- Biden’s executive order uses the Defense Production Act (DPA) to allow the government to produce drugs that are in short supply. It also waives any requirement to notify Congress before taking action.
- In 1980, physician donations to the two parties was 50/50; by 2018, 90% of physician donations were going to Democrats.
- Where are all the U-Hauls going? Texas ranks first and California ranks last.
- Australia has gone more than 30 years without a recession. Scott Sumner explains why.
- Can therapy help make you rich? “Light-touch psychological interventions, such as videos that aim to raise aspirations, have shown some promise in … improving economic well-being.”
- Recent increases in Medicare spending have been concentrated in specialties with the greatest proliferation of new Medicare billing codes. This is spending on new procedures.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Wednesday Links
- Prospects look good for musical therapy.
- Does studying economics make you selfish?
- Culture explains some differences in worker productively.
- State governments now spend over $40 billion a year on economic development incentives (giving money to businesses to relocate); yet studies find the spending does not lead to statistically significant improvements in tax revenue, employment, economic growth, or personal income.
- Harvard’s Claudine Gay resigns!
Tuesday Links
- John Cochrane: The right reasons to fire Harvard president, Claudine Gay.
- Expanding primary care with foreign medical school graduates.
- Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is mostly diagnosed between the ages of 45 and 65 (Bruce Willis, for example.) It can be caused by a single genetic mutation. (NYT)
- An estimated 28 percent of prescribed antibiotics are unnecessary.
Do Drug Company Donations Buy Influence? Probably
In the Summer of 2021 I wrote about a controversial new drug for Alzheimer’s Disease. The drug, Aduhelm, did not have a lot of evidence showing it worked. It did have plenty of data showing it came with an extensive list of nasty side effects, including brain swelling and brain bleeds. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it despite the agency’s advisory panel of experts recommending against it. The decision was controversial, and several members of the advisory panel resigned in protest.