Changing the debate

Richard Conniff suggests “I propose we stop saying ‘taxes’ and start calling them ‘dues.’”  Apparently  it’s their money…but we may be allowed to keep some.  Uncle Karl would be proud!

Globalization

Don Boudreaux discusses globalization; and Montana receives a mention.

The phantom menace

If the severity of harm is 1 and the frequency of occurrence is 1 in 20 million should we worry?  Perhaps we should if we want to sell newpapers, recall:  “The 5 Most Ridiculously Over-Hyped Health Scares of All Time.”  More here.

Guns and market effects

Carol of Missoulapolis wonders about the effect created by state – um…assistance? – in the firearms market. I’m reminded of Alex Tabarrok’s assessment of same:

Even putting aside the obvious nonsense, gun buybacks simply don’t work. In technical terms the supply of guns to Oakland is perfectly elastic so buybacks won’t reduce the number of guns in Oakland.

It appears that the market for arms is much the same as the market for drugs, or any other normal goods market.  An effort to artificially restrict supply will raise price and illicit entry.

Healthcare cost containment and options

Many support single-payer (read government) financing of heathcare, or mandates; does the pooling of risk contain costs and/or allocate benefits more effectively, i.e. for disadvantages groups? Answer…

Using data across the OECD, I find that almost all financing choices are compatible with efficiency in the delivery of health care, and that there has been no consistent and systematic relationship between financing and cost containment. Using data on expenditures and life expectancy by income quintile from the Canadian health care system, I find that universal, publicly-funded health insurance is modestly redistributive. Putting $1 of tax funds into the public health insurance system effectively channels between $0.23 and $0.26 toward the lowest income quintile people, and about $0.50 to the bottom two income quintiles. Finally, a review of the literature across the OECD suggests that the progressivity of financing of the health insurance system has limited implications for overall income inequality, particularly over time.

Cost containment is minimal or non-existent and allocation is mildly progressive; therefore a follow-up question is useful: Is single-payer healthcare, or mandated insurance, a good policy choice relative to other progressive allocation mechanisms desirable? Unlikely.

Hurricane…not the movie

Suggesting that Hurricanes and Climate Change have no relationship.

Jacque Wayne?

France’s counterterrorism expertise:

The more a country practices, the better it gets. France has become the most accomplished counterterrorist practitioner in Europe.

To become “the best” they’ve become slightly intrusive, something we may not be prepared to tolerate.

Important mandate

If a proposal in the Florida legislature passes, we won’t have to worry about running out of T.P. in the Disney World bathrooms.

Julian Simon on outcome per-dollar cost

Losers

A useful line: it’s not that government policy picks losers, it is that losers pick government policy. Should the paper be forwarded to the MCCAC, or is it unrelated?