When the value of a medical treatment differs across individuals, it may be socially beneficial to treat some, but not all, patients. If individuals are ignorant of their health status ex ante, they should be willing to purchase insurance fully covering treatments for high-benefit patients (Hs)...

Global trade and payments data, although absolutely essential to an understanding of the pattern and direction of world commerce, are not completely unambiguous. Compilers of such data face numerous problems of definition and measurement of particular components of nations' aggregate external...

Since 1950, medical care prices have risen twice as fast as nonmedical prices, as indicated by the CPI and other price indexes. Indexes, however, may overstate price increases in medicine compared to other sectors. Extracting prices from expenditure data is difficult in all service sectors...

The architects of the European Monetary Union (EMU) face a dilemma in trying to balance the advantages of decentralized administration against the dangers of nationalism. In this respect, the American model suggests a way to stabilize the EMU by disengaging it from everyday politics

The European Community is stepping tentatively toward a European Monetary Union (EMU) that would replace most of Western Europe's currencies with a single money, perhaps called the European Currency Unit (ECU). No previous monetary union ever involved such a large portion of the world economy or...

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or “drones”) can bring a powerful lifesaving capability to medical situations in which time is critical. Eventually, drones may also bring efficiency and cost savings to nonurgent medical situations. In some places, such as Rwanda and Ghana, UAVs are already...

The Healthcare Openness and Access Project (HOAP) is a collection of state-by-state comparative data on the flexibility and discretion that US patients and providers have in seeking and delivering healthcare. HOAP combines these data to produce 41 indicators of openness and accessibility. In...

The speed and scope of COVID-19 took the United States by surprise. No state was adequately prepared to handle the pandemic, and no federal agencies had enough knowledge to offer sufficient guidance. As the country continues to cope with the crisis, the extent to which regulatory restrictions on...

This paper examines some of the flaws in Medicare's pricing system and considers some potential fixes. As currently structured, Medicare's reimbursement system stifles incentives to seek lower prices. Prices are recommended by provider groups and centrally administered. With what amounts to an...

There's a widespread perception that transparent pricing would push healthcare prices downward. While this may be true in certain markets, in many others, it would have little price impact or could even push prices upward via tacit collusion. Under perfect competition, prices are universally...