Category: Current Events

The N.Y. Times Sunday Magazine has a very interesting article (“Getting Iraq wrong“) which talks about how academics and politicians make decisions. “The philosopher Isaiah Berlin once said that the trouble with academics and commentators is that they care more about whether ideas are interesting than whether they are true. Politicians live by ideas just…

If you are living in Puerto Rico, you may have reason to worry. The BBC reports (“PR seizes fake docs“) that “arrest warrants were issued for at least 88 doctors whom officials allege gained their credentials through fraud or bribery…The arrests are linked to allegations that members of Puerto Rico’s medical licensing board took bribes…

There remains little doubt that health club membership is a luxury good.  More evidence to support this comes from China.  NPR’s Marketplace reports (“…Sport towards China“): “…the average Chinese citizen now has much more disposable income than he or she ever had before. And a big thing they’re doing with that income . . .…

If you want to participate in this week’s edition of the Cavalcade of Risk, please submit your post to me today (Monday, July 30th).  Here are instructions.

The Wall Street Journal (“Doctor Shortage…“) reports that the percentage of medical residents choosing to practice in the primary care arena is falling.  This is likely due to the fact that specialists make significantly more money the primary care doctors.  Arnold Kling of EconLog has an interesting point as primary care physicians shortages and primary…

This past weekend I watched Michael Moore’s new movie Sicko.  The movie was fairly entertaining as it attempted to persuade the audience that universal health care is the way to go in the U.S.  It was, however, a far from accurate portrayal of health care in the U.S., Cuba, France, the UK, and Canada. The…

According to a recent Christian Health Association poll, healthcare ranks at the top of most Americans’ priority lists.  Excluding Iraq, 29% of individuals believed that “providing affordable health care” was the most important issue facing America.  This was followed by “Ensuring homeland security” [22%]; “Reducing government spending and taxes” [19%], “Improving public education” [13%], and…

According to the Wall Street Journal (“Gates Grant Targets Health Gauges“), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $105 million to the University of Washington to establish an institute to measure the impact of public-health programs. The new institute which will be created will focus on quantitative measures of health and will be headed…