Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
The New York Times reports (“Doctor and Patient, Now at Odds“) that the doctor-patient relationship is suffering. Patients no longer place absolute trust in their doctor for a variety of reasons. On the physician side, patients know that doctors are pressured by insurance companies reimbursement mechanisms to have shorter office visits. Reports from the media…
How should you present a lottery to a subject of an economic experiment? Is a pie chart the best? What about a Holt & Laury style chart? I have compiled a document (“Lottery Presentation Styles“) to give you some suggestions.
California has been one of the states that have been hardest hit by the “housing crisis.” According to the May 2008 Case/Shiller Index, home prices in San Diego and Los Angeles Counties have fallen 23% and 25% respectively over the past year. Foreclosures are rising and many houses are now left empty. The Economist reports…
Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review has the latest edition of the Health Wonk Review.
Red Hot Mama calculates the basal metabolic rate (BMR) of Milwaukee Brewers slugger Prince Fielder. Fielder is a vegetarian and in order to maintain his current weight, he would need to eat 14 avocados, 10 blocks of tofu, 100 tomatoes, or 613 cups of fresh spinach per day. HT: Brew Crew Ball
According to U.S. Census projections, the number of individuals 65 and older will increase from 12.4% of the populations in 2000 to 20.7% of the population in 2050. With the expected incredible rise in the number of elderly in the U.S., one would expect a concurrent rise in the number of geriatricians. NPR’s Marketplace, however,…
Does taking time off of work help to improve maternal health after pregnancy? A recent NBER working paper by Pinka Chatterji and Sara Markowitz attempts to answer this question. The abstract of the paper is below: In the United States, almost a third of new mothers who worked during pregnancy return to work within three…
Are marginal utilities higher when you are sick or when you are healthy? What this question basically asks is whether or not you enjoy having more income when you are healthy or when you are sick. On the one hand, when you are healthy, you may value expensive items (e.g., travel, flat screen tv, sports…
Economists believe that the value of life increases as life expectancy increases. While this is generally true, a paper by Jena, Mulligan, Philipson, and Eric Sun (2008) shows that while people value living for a long time, the value this longer life expectancy more when their friends and family also live longer. In the authors…
Many economists over time have tried to measure how risk averse (or risk loving) people are. For instance, some risk averse individuals would prefer having $40 for sure compared to playing a game where if the coin lands heads you get $100 and if the coin lands tails you get $0. Risk averse individuals are…