In fields as diverse as cosmetic surgery and LASIK surgery, we are discovering that healthcare markets can give patients transparent package prices and that costs can be controlled—despite a huge increase in demand and enormous technological change (of the type we are told increases costs for healthcare generally). For services as diverse as walk-in...
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Arline Alchian Hoel reports that her father, Armen Alchian, “passed away peacefully in his sleep early this morning at his home in Los Angeles.” He was 98 years old. Armen Alchian was a major figure in the economics profession for more than half a century. At UCLA, where he spent his academic career as...
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The world-renowned philosopher Alvin C. Plantinga has recently received the prestigious Nicholas Rescher Prize for Contributions to Systematic Philosophy, awarded by the University of Pittsburgh’s Departments of Philosophy, History, and Philosophy of Science, and the Center for the History and Philosophy of Science. Plantinga is widely known for his work in the philosophy of...
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Ronald Coase, the 101-year old, Nobel Prize-winning economist from whose essay, “The Lighthouse in Economics” the Independent Institute takes its logo, is at it again: tweaking his fellow economists for being out of touch with reality in a new piece in the December 2012 Harvard Business Review (HBR), “Saving Economics from the Economists.” Economics...
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Three features of ideal health insurance would make it especially superior to the health insurance arrangements that prevail today, as I outline in my recent book, Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis. Ideal Health Insurance Is Patient Centered A large portion of our healthcare dollars would be placed in accounts that we individually own and control....
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John Stossel has often said “government can’t do anything better than people in a free market.”  I recognize that lots of readers of The Beacon will agree, so let me throw out one example that I believe counters Stossel’s claim: GPS. Uncle Sam put up those satellites that produce GPS signals, and none of...
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In those healthcare markets where third-party payment is nonexistent or relatively unimportant, providers almost always compete for patients based on price. As I wrote in my recent book, Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, where there is price competition, transparency is almost never a problem. Not only are prices posted (e.g., at walk-in clinics, surgicenters,...
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Time and again, President Obama has told us how he intends to solve our healthcare problems: spend money on pilot programs and other experiments, find out what works, and then copy it. He’s also repeatedly said the same thing about education. The only difference: In education, we’ve already been following this approach with no...
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What do you do with a public school district that spends more than $16,500 per student, runs deficits upwards of $11 million, and where student performance has stalled? Outsource school management, according to officials in one Michigan city. Highland Park City Schools are among the lowest ranked schools in the state. Highland Park Community...
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The interest rate on federally subsidized student loans is set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1 absent Congressional action. Apparently a deal is forthcoming. Too bad the rhetoric surrounding this debate isn’t. First some background. Back in 2007 the College Cost Reduction and Access Act implemented a five-year, phased-in...
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