The average number of beds isn't what you really care about. It's the actual number in that hospital versus the number of patients. The challenge is to avoid the left hand tail, the parts of the set of outcomes that are not just unpleasant, but are devastating. But I think often again, people forget. And when they assess quality of performance, they only look at the average because it's pretty reliable in some settings, not all.
Author and consultant Luca Dellanna talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the importance of avoiding ruin when facing risk. Along the way Dellanna makes understandable the arcane concept of ergodicity and shows the importance of avoiding ruin in every day life.