No Con Economics

America used to be known as the land of free markets.  That may have been the case in the past, but for many sectors, it no longer holds true.  In The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up On Free Markets, Thomas Philippon makes the case that since 2000, Europe and America have switched places.  America … More America: The Land of the Not So Free Markets: A Review of The Great Reversal by Thomas Philippon

It’s time to replace employer sponsored health insurance (ESI) in the United States with a Federally funded payment system that is more efficient, more fair, and more stable. The Covid-19 pandemic driven instability in the US economy and illumination of the inadequacies of our health care system provide a unique policy window (see above figure … More Replace Employer Health Insurance: If Not Now, When?

Few doubt that high and rising prices are a primary cause of both the level and growth of expensive health care in the United States. But policy that only focuses on prices foregoes the opportunity to change the allocation of resources and, thus, the structure of health care delivery needed to improve our health and … More It’s Not Just the Prices, Stupid: Health Care Reform Needs More Than Just Buyer Bargaining Power

This blog posting differs from all my other ones. It describes a recent program that a Lawrence colleague and I organized to fit into Lawrence’s 2 week December term program. The official title: Entrepreneurship in London: From the Mayflower to Brexit. The official photographer for the above photo was Chris Finkler. We had a marvelous … More London: Entrepreneurship and Regeneration

The above title is a portion of the title of an excellent book written in 2007 by Baumol, Litan, and Schramm.  They distinguish four different types of capitalism. The posting below focuses solely on two types: that based on competitive market forces and that based on close relationships between large businesses and politicians.  Inspiration for … More Good Capitalism/Bad Capitalism