I understand the issue wasn’t healthcare costs but total cost to the government.
It means if you were playing ’simGovernment” from a bird’s eye view, and you do not care about the fate of individuals, you are trying to maximize the government’s power and revenue, this might be a profitable tradeoff.
You can abstract it as a “card” from an options menu you can select:
[beef subsidy]
+ farmer votes
- average lifespan
+ healthcare costs
- total cost per citizen
NPV of choice: + <some number> per citizen
You can think of this case where as a government official or a gamer playing the “government” as a side your interests aren’t aligned with the population’s happiness or lifespan as a case of misalignment.
I understand the issue wasn’t healthcare costs but total cost to the government.
It means if you were playing ’simGovernment” from a bird’s eye view, and you do not care about the fate of individuals, you are trying to maximize the government’s power and revenue, this might be a profitable tradeoff.
You can abstract it as a “card” from an options menu you can select:
[beef subsidy]
+ farmer votes
- average lifespan
+ healthcare costs
- total cost per citizen
NPV of choice: + <some number> per citizen
You can think of this case where as a government official or a gamer playing the “government” as a side your interests aren’t aligned with the population’s happiness or lifespan as a case of misalignment.