy, the cry has gone up for better health care, improved sanitation, better housing and other services. But the question of how all these and other very real priorities are to be financed remains largely unaddressed.