Who Benefits from Complexity?

This week Jonathan Gruber, an MIT health economist who provided the key analysis which supported the Obama Administration’s health care reform plans, was being criticized for not disclosing a lucrative government contract. What’s fascinating about this incident is what it reveals about public policy. (See my HuffPo post for more) There’s only one expert in the entire nation who has the know how to quickly estimate the effect of health care reform in various scenarios. And none of us have a clue so we have to take his word for it. Isn’t that a little crazy? What’s the value of having such complicated legislation so that only one person in the entire nation actually takes the time to dig through it?