Currently there is a scandal over the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups for investigation of whether they qualify for their tax exempt status or whether they are primarily political. The main issue at stake is whether the groups can…
Blog Archives
Sarcasm In Chinese
When I lived in China, my sarcasm often fell flat. The Chinese simply don’t use it the same way as Americans do. They understand irony and satire, but a short, sarcastic comment was often taken literally. If we were discussing…
Posted in sarcasm
Econobloggers Need Sarcasm Marks
Econobloggers frequently use sarcasm and need better punctuation to make the prose flow better. For example, Paul Krugman wrote about the debt crisis: “The new CBO numbers are out, and they scream “debt crisis? What debt crisis?”” This would be…
Introducing Medianism.Org
Economics is sometimes called the Dismal Science because of the dismal ethical implications of the discipline. Yesterday I was reminded of that when one of my smart students told me that I teach that altruism is impossible. I do not…
The 100-Year Anniversary of Medical Education Reform
What kind of schools do you think of as being “private ventures, money making in spirit and object. Income was simply divided among the lecturers. No applicant for instruction who could pay his fees or sign his note was turned…
Posted in Health
Inflated Hospital Costs
USA Today: It isn’t just $5-a-pill aspirin. Daily room charges exceed $5,000 in some New Jersey hospitals. An appendectomy in California, including about two days in the hospital, has an average list charge of $18,000. Nationally, federal data show the…
Posted in Health
Moral Hazard & Adverse Selection
Adverse selection and moral hazard are both caused by asymmetrical information and are sometimes difficult to distinguish from one another. Adverse selection is the selection bias that happens before a contract happens and moral hazard is the change in behavior…
Posted in Health
Medianism 