Health care
Editors’ Briefing: On Our Radar This Week (Dec. 9–Dec. 16)
This week in political economy.
House and Senate Republicans released the final version of their tax bill late Friday afternoon. The Washington Post breaks...
The Secret Driver of US Health Care Costs: Politicians Wanting to Get Reelected
A pioneering new study provides a first-of-its-kind look into the outsized effect that lobbying and political maneuverings have on health care spending.
Americans spend significantly more...
How Medical Licensing Drives Up Health Care Prices
The role of licensing in driving up health care costs has been almost completely ignored. The apparent explanation is that nobody can imagine that...
Perverse Market Incentives Encourage High Prescription Drug Prices
Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are the under-discussed market participants who manage prescription drug insurance for the vast majority of Americans. PBMs claim to be a lone...
Earnings Inequality: The Implications of the Rapidly Rising Cost of Employer-Provided Health Insurance
The problem of rising healthcare costs cannot be fixed by the current prescription of redistributive policies. Policymakers must redirect their focus.
Concern about income inequality...
Certificate of Need Laws Show Entry Barriers Can Raise Spending
In most states, health care providers who seek to open a new hospital must obtain a “certificate of need” (CON) from a state board certifying...
“There Is Regulatory Capture, But It Is By No Means Complete”
Kenneth J. Arrow, one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, reflects on the benefits of a single payer health care system,...
