> For the [non-Amish], the “other people” are faceless insurance companies, and we treat people who don’t extract as much money as possible from them as insufficiently savvy.
This is just a side comment in the post, but I think it's an important observation. People really, really don't like feeling (or looking) like suckers. When we see other people breaking the rules, we're much more likely to break the rules. Some of this is that we're seeing evidence that breaking the rules won't be punished, sure. But I think the larger effect is that now we feel like suckers for following the rules.
This is just a side comment in the post, but I think it's an important observation. People really, really don't like feeling (or looking) like suckers. When we see other people breaking the rules, we're much more likely to break the rules. Some of this is that we're seeing evidence that breaking the rules won't be punished, sure. But I think the larger effect is that now we feel like suckers for following the rules.