Economist Job Market

If you are are working towards a PhD in Economics—like myself—you may be interested in what the job market has in store for you when you graduate. If that is the case, you should check out an excellent article by John Cawley titled ‘A guide (and advice) for economists on the U.S. Junior Academic Job…

“Black Market” Pharmaceuticals

In June of 2005, a pharmaceutical named BiDil used to combat heart failure was approved by the FDA. While this is not a notable event—there are many drugs to treat heart failure—the approval is novel since it was only approved for African-American patients. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the FDA “…approved BiDil for use…

Terminator on Health Care: Part II

Yesterday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his plan to provide universal health care for all Californians.  Here are some news sites as well as some reactions from around the web. Office of the Governor press release The Current Word Blog by Jim Mathies New York Times and L.A. Times Health Affairs blog (“From Congress to California“)…

Terminator on Health Care: Part I

Last December, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger held a press conference detailing some of the problems in the California health care system. For instance, there are 6.5 million California residents without insurance; the governor claims that individuals insurance premiums are about $500 higher (or $1200 for a family or four) than they would be if these uninsured…

California, Canada?

The Orange County Register had an interesting column in this Sunday’s paper. The article discusses the Field Poll which I mentioned on Thursday (“California wants…“), and concludes that Californians’ wish to have government-provided health care will lead to a Canadian-style system.  Below is the article written by senior editorial writer Steven Greenhut. “I was in…

Inequality and Health Benefits

Many politicians and economists worry over the growing wage inequality which has arisen in the last few decades in the United States. On Wednesday, the New York Times published a story on this very topic (“…Paychecks“); Greg Mankiw also commented on the subject as well.  Statistics show that real wages grew 30% for those in…

Cavalcade of Risk #16

In this New Year’s edition of the Cavalcade of Risk, the Healthcare Economist will make four New Year’s resolutions.  They are: 1) to get better Health Insurance, 2) to promote better Public Policy on health issues, 3) to improve the Health for individuals around the world and 4) to increase society’s wealth. What does better Health Insurance…