The Bryant Park case study provides a perfect example of turning liabilities into assets. By simply internalizing the inherent value contained within Bryant Park, New York was able to affordably provide for its maintenance and implement substantial capital improvements, all while unlocking new, untapped value for the private sector.
A public park is a tangible example of an asset masking as a liability. But what if we were to apply the concept to something more abstract-such as the health and well-being of a country's population? Putting aside for a minute the inherent cynicism of valuing human lives in dollars and cents, the potential economic value of an entire country's citizenry is simply massive. A productive, innovative workforce is the backbone of any healthy economy. On the other hand, when large percentages of that country's population are morbidly sick, that same citizenry's care can become a costly liability-incurring massive costs in the forms of medical care and prescription drugs. In the case of non-communicable diseases, loved ones of the sick might withdraw from the workforce to care for the ailing, further reducing national economic productivity.
One study that profiled eighteen countries (from industrialized markets such as the United States and Japan to developing markets such as Kenya and Indonesia) found that the costs associated with workforce withdrawal due to informal caregiving represented a 7.7% loss in GDP in 2015, projected to rise to 8.6% by 2030.32
Costs that high cannot be shrugged off, and present a strong argument in favor of increased preventative care (as opposed to treatments). When brokering a healthcare PPP, it is crucial to factor in not only the tangible costs of having an unhealthy populace, but also the opportunity cost levied by the nonworking sick. Ultimately, a healthy population is not only cheaper to maintain-it is an asset in and of itself.
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32"The Economic Cost of Disease," Global Initiative on Health and the Economy-U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2018, https://www.uschamber.com/