Courtesy the WWII battlefields, the government was the dominant customer for the nascent antibiotics market. The Army had both deep pockets and high volume needs that together were able to jumpstart development and provide a guaranteed customer. It was capitalism competing for that market that rapidly drive down prices though.
I use penicillin as an example of both capitalism and the power of government with my econ students.
I forget the exact numbers on the slide, so these are estimates:
1940 -- essentially priceless
1942 -- $175 / dose
1943 -- $20 / dose
1945 -- 50c / dose
1950 -- 3c / dose
I love Potter's substack, so this sounds like a great book.
How did the power of government help in this case?
Courtesy the WWII battlefields, the government was the dominant customer for the nascent antibiotics market. The Army had both deep pockets and high volume needs that together were able to jumpstart development and provide a guaranteed customer. It was capitalism competing for that market that rapidly drive down prices though.