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Published in:
Managing the Myths of Health Care Read chapter Read first chapter

2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

10. Myth #7: The Myth of Measurement

Authors : Matteo Motterlini, Carlo Canepa, Sabina Nuti, Marina Davoli, Chiara Marinacci, Renato Botti, Giuseppe Iuliano, Gaetano Matonti, Paolo Tartaglia Polcini, Ettore Cinque, Francesco Bevere, Paola Adinolfi

Published in: The Myths of Health Care

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

The mantra that inspires healthcare systems is: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” The measuring process is closely related to the epistemological ideal of modern science. This has been developed through a world simplification, which is considered useful to disclose principles that work under surrounding reality. The search for natural laws carries a distinctive component: phenomena are not accepted as they are, but they are instead transformed through abstraction and experimentation. What is considered as real is the result of abstraction and experimentation. This attitude, however, entails that some reality aspects are sacrificed in their variety and entirety. In economics, especially in the rational choice theory, the world, where we make decisions and judgments, is not real, but outward and accidental. In its stead, we find abstract constructions of expected utility maximization and pursuit of self-interest.

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previous chapter Myth #6: Health Care Is Rightly Controlled by the Public Sector, for the Sake of Equality
next chapter Myth #8: The Myth of Scale
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Metadata
Title
Myth #7: The Myth of Measurement
Authors
Matteo Motterlini
Carlo Canepa
Sabina Nuti
Marina Davoli
Chiara Marinacci
Renato Botti
Giuseppe Iuliano
Gaetano Matonti
Paolo Tartaglia Polcini
Ettore Cinque
Francesco Bevere
Paola Adinolfi
Copyright Year
2018
Book
The Myths of Health Care

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-53599-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-53600-2

Copyright Year: 2018

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53600-2_10