On Vacation
I'm escaping from Washington and the blogging world for the next two weeks. I'm back on June15th, barring unpleasant encounters with wildlife.
Until then, don't believe anything you read in the newspaper.
--Dean Baker
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Dean Baker's commentary on economic reporting
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COMMENTS (28)
have fun.
Posted by: Eleanor | June 2, 2009 9:18 AM
Are you suggesting folks start believing when you return?
Posted by: Passing through | June 2, 2009 9:28 AM
Watch out for angry bears! :-D
Posted by: Anon_of_Ibid | June 2, 2009 10:38 AM
You can't leave Dean...you're the only economics guy in town who eschews consensus of conventional wisdom and uses reason.
Two weeks without somebody to poke holes in the mindless madness that is WASHINGTON ECONOMICS...ahhhhhg.
Posted by: S Brennan | June 2, 2009 12:25 PM
Have a good vacation!
And THANK YOU for the link over at TPM, re GM and Obama. I finally found IMVP and the paper "Best Options for the Auto Industry Crisis". I've been looking for big background info on the global auto industry for awhile.
I have to say something about commenters asking for links (even if some are slightly trollish): We like American music, no, umm, We like recommended links! From people we know are great at what they do!
Stuff could be buried at the google. Even good stuff at CEPR, could be several pages down, or not immediately obvious.
CEPR should put the 10 Introductory Lectures on the front page in bright red. Best thing I ever listened to for basic, wide-angle economic background.
And I wish every category of Data Bytes had a basic background paper to introduce each indicator family and how they fit into the big picture.
And more graphs for this blog!
And a pony.
I wish I was rich, so you could hire way more people!
To sum: we know, we know, but we still wish for links!!
Thanks Dean.
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Posted by: finance articles | June 3, 2009 1:44 PM
A well deserved vacation. Thanks for all the economic expertise hard work Dean.
Hope you have a great time! :)
Posted by: ActivistMotivator | June 3, 2009 8:48 PM
Two weeks without BTP is too much! Come back.
I think I'll read "The United States Since 1980" during this downtime.
Posted by: DD | June 5, 2009 12:34 PM
Dean:
You have fumbled what could have been a great teaching moment for America. Next summer, make it an August vacation and make it the whole month.
Lead by example.
Posted by: Michael A. Shea | June 5, 2009 12:43 PM
A well deserved vacation.Get well soon.And THANK YOU for the link over at TPM, re GM and Obama. I finally found IMVP and the paper "Best Options for the Auto Industry Crisis". I've been looking for big background info on the global auto industry for awhile.
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Dr. Baker:
When you return, there is a thoughtful article in the June 1 New Yorker about the reasons for the rising cost of health care. Long, but thoughtful, as is the case with most articles in the New Yorker.
The suggestion is that a single payer system will not significantly reduce health care costs, that the problem is the profit motive of the care providers themselves -- doctors, hospitals, testing laboratories, home health care companies, etc. etc. AND perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, studies show that less intensive (i.e. less expensive) care, usually results in better outcomes!!
As always, thank you for your thoughtful comments on items of importance across the economic spectrum.
Posted by: Ethan | June 8, 2009 3:37 PM
I'll miss the remarks but vacation fits with my notion that the worl might be better off if we all did less...
Posted by: Alan | June 8, 2009 5:09 PM
Ethan wrote, The suggestion is that a single payer system will not significantly reduce health care costs, that the problem is the profit motive of the care providers themselves -- doctors, hospitals, testing laboratories, home health care companies, etc. etc. AND perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, studies show that less intensive (i.e. less expensive) care, usually results in better outcomes!!
I think single-payer will decrease costs, but not by more than say 20%, and it won't curb the growth in cost. The main problem, as you say, is the health care industry itself. Why? Because providers are paid to treat, even if (a) the treatment isn't helpful, and/or (b) the treatment is too expensive.
An excellent article on market failure in health care provision is The Best Care Anywhere. If you read between the lines, you can see that he's saying that it's impossible to design a health care market which delivers care relatively efficiently by relying on economic incentives alone.
Posted by: liberal | June 11, 2009 4:30 PM
You have fumbled what could have been a great teaching moment for America. Next summer, make it an August vacation and make it the whole month.
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