Category: Uncategorized

Econ Journal Watch has a swath of quotations concerning intellectual pursuits. “[The economist’s] response [to his impotence to influence opinion] may be to retire from that field of intellectual activity in which he could be of direct service to the community and… concentrate on the development of an intricate technique of analysis. he may then find himself the possessor…

A humorous take the serious problem of job lock. HT: Carolyn’s Blog

The Washington Post recounts a cautionary tale concerning a hasty roll-out of the flu vaccine this fall. “As U.S. health officials consider rolling out a plan to inoculate the nation against swine flu in the next several months, they are haunted by the events that unfolded the last time the government stepped in to head…

Marketplace discusses the uptick in Health IT investment.  One reason for the surge is the $19 billion in the Obama stimulus package to encourage doctors to get up to speed using electronic medical records.   Will this money be spent effectively?  Who knows.  I did note last week that 60% of Indian hospitals have HIT compared…

El Universal reports that Mexican police have arrested 13 individuals accused of selling surgical masks on the street.  Should the government arrest individuals selling surgical masks? Any capitalist would in general support the ability of individuals to trade cash for the goods they desire.  However, the case of the surgical mask may be different.  Surgical…

Where has the swine flu been detected?   A map of the H1N1 Swine Flu lists all confirmed, unconfirmed, and negative cases of the swine flu around the world. Mexico City has decided to close all restaurants in the capital, only allowing them to serve food ‘to go.’    Restaurant associations are asking for the restaurant ban to be lifted.…

What caused the housing boom?  Did people really believe that a median home price of over $500,000 in San Diego  were realistic?  Were people caught up in the dot-com boom really rational?  Economics 2.0, reviews a paper saying that rational people will often buy assets that they themselves believe are overvalued.  Why? Let’s say I believe that…

Experiment: Airlift 50,000 Yemini Jews to Israel and randomly place them with Israeli families. Finding: Nuture matters.  “We find that children who were placed in a good environment (a home with good sanitary conditions, in a city, and outside of an ethnic enclave) were more likely to achieve positive long-term outcomes. They were more likely to…

I recently read an interesting book titled Economics 2.0.  The book has a Freakonomics pedigree, but reads more like a newspaper or a blog. The benefit of this format is that the authors are able to review a wide variety of economic studies. The downside is there isn’t any real thesis. The book is basically just: “here…

This week my paper on Pharmacists as vaccinators was accepted for publication by the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Benefits.  Co-authored with John Fontanesi, Jan Hirsch, Sarah Lorentz, and Debra Bowers, “Comparison of Pharmacists and Primary Care Providers as Immunizers” examines whether pharmacists are productive and efficient vaccinators.  The abstract of the paper is below.  The…