Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Although mainly discussing the quality of economics blogs focused on Macroeconomic issues, the Economist endorsed the blog-o-sphere as a productive forum for intellectual debate. To give it some historical context: “Previous publishing revolutions, such as the advent of printing, prompted similar concerns about trivialisation and extremism. But whatever you think about the impact of blogging…
Two months ago I was standing in Stockholm’s Stadshuset (City Hall). Soon, Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims will be there as well. The pair, however, will be accepting the 2011 Nobel Prize in Economics. Although I am not a macroeconomist myself, Marginal Revolution has a good description of the pair. Thomas Sargent. Christopher Sims. My…
Nearly 23 million Americans watched a British Prince and his fiancee get married last week. Yet you don’t have to be royalty to enjoy a luxurious wedding. In the U.S., the average wedding costs about $30,000. Weddings in India are well known for their extravagance. “India’s legendary nuptial shindigs risk emptying not just the country’s…
The Purple Health Plan is supposed to be a “moderate” plan for health reform–purple is after all a mix of red and blue. The plan is endorsed by five Nobel laureates. So what is the Purple Health Plan? Key provisions of the plan include the following: All Americans receive a voucher each year to purchase a…
These set of links focus less on Healthcare and are instead more for my Economist readers. Kenyes vs. Hayek: A hip-hop duel The disingenuous spending freeze. Chinese Corruption (e.g., falsifyng $3 billion in earnings) Economics Journals going open-access. John Gruber on the iPad. Will we go the way of Japan? Becker and Posner ponder.
In the past, this blog has reported the average salaries of recent economics PhD graduates. For Econ PhD graduates in 2009, we can update these figures as follows using more recent data. For instance, below are the average (median) starting salaries of recent economics grads by the type of institution by which they were hired.…
Capitalism has taken a beating the past few years. From the mortgage crisis to Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme, from a falling stock market to rising unemployment, capitalism does not seems like the best economic system at present. In fact, Michael Moore even made a movie satirically titled Capitalism: A Love Story. Yet now is not…
“…the lessons of history makes me mindful of a lesson I learned as an operations-research student at the Naval Postgraduate School some years ago. While trying to develop a mathematical model to explain the complexities of naval warfare, I realized that it was simply impossible to develop the perfect model. No amount of mathematical artistry…
The Wall Street Journal reports that the tough economic times has lead to a decline in demand for new Economics Ph.D. students. As someone who is ‘on the job market’ this year, I certainly agree that it has been a tough year. Many universities who placed job advertisements to hire new Ph.D. Economists have since…
The Economist magazine has a listing of the eight up-and-coming economists. Below is a list of their names and some commentary if applicable. Amy Finkelstein. Dr. Finkelstein researches in the public and health economics fields. I have featured here work multiple times on this blog (see here, here, here, here and here). Jesse Shapiro. I…