For more of Mr. Ramirez’s cartoons, go to http://www.ibdeditorials.com/Cartoons.aspx.
Monthly Archives: August 2009
Rationing and Rationality
In an article entitled “Rationing and Rationality”, the editorial staff of the National Review Online makes (what I think is) a profound observation concerning the nature of health care rationing:
“The view that medical care should be withheld from people based not merely on the likelihood of success or the cost but on judgments about the quality of their lives is no longer held only by a fringe. Practices that are at best close cousins to euthanasia have become widespread.”
Assorted Links (8/17/2009)
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Economics
- The 50 Most Important Economic Theories, by Donald Marron
Health Care Reform
- We Don’t Spend Enough on Health Care, by Craig Karpel
WSJ: “It’s crazy to adopt a bean-counting mentality amid revolutionary, albeit expensive, advances in medicine.” - How American Health Care Killed My Father, by David Goldhill
The Atlantic: “After the needless death of his father, the author, a business executive, began a personal exploration of a health-care industry that for years has delivered poor service and irregular quality at astonishingly high cost. It is a system, he argues, that is not worth preserving in anything like its current form. And the health-care reform now being contemplated will not fix it. Here’s a radical solution to an agonizing problem.”
Public Policy
- Why Government Can’t Run a Business, by John Steele Gordon
WSJ: “Politicians need headlines. Executives need profits.”
Levon Helm Ramble at the Ryman
My wife Jan and I watched this program tonight – a truly amazing performance!
Assorted Links (8/16/2009)
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Health Care Reform
- Why We Need Health Care Reform, by Barack Obama
- A Public Option Isn’t a Curse, or a Cure, by Richard Thaler
Game Theory
- Can Game Theory Predict When Iran Will Get the Bomb?, by Clive Thompson
Assorted Links (8/15/2009)
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Politics
- From ‘Yes, We Can,’ to ‘No! Don’t!, by Peggy Noonan
WSJ: “Obama turns out to be brilliant at becoming, not being, president.”
Health Care
- Obama’s Health Care Will Make It Worse, by Robert Samuelson
- The worst health care reform ever? and A very good article on health care economics, by Tyler Cowen
- Obama and the Practice of Medicine, by Scott Gottlieb
WSJ: “Why is the president convinced so many doctors and patients are making irrational decisions?” - President Obama on end-of-life care
Resources and Books on the Economic Way of Thinking
George Mason University economist Russell Roberts has authored a series of essays entitled “Ten Key Ideas: Opening the Door to the Economic Way of Thinking” that are well worth reading. The 10 key ideas include the following: 1. Incentives Matter, 2. Understanding Costs, 3.How Markets Work, 4. How Prices Emerge, 5. Comparative Advantage, 6. The Division of Labor, 7. The Extended Order of Cooperation, 8. Externalities, 9. How Politicians Behave, and 10. What Politicians Can and Cannot Do.
There are also a number of popular books on the “Economic Way of Thinking” that I can recommend. For starters, there’s Roberts’ own book, entitled “The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity” (also consider listening to the hourlong Roberts on the Price of Everything podcast for some background and context for the book). The best selling book entitled “Freakonomics” by Levitt and Dubner is definitely worth considering. “Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science by Charles Wheelan, “The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford, and “Armchair Economist: Economics & Everyday Life” by Steven Landsburg are also good reads!
Health Care Reform Readings for today (8/14/2009)
Here are links to two articles on health care reform that I read earlier today. I particular like John Cochrane’s ideas about market-based mechanisms for addressing pre-existing conditions. Earlier this week, a WSJ editorial entitled “The Truth About Health Insurance” noted, among other things, that “University of Chicago economist John Cochrane also argues that in a more rational individual insurance market, people could insure not merely against medical expenses but also against changes in health status. This kind of insurance would cover the risk of premiums rising as you get older and your health condition changes.”
- The Great ‘Prevention’ Myth, by Charles Krauthammer
Charles Krauthammer takes issue with the conventional wisdom that prevention serves the dual purposes of saving lives while saving money. Like most conventional wisdom, this is wrong; overall, preventive care has been shown to increase medical costs. - What to Do About Pre-existing Conditions, by John H. Cochrane
WSJ: “Most Americans worry about health coverage if they lose their job and get sick. There is a market solution.”
Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Longlist
Here’s the “longlist” for the 2009 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. Apparently this list will get whittled down to a “shortlist” on September 17, and the “winner” will be announced at the end of October at a gala event in London.
- Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism by George A Akerlof, Robert J Shiller
- Clever: Leading Your Smartest, Most Creative People by Rob Goffee, Gareth Jones
- Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson
- Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World by Stephen Green
- House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street By William D Cohan
- How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give in by Jim Collins
- Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation by Nandan Nilekani
- In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic by David Wessel
- Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed
- The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, the Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals by Frank Partnoy
- The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street by Justin Fox
- Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good by Rosabeth Moss Kanter
- This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly by Carmen M Reinhart, Kenneth Rogoff
- Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal, by Tristram Stuart
- Why Your World Is about to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization by Jeff Rubin
I have read only two of the books on the list (cf. items 5 and 11 below), so it looks like I have some catching up to do!
The ft.com article entitled “Reading into financial crises past, present and future” provides a useful synopsis of these books.
My Favorite (and the Wall Street Journal’s Favorite) Economics Websites/Blogs
There are a number of useful resources available on the Internet that complement the study of economics. Two of my favorite sites include the Library of Economics and Liberty at George Mason University and Greg Mankiw’s Blog. The Library of Economics and Liberty represents a particularly ambitious project, offering “…a unique combination of resources for students, teachers, researchers, and aficionados of economic thought”, including articles, books, an encylopedia, a blog called EconLog, and a podcast site called Econtalk. Greg Mankiw is an economics professor at Harvard University and author of a very popular introductory economics textbook. The Library of Economics and Liberty boasts a clearly libertarian perspective, whereas Professor Mankiw is a conservative, having served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Bush (obviously the fact that I like both of these sites unambiguously reveals my personal philosophical/political biases).
EconLog and Greg Mankiw’s Blog both made the Wall Street Journal’s (July 16, 2009) list of the “Top 25 Economics Blogs”. Here’s the listing and description of the top 25 (as well as the 5 “honorable mentions).