Why policy needs history (and historians)

Policy makers like the idea of new initiatives and fresh starts, unencumbered by, even actively overthrowing, what has been done in the past. At the same time, history can be pigeonholed as fusty and antiquarian, dealing with long past events of no relevance to the present.

As published in Health Economics, Policy and Law Volume 13, Special Issue 3-4 (SPECIAL ISSUE: Canadian Medicare: Historical Reflections, Future Directions)