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End prohibition? And replace it with what, precisely?
Archive for June, 2011
June 13th, 2011
Category: Affordable Care Act
Paul Krugman notes in today’s Times that Medicare is cheaper than private insurance. He draws upon a nice column by Austin Frakt and Aaron Carroll, which in turn draws on an impressive line of research by McWilliams, Meara, and colleagues to document that delaying Medicare eligibility is bad for health, and may increase costs, too. [...]
June 13th, 2011
Category: Commerce and its discontents, Drug Policy
Watching the NBA Playoffs and Stanley Cup Finals on the web has introduced me to a relatively new and disturbing development: sweet, fruity distilled spirits. No, not a distilled spirit made out of fruit, such as applejack or grappa: the products I’m talking about are things like Jim Beam’s Red Stag, which is black cherry flavored, [...]
June 13th, 2011
The wrong side of history is an uncomfortable place to be.
June 12th, 2011
Category: Middle East Politics
Al-Jazeera reports that the Syrian security forces are “cracking,” with some soldiers refusing to fire on protesters.
June 12th, 2011
The APA Monitor has an interview with Dr. Sherry Turkle who has documented how iphones, blackberries and other mobile devices have reduced the amount of attention users pay to people who are physically present. I love the technology as much as the next person, but there is something sad in reading that fathers are emailing [...]
June 12th, 2011
Among the most perplexing problems for public managers and policymakers is the make-or-buy question. Sometimes the private sector offers useful guidance. In the past month, for example, we have seen an entertainment firm (possibly a religious cult) providing not only facility maintenance for competitors, but a lesson in good manners (good guests clean up after [...]
June 12th, 2011
Category: Policy Analysis, Public management
Public-private collaboration, for better and for worse, is the way of American government. It’s the subject of John Donahue and Richard Zeckhauser’s new book.
June 12th, 2011
Category: Britain, Journalism (Online and Otherwise)
Westminster and the punditocracy is abuzz today about the delicious political gossip revealed in the Daily Mail. Excerpts from a new book on the Millibands by Mehdi Hasan and James Macintyre include accounts of political fratricide, attempted palace coups and all around nastiness in the recent history of New Labour. Given the talent of British [...]