Results for “straussian” 192 found
David Cutler and Nikhil Sahni on the health care cost curve
Technological change has also been a key driver of spending increases for some time. From pharmaceuticals to imaging to cardiac procedures, markets have been saturated with new and expensive services and products in recent decades. But the adoption of new technology seems to have slowed. Major parts of imaging growth are down, some cardiac procedures are being performed less frequently as studies show they are overused, and the number of new molecular entities approved by the Food and Drug Administration has not kept up with research and development spending.
To be sure, there are many new drugs and imaging devices on the market, especially in fields like oncology. But sales of these new technologies have been more disappointing than robust. The therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine Provenge was not the hit it was expected to be; Zaltrap, a therapy for some cancers and macular degeneration, had to halve its price because it was losing out to Avastin.
Efficiency efforts are finally taking hold in the health care community. Recent news reports about delivery system changes in large health care organizations, declining rates of hospital-acquired infections, and new emphasis on reducing readmissions are indicative of changes going on across the country. These efforts have been facilitated by the ACA and state efforts to limit Medicaid, total health care spending, or both (as in Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Oregon).
The first part is “the great stagnation to the rescue,” the second part is good news, and in the third part the reference to Massachusetts is some kind of Straussian satire. The article itself is here, and contains further analysis.
The initial pointer is from @JustinWolfers.
Assorted links
1. Marionettebots, Japan, video, culture, markets, etc.
2. Complaints about Canadian currency, and hockey for the blind.
3. Mailbox, a new email service.
4. Measuring the popularity of parks.
5. Is Psy the Antichrist (video)? Is God a Straussian?
6. We are not as wealthy as we thought we were, retirement edition.
On the implied theology of Indian hotel butlers
As the eldest of the three-man team, Mr. Guha. 29, said, he is fluent in 22 subjects related to five-star doting, which include in-room dining, knowledge of international customs and, of course, complaint handling. His skills also extend to fixing the remote, getting spots off the carpet and something called “power dressing.” Mr. Guha says that his primary role, however, is to act as a super-efficient liaison between the guest and the hotel staff — part fixer, part personal assistant, and all yes-man.
“I would never consider a request to be bizarre; we always say it’s challenging,” Mr. Guha said. “I have always been taught that guest is god, and god cannot have a bizarre request.”
Of course I interpret this last quotation in entirely Straussian fashion (furthermore he doesn’t say it’s true, only that he has been taught as such, a classic Straussian move). Here is more, interesting throughout, and for the pointer I thank Apoorv Trivedi.
My favorite films of 2012
Hollywood continues to collapse into mediocre tent pole franchises, but overall it has been a splendid year for movies. Here were some of my favorites, noting that I count by “the year I saw them” and especially for foreign films this will not correspond so well to “the year of release”:
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (boring for most people, big screen only I suspect)
The Raid: Redemption (better Indonesian martial arts you will not see)
Your Sister’s Sister (Straussian)
Circo, Mexican circus movie
Samsara (makes sense on a big screen only, I suspect)
Day Night Day Night (from five years ago, but a real stunner, underrated and a wonderful study of Nudge of top of everything else)
Assorted links
1. ECB document on virtual currency schemes (pdf).
2. Is this the most brilliant computer vs. computer chess game ever? It is so brilliant you might not even be thrilled by it. That’s your fault.
4. How dangerous is dental floss? Waxed or unwaxed? And, as Peter Thiel suggests, have we lost the ability to solve big problems?
5. Subramanian reviews Acemoglu and Robinson.
6. Is it my imagination, or is Mitt getting in a few Straussian pokes at Catholicism here? And Wonkblog does up a Romney tax calculator.
Assorted links
1. What are the cues of distrust?
3. The throwing gap.
4. Chinese Straussians analyze America.
5. Cars that communicate with each other, and the road, are being tested in Michigan.
*Your Sister’s Sister*
I found this film to be a minor masterpiece. It incorporates Girard, Shakespeare, how uncertainty eases deals, and some interesting and possibly true claims about two vs. three-person bargaining games. It is a deep and politically incorrect question to ask why the movie does not start with the Coase theorem already working. I cannot reveal its Straussian propositions about “loser men” without spoiling the plot surprises.
Note: the characters in the film do not seem to consume much information.
Stephen Williamson has doubts about ngdp targeting
Do read his entire post, it is full of content and difficult to excerpt. I would make a few points:
1. A reasonable range of monetary regimes may not matter so much under good times, but we are choosing the regime for the occasional very bad time when a strong response is needed.
2. Williamson’s points about the instability of seasonal ngdp are good, but arguably considering seasonal cycles renders all or most macro theories somewhat incoherent. Given the extreme agnosticism we should then end up in, what is a good policy rule?
3. I believe overnight financial markets could adjust to a variety of reasonable regimes, and indeed the evidence across nations appears to confirm this.
