Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"That's a very interesting question. There are a couple of factors here. First, as our country's standard of living has risen over time, health care and education are two sectors that people want more of, what economists call luxury goods. Use rises rapidly as income rises. Secondly, these are sectors where both supply and demand pressures are pushing prices up. On the supply side, both health care and education are sectors that are regulated, either through rules or accreditation, which means that supply increases relatively slowly. But on the demand side, you have the government involved very heavily in terms of subsidies if not outright payment for the sector, so you've got rising demand, you've got supply that's not going up as fast. That's a perfect recipe for increasing prices.

"So I think as these sectors grow further in the future, we may want to look at issues related to pricing and costs. I think you have to, therefore, look at these fundamental supply and demand questions."