Group of Death?

Typically, when the Healthcare Economist talks about death, it deals with sad topics: mortality rates, preventable deaths, etc.  Today, I will discuss a happier death-related topic: the feared “Group of Death”. The World Cup Groups were unveiled today and popular press is claiming that the U.S. team is placed in the Group of Death.  There…

Pure Joy

Spain won the World Cup championship on Sunday with an overtime goal from Andrés Iniesta.  Were the Spanish announcers of Canal + excited at the prospect of their country winning the world cup?  Listen to this. More coverage: Iniesta de nuestras vidas. A bit too much celebration? Who is Dani Jarque? La pasión roja.

The World Cup Begins

The World Cup tournament began today with a 1-1 tie between Mexico and the host South Africa.  The USA’s first game is against England on Saturday.  Who will win the World Cup?  Using ESPN’s Soccer Power Index (SPI), FiveThirtyEight.com predicts the following tournament favorites: Brazil (21.6%) Spain (15.5%) England (11.7%) Argentina (8.8%) Netherlands (8.7%) According…