4. Scott for one would definitely admit the all-importance of eliminating interest on reserves.
5. I would add a Straussian reading of ngdp targeting: “The Fed won’t ever do it, because they don’t like to tie their hands. But talking about it may steel their will, and give them a policy rationale, when more expansionary action would be desirable.”
Oddly Williamson does not consider what I consider to be the strongest objection to ngdp targeting, namely that in times of extreme crisis, when loan markets are collapsing, it may force the central bank into a dangerous-and-not-really-output-restoring ratio of currency/credit to meet the ngdp target.
On the off chance that Scott writes a reply to Williamson’s critique, I will link to it in due time. Update: Here it is, I read it after writing my post. It is interesting to compare our responses.
Assorted links
1. Emily Chamlee-Wright is to be provost and dean at Washington College.
2. NBA geography.
3. A Straussian reading of Tabarrok’s Launching the Innovation Renaissance, by the excellent Eli Dourado; “Launching the Innovation Renaissance represents Alex Tabarrok standing athwart history, yelling “Back up 800 years!””.
4. Guns don’t kill people, cannonballs do.
5. The language that is German, a response to Michael Lewis.
Three on Launching
1. The excellent Reihan Salam writes, “Tabarrok’s Launching the Innovation Renaissance is my favorite manifesto in years. In a better world, it would be the roadmap for the U.S. center-right.” Small steps towards a much better world, Reihan!
2. A truly Straussian Straussian Reading of Launching the Innovation Renaissance.
3. I will be speaking at Inventing the Future: What’s Next for Patent Reform at AEI in Washington, DC on Wed. March 14, 12:30-2:00.
*Demystifying the Chinese Economy*
That is the new book by Justin Yifu Lin, who is also Chief Economist of the World Bank. It is derived from lectures delivered in China. Much of the book is an OK survey, though I did not find it added much insight to extant accounts.
The discussion of why China had no Industrial Revolution does not consider individualism or liberalism, a’la McCloskey. And what am I to make of sentences like this?:
Building the new socialist countryside, now on the right track, has produced remarkable results.
I suppose it can be held to be true in both the literal and Straussian senses, but when I read it (and some others) frankly I felt my intelligence was being insulted.
There is plenty of talk lately about ethics standards for economists. How about a new proposal? For anything in the social sciences written by a citizen of China, or by someone with relatives living in China, or by someone working in or for China, there should be a disclaimer on the publication: “Produced under conditions of censorship and threat of career penalty.” I don’t favor actually doing that, but the absence of this idea from the debate is itself revealing.
Assorted links
1. World power swings back to America.
2. Straussian claims about Plato, more here.
3. The Ken Jennings Watson talk, at the Singularity Summit, I enjoyed this very much.
4. The culture that is Fairfax.
Report from the front line
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that the European Central Bank has just one mission — to ensure monetary stability.
Merkel said in a speech to her Christian Democrats in Braunschweig on Saturday that treaties prevent the ECB from taking on any other tasks, such as those such as the U.S. Federal Reserve have.
That could be a clever Straussian feint and bluff, but with what probability? I don’t think so, I think it is for real.
Assorted links
1. Via Chris F. Masse, a weird house.
2. What the silent bank run looks like.
3. David Rothschild on why Hermann Cain has it tough.
4. What exactly is the health care productivity problem?
5. “My date with Keynes” (video, but is it Straussian?)
The draft Eurozone plan
It is here (and further detail here), via Paul Krugman, who rightly slams it. Matt offers comment, so does Wolfgang, many more details and updates here. If you had told me it was an Onion-like satire of all the previous plans, and not an actual serious plan at all, I would have believed you. Here is one of the stranger, funnier, sadder, and more Straussian paragraphs:
6. All other Euro countries solemnly reaffirm their inflexible determination to honour fully their own individual sovereign signature and all their commitments to sustainable fiscal conditions and structural reforms. The Euro area Heads of States or Government fully support this determination as the credibility of all their sovereign signatures is a decisive element for ensuring financial stability in the Euro area as a whole.
In other words: “We know you are worried about Italy and Spain so we promise you that they are fine.” There is a good deal of ah, optimism about the real side of these economies:
9. All euro area Member States will adhere strictly to the agreed fiscal targets, improve competitiveness and address macro-economic imbalances. Deficits in all countries except those under a programme will be brought below 3% by 2013 at the latest…
Here’s an important sentence, and I view the exclusive reference to “Member States” as throwing in the towel:
As a follow up to the results of bank stress tests, Member States will provide backstops to banks as appropriate.
It is also promised that the bailout model for Greece won’t be used again.
Time to blast the Brahms! In all fairness to the plan, maybe that’s the only disc in anyone’s collection these days.
Addendum: “The proposed expansion of the EFSF’s role would have to be ratified by national parliaments, and could fall foul of critics in Germany, the Netherlands and Finland.”