Forbes September 26, 2022
Robert Pearl, M.D.

Between producers and consumers, you’ll find a cadre of professionals who broker deals, facilitate transactions, and move goods and services along.

They’re called middlemen, and they thrive in virtually every industry—from real estate and retail to finance and travel services. If not for middlemen, houses and blouses wouldn’t sell. Banks and online booking sites wouldn’t exist. Middlemen are the reason a tomato grown in South America makes it aboard a ship headed for North America, passes through customs, reaches a local supermarket and ends up in your basket.

Middlemen do all of this, for a price. Opinions differ among consumers and economists as to whether middlemen are nasty parasites, necessary for modern living or both.

While the debate goes on,...

Today's Sponsors

LEK
ZeOmega

Today's Sponsor

LEK

 
Topics: Biotechnology, Employer, Healthcare System, Insurance, Patient / Consumer, Pharma, Pharma / Biotech, Provider
The Ripple Effect: Ways to Make Health in All Policies Stick in Kansas and Beyond to Enhance Health and Equity
Research Funding Is Needed To Support An Effective, Equitable, And Sustainable Public Health System
Covid’s scientific silver lining: A chance to watch the human immune system respond in real time
New Data: Long COVID Cases Surge
Podcast: Improving Patient Safety Is a Team Sport 3/28/24

Share This Article