Tsung-Mei Cheng
This book is an important document on American health care in the first part of the twenty-first century from both an economic and an ethical perspective by one of the most widely respected voices in American health care for more than four decades, whom many regard as a giant in health care policy and economics.
Deep gratitude is due all the individuals and institutions that played important roles, at different times, in making the book possible. As the famous saying “Rome was not built in one day” suggests, no one single individual’s achievements come from any one source or origin.
Reflecting on how Uwe became the scholar, the original thinker, and the extraordinary policy expert that he was, Yale comes to mind first and foremost, outside of, of course, Uwe’s parents, who gave Uwe his life, good health, and good brains, and helped build his character and humanity. Uwe flourished at Yale. Three professors among many at Yale’s economics department stand out in particular to whom Uwe owed a deep debt of gratitude: James Tobin, Richard Ruggles, and William Brainard. The latter two were also Uwe’s PhD thesis advisers. They, especially Professor Tobin, inspired Uwe’s intellectual odyssey. Uwe took to heart Tobin’s teaching to apply rigorous economic analysis to social issues and Tobin’s belief that economics is, or ought to be, an instrument to make society better. That Yale is building a new multimillion-dollar Tobin Center for Economic Policy on its own campus is testament to the man’s greatness. Uwe admired Tobin and spoke of him often, especially when frustrated by the too-oft seen faith-based and data-free “policy analyses and recommendations” concerning health care or any other national issue. Uwe’s PhD thesis, Physician Productivity and the Demand for Health Manpower: An Economic Analysis, which later became a book (1975), as mentioned earlier, was one of the earliest works on health economics and represented “an attempt to bring certain insights gained from economic theory and applied economic research to the task of formulating the nation’s health manpower policy during the next several decades.” The book launched Uwe’s career as a health economist; he always based his policy conclusions and recommendations on rigorous data-driven and evidence-informed health services research and policy analyses.
Uwe also spoke often of his many Princeton colleagues, whom he met in the course of almost fifty years as a faculty member at Princeton—fellow faculty members in the economics department and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, where Uwe held a joint appointment as the James Madison Professor of Political Economy and Professor of Economics; faculty from Princeton’s other schools, departments, and programs; and Nassau Hall—the administration, or “CENTCOM” at Princeton, on whose many committees Uwe had served. Uwe was grateful for their gifts of friendship and the opportunities for invaluable intellectual exchanges which he enjoyed and benefited from greatly. He loved being able to walk into the offices of former and future chairmen of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker and Ben Bernanke (both happened to have had their offices next door to Uwe’s), to ask them to explain the Fed’s latest interest rate hike, or the timing of the next recession, or simply ask Ben questions about the Great Depression, on which Ben is a leading scholar; or into Nobel laureate Sir Arthur Lewis’s office to have a discussion on why some nations fail to develop while others flourish; or have endless discussions on pedagogy or corporate finance (Uwe taught corporate finance for years at Princeton) with Burton Malkiel, author of one of the most famous books on stock markets, A Random Walk down Wall Street, and a fine teacher (he taught corporate finance before Uwe); or asking another Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman, myriad questions about international trade, on which Paul’s work won him the Nobel Prize; or ways to avoid future global financial crises.
I would have liked, on Uwe’s behalf, to name and thank all the Princeton colleagues and friends, many of whom work in the administration, buildings and grounds, food services, and so on, whose paths Uwe crossed, for the joy he derived and the things he learned from having known them. Alas, that would be an impossible task, as they are too numerous. Uwe considered himself a lucky man, he often said.
Outside of Princeton, Uwe had many friends and professional peers in both the private and public sectors, including the U.S. and foreign governments, Congress, industry, academia, think tanks, and the media. Uwe also corresponded with myriad members of the public. I know Uwe would like to thank them all too for their friendship, the frank exchanges including the occasional accusation of him as a “socialist propagandist,” and what he learned from them.
The book would never have seen the daylight without the strong and enthusiastic endorsement and support of the Princeton University Press. My deep appreciation and gratitude go to all those at the Press who were involved in transforming Uwe’s manuscript into the book it is. I thank Christie Henry, director of the Press, and the editorial board for their strong endorsement to publish the book. I thank the editors at the Press, in particular Joe Jackson, senior economics editor, who saw the potential of this book and recommended publication. I am also grateful to Joe for his invaluable editorial suggestions and judgments, and for his guidance in every step involved in turning the manuscript into the book. Other Press team members I would like to thank are Jacqueline Delaney, James Schneider, Maria Lindenfeldar, and Pamela Schnitter for their extensive and dedicated work on various important aspects of the publication process. Their professionalism and expertise in managing the production process of this book are most impressive, and deeply appreciated.
I would like to conclude by thanking Uwe, if I may, and even if it may be unconventional, for finally writing this book to shed light on the highly complex American health care system. Uwe was widely recognized as “the person who could explain anything and everything about American health care to anyone.” For Uwe, writing this book, sharing his more than four decades of experiences with and insights into health economics, health policy, and health reforms, was a labor of love and an expression of his gratitude for his adopted country. Last but not least, I thank Uwe also for the opportunity for me, with the help of the Princeton University Press, to bring this important book to the American public.