"The NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health provides summaries of publications like this. You can sign up to receive the NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health by email. Economists seeking to improve the efficiency of health care delivery frequently emphasize two issues: the fragmented structure of...

"Why doesn't healthcare get better and cheaper? The evolution of the cell phones that we carry in our pockets demonstrates that quality can increase while prices fall. Why not in healthcare? Our answer is that the health sector generates the wrong kinds of innovation. It is too easy to profit...

Hospitals are currently under pressure to control the cost of medical care, while at the same time improving patient health outcomes. These twin concerns are at play in an important and contentious decision facing hospitals--choosing appropriate nurse staffing levels. Intuitively, one would...