Medicine often acts less like a health intervention and more like an expensive way to show love and concern, according to Robin Hanson’s “conspicuous caring” hypothesis.

Robin Hanson is an Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University and co-author of The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life.

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Best Quotes:

“Medicine is a luxury, as we get rich, we spend more and more money on it.”

“When some people get a lot more medicine than others at random, those people don’t get healthier.”

“It’s not saying each effect is zero. It says the average effect is zero.”

“A common motive is that we use medicine to show that we care about each other.”

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