Economist’s Morality

I just finished reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a very entertaining novel about the maturation of a boy who grew up in Afghanistan and later emigrated to the United States.  In the book, there is a wonderful passage where the protagonist’s father lectures him on morality.  His speech is one with which most…

Better Health Care

When economists talk of improved healthcare, they are generally speaking of technological improvement or increased efficiency in the production of medical care.  When most people talk about better healthcare, “better healthcare” means more medical services for free.  The Angry Economist rants regarding the ‘something-for-nothing’ attitude of the general public. The very existance of that phrase…

Male chauvinist pig of a discipline

Not everyone is like me and enjoys employing the discipline of economics in their research. On the Gendergeek blog, the author claims in her Geek-onomics post that: It worries me that so much of the heavily gendered distortions of modern economics, in conjunction with its methodological fetishism, is unnoticed or ignored. Economics could turn out…

NFL Draft and Physician Diagnosis

Yesterday was the NFL Draft. It is a day of hope where teams can look to their future and see a potential Pro-Bowl individual joining their cadre of players. For instance my favorite team, the Green Bay Packers, selected linebacker A.J. Hawk from Ohio State University. The team was considering trading their number 5 pick…

Health Wonk Review #3

Kate Steadman’s Healthy Policy blog is hosting the Health Wonk Review #3 for this week. The HWR distills two weeks of health policy blogging to bring readers the best of the best. Topics include: Reform: What’s the definition of “isâ€? edition Changes are A’ Comin Medicine and Health Policy From the Unbeaten Health Blogosphere Path…

Tourney Time

The NCAA Men’s basketball tournament is almost upon us. Time to fill out your brackets and cheer for your favorite teams. I have filled out my bracket, but as an economist, I can’t do this as any normal person would. I have used some quantitiative measures in order to rank the teams. The teams are…

Praise for Health Care Economist

I would like to thank Joseph Paduda for his kind words on March 2nd. Principal of Health Strategy Associates, Mr. Paduda cited my Medicare timeline and stated: “Jason Shafrin at Healthcare-Economist.com has provided a brief timeline of the development of Medicare in the US. Jason’s blog is quite good; heavy on the policy side (no…