The Economist Magazine argues that the entire world should adopt universal health care because universal health care is both desirable and possible, even in low-income countries. Some countries achieved near-universal coverage when they were still relatively poor. Japan reached 80%…
Blog Archives
Why are we so afraid of other nations that can’t even take care of their own shit?
TomDispatch has a great article about the insanity of our military’s spending priorities and the money-grubbing paranoia of the associated defense-industrial complex. It is scary. You gotta read it. At the same time, all rich nations are military allies of…
Posted in Development, Public Finance
Escaping the tyranny of climate
Note: This is an abbreviated repost that I did for a climate change class of an article I wrote that focused more on economic development. Humans co-evolved with our technological inventions for warming up in the cold: fire, shelter, and…
Posted in Development
Jaywalking in Guatemala
As a visitor to Guatemala, I’ve often heard cautions from Guatemalans to be extra careful crossing the road because cars have the right of way and might run me over. Although cars give very little regard to pedestrian safety, there…
Posted in Development, Public Finance
Eradicating diseases through individual efforts only works when there is no poverty
There are many diseases that have been basically eradicated from rich countries because they are easy to cure with modern medicine, but they persist in poor nations for the lack of money for basic treatments. For example, I’ll be taking…
Posted in Development, Health
The end of the efficiency-equity curve
Updated January 15, 2024 In rich nations, inequality dramatically dropped during the first decades of the 20th century and although inequality has been creeping up again over the past half century (especially in the US) it has remained lower than…
Double miracles: corn & nixtamalization
Corn (called ‘maize’ in European English) is a miracle grain that is more productive than any other under a wide variety of ecological conditions. Only sugar cane, rice sweet potatoes and “Irish” potatoes rival corn at producing the most calories…
Posted in Development
Medianism 