Nobel Prize in Economics

Today, Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University and Oliver E. Williamson of the University of California, Berkeley won the Nobel prize in Economics.  Dr. Ostrom won “for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons” and Dr. Williamson “for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm.” According to the N.Y. Times: The…

The Nobel Prize in Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Medicine went to Elizabeth Blackburn from the University of California, San Francisco, Jack Szostak from Harvard Medical School and Carol Greider from Johns Hopkins University.  The nobel prize was awarded “for work on the existence and nature of telomerase, an enzyme that helps prevent the fraying of chromosomes and is core…

Tuesday Links

Blogger Disclosure Rules. [Don’t worry, the Healthcare Economist does not take any money for endorsements.] Broadway weighs in on health care. Switzerland: universal coverage with private, not-for-profit health insurance companies. $6.6 billion pharmaceutical deal. Problem with many P4P measures: small sample size.

Friday Links

Jacob Hacker thinks Co-ops have “have little chance of offering the broad choice of providers and portable, standardized, nation-spanning coverage that a national public plan offers.” Health Care is a right: An Interpretation through Dance.   Rules for Re-writing. HMOs can reduce defensive medicine without tort reform.  PPOs cannot. Tort reform may not be cost effective.

Thursday Links

Can architectural design improve primary care?   What is the difference between an individual mandate and a tax increase? Health care lessons from Israel. Factors that influence the adoption of electronic health records.  Is the creation of an “independent” cost-effectiveness agency possible?

MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellowship Winners

Yesterday, the winners of the prestigious MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellowships were unveiled.  Twenty winners received $500,000 of funding over 5 years with no strings attached.  Some of the winers include: Esther Duflo is a development economist exploring the social and economic forces perpetuating the cycle of poverty for the poorest peoples in South Asia and Africa..…

Links

Monday Links: Economists solve an age-old economics problem: toilet seat up or down? Is Sweden is more capitalist than the U.S.? Is $100 million proton beam radiation therapy technology worth the money? Anti-depressants reduce crime? Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust. He needs to review the many resources available at the Holocaust Education Resource Center‘s new website.…

The Baucus Plan

What is Max Baucus proposing in his inital health reform bill?  Most of the principles are based on the Senate Finance Committee 2009 white paper.  Below  Creation of a Health Insurance Exchange. Insurers participating in the exchange could would be precluded from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions. Expand Medicaid to all individuals below 133% of…