The authors describe an asymmetric information demonstration that assigns students different probabilities of incurring healthcare expenses. In each round, students choose whether to purchase insurance; then, the instructor randomly determines who gets "sick." After computing insurer profits, students help determine a new insurance price…

The ongoing debates about the future of social insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare raise questions about the public's knowledge of the history of social insurance and about the impact these programs have on millions of Americans. In general, public conversations about social policies in the U.S. tend to focus on whether or not…