Consider these recent news items: Some dairy farmers in California completed a successful pilot plant to turn manure into much-needed electricity, using a biogas digester and a gas turbine. They are proposing a 15-megawatt plant using the manure from more…
Health, auto insurance both involve tradeoffs
As I write this, I am listening to snippets of debate in the U.S. Senate about what has come to be known as a “patients’ bill of rights.” The only contentious issue involves whether people will be allowed to sue…
Struggles in Argentine economy may hurt U.S. exports and plans for a free trade area
If you heard a giant sucking sound recently, it might have been the gurgle of the Argentine economy going down the drain again. With it may go an economic idea, the currency board, which has enjoyed much popularity among economists.…
Unfair international policies go far beyond the price of pharmaceuticals
Why do people become angry about some issues and not others? Take drug pricing by major pharmaceutical companies. Anger that prescriptions cost more in the United States than in Canada helped elect a U.S. senator in Minnesota last year. An…