- Labor Day good news: the number of hours worked per year, per worker has fallen by more than one-third over the last century.
- As your hourly wage rises, so does the opportunity cost of leisure.
- NYT on the reason A.I. is an existential threat: it will usher in an new era of neoliberalism.
- Almost 20 scholars offer remedies for revitalizing conservatism. A bird’s eye view suggests they all want us to stand athwart history and yell, “STOP.”
- Enslaved Africans were responsible for introducing the practice of smallpox inoculation throughout the Americas by the 1700s. Interesting, but speculative.
- Even the proponents of colonoscopies and breast cancer screening think they only lower cancer death by 20%. HT: Arnold Kling
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Monday Links
- The food stamp program doubled in size during th pandemic, yet its 42 million recipients have less healthy diets and are more obese than other Americans.
- The typical Medicare beneficiary has access to around 40 Medicare Advantage plans. (WSJ)
- Medicaid in NY: volatile budget swings.
- GOP answer to drug shortages: exempt generics from the 340b discounts until the shortage is over. (gated)
- The case for drinking. HT: David Henderson
PreCrime Interdiction: Can Future Criminals be Identified in Kindergarten?
A new economic analysis claims to identify future societal costs of kids with behavior problems in kindergarten (summary here). The analysis estimated costs to society in terms of crime, excess health needs and lost productivity.
Sunday Links
- Approximately 99% of new medical devices utilize the 510(k) pathway for speedy FDA approval, but bureaucratic obstacles my slow AI and other innovations.
- The left in Israel demonizes and destroys a right-of-center think tank. Lessons for the US.
- How states scam the feds for Medicaid dollars: in 2023, New Hampshire received $2,123 in DSH grants per poor resident; Wyoming, only $4.
- 40 studies from around the world: learning loss form the pandemic equals about a half a year of schooling. That is equivalent to about 5.5% less life time income.
- The Chinese started lying about Covid almost as soon as Wuhan hospitals started seeing Covid patients.