The first thing one learns in econ 101 is that all economic activity has benefits and costs. And to consider only one or the other is bad economics, plain and simple. The special interest funded Medicaid Expansion study claiming that over 37,000 jobs will be created if the state extends Medicaid benefits does just that. And how do we know? The authors, non-economists from George Washington University, announce it in the title of the Study—“The Economic and Employment Benefits of Expanding Medicaid in North Carolina.” But if we keep in mind that this study is about advocacy and not honest economic inquiry then the fact that it refuses to consider the idea that there could be any economic downside should come as no surprise.