Trevon Jones
Professor Byland
EEE-2083
19 October 2022
Discussion Post: EconTalk: Keith Smith
The video for this discussion post is EconTalk: Keith Smith on Free Market Health Care. I want to analyze the entrepreneurial aspects of the video. Furthermore, I want to evaluate what makes these aspects interesting. I also want to consider what relationships are present between entrepreneurship and society. I have these questions because I want to see if this film is an entrepreneurial video. The EconTalk brings in Keith smith an entrepreneur and co-founder of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. The first thing relationship they discussed in the EconTalk was the government's hand in clinical funding across the board. This in turn led to poor funding for the people actually interacting with patients. This relationship shows how the government can affect a market either in a negative or positive way. This point leads to entrepreneurial aspects in the Econtalk Smith stated how the hospital was making a huge profit from the government's interference. This aspect goes to show how the government can play a huge role in an entrepreneur's success in their market. I find this aspect interesting because it shows how much authority the government can have on a market. The next aspect of the Econtalk that caught my attention was when smith explained how he came up with the idea for the surgery center. He left his current job at the time as an anesthesiologist and came up with a surgery center that tells patients how much their procedure would cost in total upfront. He did this because he felt hospitals were overcharging for procedures that didn't cost as much as they stated. Smith noticed this issue and wanted to change it. I find this an interesting aspect because it shows an entrepreneur finding a problem in society and solving it for the better of the community. This aspect also ties into the relationships between entrepreneurs and society. This aspect shows how the community's problem with industry can lead to other industries being opened or innovated. The communities problem was how procedures at the hospital would have fees that weren't necessary. That leads the entrepreneur Smith to want to solve this problem. This shows how important relationships between entrepreneurs and society are. The last aspect of the Econtalk I will be discussing is when Smith talked about how he found his prices. He went through a trial and error process where he calculated what price customers deem affordable and see if he is still making a profit. This EconTalk featuring Keith Smith is definitely an entrepreneurial video. In the Econ talk, they discussed how the government's hand in a market can affect it negatively or positively. Also how the governments interference can affect the profit of a market or company. The video also has entrepreneurial aspects throughout with how much power the government has in a market. Another aspect is how Smith found an issue in his market a change for the better.
