The status quo is stupid, expensive and unfair. 

That’s the first line of David Erickson’s book, “The Fifth Freedom,” which makes the case for good schools, well-funded libraries, safe streets and public spaces, quality health care, spiritual refuges and accessible transportation to help kids and communities thrive.

Erickson joins David Bank on this episode of Agents of Impact. His team at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York have turned such ideas into Making Missing Markets, an initiative to connect the builders of health, wealth and vibrant communities with the “buyers,” including hospitals,  insurers and corporations as well as government agencies, such as Medicaid. He says such collaborations could finance “upstream” interventions that deliver such outcomes at far lower cost than downstream remediation.