How Real are the Defects in Toyota’s Cars? The Atlantic‘s Megan McArdle parses the data. It appears to me that this whole episode may have created a once in a lifetime “buying opportunity” for people who may currently be in the market for a new, high quality car; i.e., a Toyota or a Lexus!
I recommend reading the WSJ Health Blog entry entitled “WellPoint’s Argument for 39% Rate Hike: Adverse Selection”, by Jacob Goldstein. This article explains how adverse selection is causing health insurance claims costs to increase substantially in the individual health insurance market in California. The adverse selection has come primarily in the form of healthy policyholders [...]
Today’s Wall Street Journal cites a forthcoming (February 2, 2010) book entitled “The Quants“, written by Scott Patterson, who also writes for the Journal. An excerpt from this book appears on WSJ.com today under the title “The Minds Behind the Meltdown”, with the (provocative and candidly, rather hyperbolic) subtitle: “How a swashbuckling breed of mathematicians and computer [...]
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic): Economics
Obamanomics, by Jeffrey Miron
“Harvard economics guru beaks down Obamas’ income redistribution plan.”
Health Care Reform
The Other Senate Maverick, by William McGurn
“Joe Lieberman is a party apostate on health care.”
Healthcare Reform and the Big Tradeoff, by Greg Mankiw The Values Question, by David Brooks
“Like [...]
I would like to call attention to a short article entitled “Swine flu vaccines and elasticity of supply”. The author of this article, Geoff Riley, claims that most of the swine flu market is being contested by only four companies: GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis AG and AstraZeneca. He also notes that “For students of the price mechanism it [...]
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic): Economics and the Financial Crisis
Stimulus Spending Doesn’t Work, by Robert Barro and Charles Redlick
Wall Street Journal: “Our new research shows no evidence of a Keynesian ‘multiplier’ effect. There is evidence that tax cuts boost growth.”
Foreign Policy
We can’t afford ambivalent president, by [...]
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic): Behavioral Economics
Opting in vs. Opting Out, by Richard Thaler
New York Times: “If choosing to be an organ donor were easier, would more people donate? It’s a question for behavioral economics.”
Health Care Reform
How a Tax Can Cut Health Costs, by David Leonhardt
New [...]
One month ago, I blogged about a new book entitled “ Health Care for Us All: Getting More for Our Investment” written by Baylor economists Earl Grinols and Jim Henderson (see “ Baylor University Economists Call for Different Tack on Health Care Insurance”). I would like to call attention to guest columns by both of [...]
Although this video is somewhat dated (since it makes passing reference to the health care reform proposals of the 2008 presidential candidates), it provocatively illustrates why a nontrivial proportion of the nearly 47 million Americans who lack health insurance may be “voluntarily” uninsured. Indeed, a recently released study by the Employment Policies Institute puts the number of uninsured Americans ages 18-64 who [...]
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic): Economics
Positive, Normative, and … ?, by Donald Marron The Least Surprising Correlation of All Time, by Greg Mankiw
Global Warming
Technology Can Fight Global Warming, by Bjorn Lomborg Wall Street Journal: “Marine cloud whitening, and other ideas.”
Health Care Reform
A Strategy to Save Obamacare, But at [...]