Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Many economists and public plicy researchers have found that cigarette taxes reduce smoking. This means that cigarette taxes must be good for your health…right? A study by Baum (2009) claims that cigarette taxes may improve health, but not by as much as previously thought. The paper finds that increasing the cigarette tax decreases smoking, but…
The Healthcare Economist was ranked as one of the top 100 health policy blogs by the Health Tech’s Blog website.
Tomorrow morning, I’m off to San Francisco for the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) meetings. I have 20 job interviews in 4 days. Wish me luck.
“…be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.” Warren Buffet
Economists have generally found that rich people are happier. People who are wealthy are likely to be happier than those who have trouble affording food, clothes, or shelter. What is driving this happiness differential? Is the additional happiness from additional wealth due to the fact that you can more easily fulfill basic needs, or is…
Should breast feeding be mandatory? Find out in the New Year’s Eve edition of the Cavalcade of Risk at the Colorado Health Insurance Insider.
In the Health Care Blog, Robert Laszewski suberbly analyzes Congressional Budget Office (CBO)’s two papers. His key points are that 1) there is no silver bullet and 2) “really controlling costs will be very hard and will require some courageous and politically problematic actions.” I would point out other highlights, but the post is so…
I am taking a break from blogging about health care and focusing on the health of the Green Bay Packers. For those appreciate the quantitative focus of this blog, do not dispair, there will be lots of numbers. Rodgers vs. Favre At the beginning of the NFL season, the Packers jettisoned their hall of fame…
Many pundits are calling for Barack Obama to fund massive infrastructure projects. UC-San Diego economist Jim Hamilton of believes that increased block grants to states will not only stimulate the economy, but also permit states the flexibility they need to spend these fund efficiently.
Let us say that you are a hospital administrator. You are very clever and have come up with a system to score the quality of the work done by the physicians at your hospital. To simplify things, lets assume that you only have 3 physicians who work at your hospital. The physician’s scores are as…