I wish that were true, Alan, it's certainly the way I'd want it. But history tells us different. Ancient Egypt, and Rome, and Greece, were built on underfed, overworked slaves that never saw a doctor. Even England's industrial revolution paid scant attention to the wellbeing of the very workers it built with/on.

I think it boils down to this: You can have a strong economy built on poor public health/education standards, provided you are prepared (and allowed) to treat your workforce like so many cattle. It's the ethics, not the physics, that make the difference, I believe.