Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):

Behavioral Economics

• Lessons from an Ad Man

Rory Sutherland wows a TED conference audience with a compelling and highly entertaining sixteen minute talk on advertising and aspects of behavioral economics.  I particularly enjoyed the “market research” segment toward the end of the video on Shreddies, Diamond Shreddies, and the Diamond Shreddies Combo Pack. Hat tip to Tutor2u!

Health Care Reform

• How an insurance mandate could leave many worse off, by Tyler Cowen

“Americans seem to like the idea of broadening health insurance coverage, but they may not want to be forced to buy it. With health care costs high and rising, such government mandates would make many people worse off.”

• Why Government Health Care Keeps Falling in the Polls, by Arthur Brooks

“The health-care debate is part of a larger moral struggle over the free-enterprise system.”

• COBRA: Adverse Selection in Action, by Donald Marron
• The ‘Public Plan’ Delusion, by Robert Samuelson

“In the health care debate, the ‘public plan’ is all things to all people. For supporters, it would discipline greedy private insurers and make health coverage affordable. For detractors, it’s a way station on the path to a single-payer insurance system of government-run health care. In reality, the public plan is mostly an exercise in political avoidance: It pretends to control costs and improve access to quality care when it doesn’t.”

Politics

• ‘Man Up, Obama’ and Other Nonsense, by Joe Queenan

“Our liberal op-ed writers don’t think a president from Chicago is tough enough.”

• The ‘Public Plan’ Delusion, by Robert Samuelson

“In the health care debate, the ‘public plan’ is all things to all people. For supporters, it would discipline greedy private insurers and make health coverage affordable. For detractors, it’s a way station on the path to a single-payer insurance system of government-run health care. In reality, the public plan is mostly an exercise in political avoidance: It pretends to control costs and improve access to quality care when it doesn’t.”

Public Policy and Finance

• Learning to Love Insider Trading, by Donald Boudreaux

“Here’s a hot tip: Want to keep companies honest, make the markets work more efficiently and encourage investors to diversify? Let insiders buy and sell, argues Donald J. Boudreaux.”