Do Economists Support FDA Pre-approval of Drugs?

Conventional wisdom holds that economists advocate for reducing regulation on most policy arenas.  Regulation imposes costs and businesses and is often ineffective.  Further, as technology and market conditions change, regulations which were originally welfare enhancing can now become archane. The public generally views the FDA’s pre-approval as a worthwhile endeavor.  The goal of FDA pre-approval…

Eligibility Requirement for California Government Health Insurance Programs

The California HealthCare Foundation has an almanac entry on Children’s Health Coverage Facts and Figures.  Eligibility requirements for these programs is described in this table.  Other key findings include: The proportion of children without health insurance continued to decline through 2007, though the pace of improvement has slowed. Nearly 80 percent of California’s uninsured children…

Ten questions to ask your doctor

After viewing a cute ad, I went to the AHRQ homepage.  The agency gives a nice list of 10 recommended questions you should ask your doctor. Additional questions directly pertaining to specific types of care are also available. What is the test for? How many times have you done this? When will I get the…

Vice

Economic Inquiry has some interesting articles on the vices of drinking and smoking: Minimum Drinking Age Laws do not affect the rate of traffic fatalities.   Fraternity and Sorority membership increases drinking intensity and frequency. Increased Obesity rates are not caused by the Decreasing number of Smokers.