With the passage of Medicare in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson opined “No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that [older Americans] have so carefully put away over a lifetime.” As the demographics of this country expand the pressures on our slowly growing economy, payment for an expensive illness response system may indeed crush … More Medical Care As We Know It In The US Is Unsustainable.
On April 6th, I spoke to the Marathon County community on the Affordable Care Act. This talk was sponsored by the Wisconsin Institute for Policy and Service at which I am a Senior Economics Fellow. You may view the entire presentation, including introductions and Q & A, through the following youtube video.
In previous blog postings (here and here), I have addressed some of the key myths regarding international trade as well as the difficulties in determining whether U.S. exchange rates are over, under, or fairly valued. This posting addresses how the forces that drive globalization have changed and so has the distribution of income (in both … More A Second Globalization Features The Great Convergence
In my previous posting on the ACA, I posited five questions that serious health policy reform should address. High risk pools form part of a response to the first question: Who should pay for the predictably expensive (such as those with chronic disease)? Based on Statistical Brief #497 (SB497) from the Agency for Healthcare Research … More Are High Risk Pools the Best Way to Keep Down Premiums in the Non-Group Insurance Market?
We know that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) cannot stand without change. What we don’t know is what will replace or repair it. Given the array of statements regarding values and principles, there is the potential for public policy that could largely deliver on a set of shared values (based on … More The Affordable Care Act: What’s Next?
Currency exchanges rates between any two countries are determined by a variety of factors including their balance of trade and payments, capital flows (both restricted and unrestricted), and monetary policies. In a recent posting on Conversable Economics, Timothy Taylor argued that “all exchange rates are bad” (meaning that they generate some negative consequences.) Although this … More Are U.S. Exchange Rates Too High, Too Low, or Just Right?
This commentary was originally posted on July 25th, 2016. Central bankers in all major developed economies have adopted NIRP, ZIRP, or near ZIRP policies. The Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank now “offer” negative interest rates (NIRP) on deposits and project to do so for the foreseeable future. The Bank of England and […]
… More Monetary Policy in an Age of Radical Uncertainty (reposting)
