Victor Fuchs

{{infobox Economist

| name = Victor R. Fuchs

| birth_name = Victor Robert Fuchs

| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|01|31}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|09|16|1924|01|31}}

| death_place = Palo Alto, California, U.S.

| spouse = {{marriage|Beverly Beck|1948|2007|end = died}}

| children = 2

| relatives = Lawrence Fuchs (brother)

| institution = {{ubl|National Bureau of Economic Research|Stanford University}}

| field = Health economics

| alma_mater = Columbia University (Ph.D.)(M.A.)
New York University (B.S.)

}}

Victor Robert Fuchs (January 31, 1924 – September 16, 2023) was an American health economist. He was known for his 1975 book Who Shall Live?, which detailed the consequences of rising health care costs in the United States.

Early life and education

Fuchs was born in the Bronx. His parents were immigrants from Austria.{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/21/business/victor-r-fuchs-dead.html|title = Victor R. Fuchs, 'Dean' of American Health Care Economists, Dies at 99|newspaper = The New York Times|last = Risen|first = Clay|date = September 21, 2023|accessdate = September 22, 2023|url-access = limited}} His younger brother, Lawrence Fuchs, went on to be a professor of American studies at Brandeis University.

Fuchs served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and studied business administration as an undergraduate at New York University. He initially worked at his father's business as a fur salesman, before going back to school, attaining a PhD in economics from Columbia University in 1954.

Career

After teaching at NYU and Columbia, Fuchs became a professor at Stanford University in 1978.{{Cite web|url=https://healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu/people/Victor_R_Fuchs|title=FSI | CHP/PCOR - Victor R. Fuchs|website=healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu}} He was a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and was the co-director of the FRESH-Thinking Project and CASBS at Stanford University.{{Cite web |url=http://www.fresh-thinking.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050206094750/http://www.fresh-thinking.org/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=February 6, 2005 |title=Fresh Thinking Project}} He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1982[https://www.amacad.org/multimedia/pdfs/classlist.pdf List of active members by class], October 24, 2014 and to the American Philosophical Society in 1990. In 1995, the same year he took emeritus status at Stanford, he served as president of the American Economic Association.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/leadership/officers/past-officers/presidents|title=American Economic Association|website=www.aeaweb.org}} In 2001, he was recipient of the John R. Commons Award, given by the economics honor society Omicron Delta Epsilon.{{Cite web|url=https://www.omicrondeltaepsilon.org/awards.html|title=Omicron Delta Epsilon - The International Economics Honor Society|website=www.omicrondeltaepsilon.org}}

In 1975, Fuchs published the book Who Shall Live? Health, Economics, and Social Choice, which discussed the increasing expenses on healthcare in the United States, and how it does not correlate with better overall health. The New York Times said it became "required reading among physicians, health economists and anyone interested in the knotty issue of American health care". He updated the book through the rest of his life, with the last edition he worked on set for publication in October 2023, the month after his death.

= Relative poverty rate =

Fuchs is credited with introducing the relative poverty rate, calculated as the fraction of members of a society earning less than 50% of the median income.{{Cite journal|last=Foster|first=James E.|date=1998|title=Absolute versus Relative Poverty|journal=The American Economic Review|volume=88|issue=2|pages=335–341 |jstor=116944}}{{cite journal |last1=Fuchs |first1=Victor |title=Redefining Poverty and Redistributing Income |journal=The Public Interest |volume=8 |date=Summer 1967 |pages=88–95 |url=https://www.nationalaffairs.com/storage/app/uploads/public/58e/1a4/a48/58e1a4a48f37d449037283.pdf }}

=Comparison of healthcare in Canada and US=

In 1990 Fuchs published a paper together with James S. Hahn, entitled How Does Canada Do it? – A comparison of Expenditures for Physicians' Services in the United States and Canada. It discusses the differences in the Canadian and US healthcare spending patterns and also discusses why healthcare expenditures are so much higher in the United States. Fuchs and Hahn found that the higher US expenditures were entirely based on 234 percent higher fees for services than Canada even though there are more physicians per capita in Canada. That shows that the typical view of Canada saving money by delivering fewer services is false and that the insurance setup, being a single-payer system, is what gives it the edge.{{cite journal |author1=Victor Fuchs |author2=James S. Hahn | title = How does Canada do it? – A comparison of expenditures for physicians' services in the United States and Canada | journal = The New England Journal of Medicine | volume = 323 | issue = 13 | pages = 884–890 | date = September 27, 1990 | doi = 10.1056/NEJM199009273231306 | pmid = 2118594 | doi-access = free }}

Differences between the United States and Canada on fees, spending, and use are shown. The accentuating difference begins with the disparity in health care coverage. Canada operates under a universal health care system, which covers majority of their residents. On the other hand, the United States operates under a fragmented multi-payer system that fails to provide coverage for many Americans.{{ cite news | title = Comparing international health care systems | work = PBS Newshour | publisher = PBS | url = https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/health-july-dec09-insurance_10-06 | date = October 6, 2009 }} Moreover, the lack of correspondence between both countries regarding health care coverage validates part of the narrative reported in the study, which concluded that the US spent more on physicians' services than Canada.

Furthermore, the study also suggests that higher expenditures in the US is a function of many factors including higher wages earned by US physicians, the difference of physicians on demand, billing costs, quality of health care, physicians' workload, and superfluous amenities. Notably, the factors bring to question the underlying differences in health care delivery, and the authors reported more general practitioners in Canada per capita. The limited role of general practitioners in the US compared to Canada may imply that Canadian physicians are "more inclined to recommend additional evaluation and management services."

==Personal life and death==

Fuchs was married to the former Beverly Beck from 1948 until her death in 2007; they had two sons. He died at his home in Palo Alto, California, on Stanford's campus, on September 16, 2023, at the age of 99.{{cite news |last1=Crawford |first1=Krysten |title=Victor Fuchs, pioneer of health care economics, has died |url=https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/victor-fuchs-pioneer-health-care-economics-has-died |access-date=September 19, 2023 |publisher=Stanford University |date=September 18, 2023}}