Share of US Adults Without Health Insurance
One genuine accomplishment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 is that it reduced the share of Americans lacking health insurance. The National Center for Health Statistics has just published the most estimates for 2017 in "Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, 2017," Robin A. Cohen, Emily P. Zammitti, and Michael E. Martinez (May 22, 2018). Here are a few snapshots:
- 25/05/2018
- 7
Why is Inflation Stuck so Low?
I suspect that I am like many economists, in that when I am asked about causes of inflation, I can almost see the words from a 1970 speech by Milton Friedman scrolling across my mind's eye: "Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output." (It's from Friedman's 1970 lecture, The Counterrevolution in Monetary Theory.")
- 24/05/2018
- 6
The Stockholm Congestion Charge
Economists have long argued that it's very hard to build your way out of traffic congestion--regardless of whether the building means adding lanes to roads or adding mass transit. The fundamental issue is that many of the people commuting to work have three adjustments they can make: some of them can adjust the time they choose to travel; some of them can adjust the route they travel; and some of them can adjust the method of their travel (single car vs. carpool, car vs. mass transit, and the like).
- 23/05/2018
- 6
China Now Has a Trade Deficit
A large share of the concern over China's effect on the world economy starts with large Chinese trade surpluses. But in the first few months of 2018, China's trade balance was negative (using the standard broad measure of the current account balance). That is, China had a trade deficit, not a trade surplus. For example, the Economist magazine reports: "China’s vanished current-account surplus will change the world economy" (May 17, 2018). The South China Morning Post reports: "China’s first current account deficit for 17 years ‘could signal fundamental shift" (May 4, 2018).
- 22/05/2018
- 6
Index Funds vs. Hedge Funds: Buffett's Bet, 10 Years Later
Warren Buffett is of course as the golden-touch investor who is chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Each year he writes a letter to his shareholders, and along with an update on just what the firm did the previous year, he often discusses some broader point. In the last couple of years, Buffett's annual letter has harked back to a revealing bet he made 10 years in December 2007.
- 21/05/2018
- 3
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