Open thread for July 18, 2008.

by rdan Voxeu has a good essay on drug innovation statistics and how lives are helped, as well as the expenses involved. In a new study, we examine the impact of pharmaceutical innovation on the longevity of Australians during the period 1995-2003 (Lichtenberg and Duflos 2008). In one important respect, the data available for Australia […]

by rdan Citizen lets us know a report is out for the first time on real data for malpractice suits and costs. First time anytime, and all the propaganda and closed books comes to a halt. (year 2005) The medical liability system is not one of “jackpot” justice, in which patients go to court and […]

by rdan Hat tip to OMB Watch for the post on dueling papers and economists on our future federal budget dilemmas. (Most of us are ignoring the state level shortfalls to date…rdan) Drawing a picture by numbers…what the Brookings/Heritage people did not say. The Center on Budget Policy Priorities has issued its own report on […]

reader mcwop sends this book review for us to read: We looked at this issue as part of a background study in support of a book we’re working on titled Undress For Success: The Naked Truth About Working From Home to be published by John Wiley & Sons. The top part of the results form […]

The Wall Street Journal has an opinion by Thomas Frank on the topic of spending by Republicans. In other articles he is very hard on the stupidity of Democratic campaigns and culture war tactics…which so far has been won by this current group of Republicans. One fact about government outsourcing is settled: It sure doesn’t […]

I thought I would start posting charts like this to show the major economic indicators compared to what happens historically in economic downturns. It should help people put the data in perspective.The recent parts strike in the auto industry impacted industrial production in recent months — reducing output over the last couple of months and […]

New England Journal of Medicine notes: A leading drug company may be poised to win a landmark legal victory next fall. If the drug manufacturer, Wyeth, prevails in a case soon to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court (Wyeth v. Levine),1 drug companies could effectively be immunized against state-level tort litigation if their products […]

Dean Baker writes in Perspective: “Senator McCain was in Colombia last week touting his support for the trade agreement that the Bush administration had negotiated with the country. He also touted his support for NAFTA, contrasting both positions with Senator Obama’s opposition to the two pacts. McCain had an important ally in his campaign. The […]

Cactus states from last year that: Some readers have said that one cannot read much into the results of all these series, that they do not, in fact, show that Democrats do a better job at these measures than Republicans. These readers tend to want to vote Republican, and they insist that most of a […]