MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'gdp'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:49:42 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5169545&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fdo-physicians-have-a-role-in-controlling-healthcare-costs%2F2011.08.27 The Role of Physicians in Controlling Medical Care Costs and Reducing Waste by the RAND Corporation and David Geffen, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, Santa Monica was just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).  I do not think the JAMA should have published this article. 1.Why would the JAMA publish such an article? 2. Why are physicians blamed for all the waste in the system? 3. Why is it the physicians’ responsibility to eliminate waste when they are not the cause of the greatest percentage of the waste? “The amount of money spent on medical care is increasing faster than the gross domestic product (GDP), and the federal deficit is increasing.” The initial statement assumes that the government deficit is increasing because phy... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5169545 Sat, 27 Aug 2011 21:05:19 +0100 5169545 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4758742&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FqriEL585sqM%2F By Steve H. HankeThe public has finally started to give President Obama’s economic policies a big “thumbs down”.  This shouldn’t surprise anyone who is familiar with the Misery Index. While President Obama sings the glories of big government, it is ironic that he has been marked by the curse of government failure.  One metric that measures how this curse will affect the President’s performance is the Misery Index (see the accompanying chart). The Index is calculated by adding the difference between the average inflation rate over a president’s term and the average inflation rate during the last year of the previous president’s term; the difference between the average unemployment rate over a president’s term and the unemployment rate during the last month... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4758742 Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:14:55 +0100 4758742 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753669&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FEWH5eRgfepA%2F By Tad DeHavenOver at Downsizing the Federal Government, Chris Edwards has released an updated version of his “Plan to Cut Spending and Balance the Federal Budget.” The plan proposes spending cuts of more than $1 trillion annually by 2021, which would balance the budget without resorting to damaging tax increases. Federal spending would be reduced to 18 percent of gross domestic product by 2021 under the plan, which compares to President Obama’s projected spending that year of 24.2 percent of GDP. Some key points: No sacred cows are spared. Defense, domestic, and so-called entitlement programs are all cut. The plan recognizes that the scope of federal activities must be curtailed. It would begin the reversal of decades of federal expansion into hundreds of area... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753669 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:10:32 +0100 4753669 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4477695&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FK3uc-XQxohY%2F By Tad DeHavenThe George W. Bush administration ushered in a new era of big government. The Obama administration has built on Bush's profligacy, and the president's new fiscal 2012 budget proposal would further cement the trend. Spending as a percentage of GDP has increased dramatically since the surplus years of the late 1990s. As the chart shows, the president’s budget once again seeks a permanently high level of federal spending as a share of the economy: While the numbers drop from their stimulus- and recession-induced highs, it is not because the president has suddenly decided that he desires a less active government. Rather, optimistic economic assumptions largely account for the slight retrenchment. Tax increases and optimistic economic assumptions explain the projected rise in r... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4477695 Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:04:15 +0100 4477695 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4337919&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FkHbk2m319fQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThanks to decades of reckless spending by European welfare states, the newspapers are filled with headlines about debt, default, contagion, and bankruptcy. We know that Greece and Ireland already have received direct bailouts, and other European welfare states are getting indirect bailouts from the European Central Bank, which is vying with the Federal Reserve in a contest to see which central bank can win the “Most Likely to Appease the Political Class” Award. But which nation will be the next domino to fall? Who will get the next direct bailout? Some people think total government debt is the key variable, and there’s been a lot of talk that debt levels of 90 percent of GDP represent some sort of fiscal Maginot Line. Once nations get above that level... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4337919 Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:53:45 +0100 4337919 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4219724&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fb62q3LyCjcs%2F By Johan NorbergThe financial crisis and global warming have reinforced an age-old criticism of our traditional ways of measuring wealth, and a number of alternative indexes have been proposed that would instead measure people’s well-being and environmental sustainability. There are problems with using GDP. It involves an incredible amount of guesswork; and even if it were perfect, it would be bizarre to use production of goods and services as the only yardstick to evaluate our societies. But finding problems is one thing; it is something completely different to find an alternative that is better. Any sort of well-being index would require agreement on what well-being is, and there is a risk that governments would be tempted to find a one-size-fits-all standard and try to make us all wea... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4219724 Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:58:36 +0100 4219724 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4214086&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F_2z-16QiXAc%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI’m understandably fond of my video exposing the flaws of Keynesian stimulus theory, but I think my former intern has an excellent contribution to the debate with this new 5-minute mini-documentary. The main insight of the mini-documentary is that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) only measures how national output is allocated between consumption, investment, and government. That’s useful information in many ways, but if we want more output, we should focus on Gross Domestic Income (GDI), which measures how national income is earned. Focusing on GDI hopefully would lead lawmakers to consider ways of boosting employee compensation, corporate profits, small business income, and other components of national income. Focusing on GDP, by contrast, is misguided since ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4214086 Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:56:30 +0100 4214086 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4151763&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FGD5wll0ie5M%2F By Chris EdwardsA Washington Post editorial today discusses the National Academy of Sciences “Fiscal Future” study. The NAS report modeled four possible tax and spending paths for the nation over the next 70 years.  I was one of the NAS report’s co-authors. The Post focuses on the “low spending and revenue” path, which would keep federal revenues below about 19 percent GDP and keep spending below about 21 percent of GDP. The Post argues that both tax hikes and spending cuts will be needed to fix the government’s budget problem because the “pain and sacrifice” would be too large if we just cut spending, as under this “low” path. But the Post’s conclusion is based on faulty one-sided accounting, only considering the re... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4151763 Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:24:49 +0100 4151763 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4060593&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fu-s-healthcare-spending-why-so-much%2F2010.10.11 Aaron Carroll over at The Incidental Economist has been running an excellent series on healthcare spending in the U.S. and how much more we spend than the rest of the world on a per capita basis, as a percentage of GDP, and by category. It’s an excellent series and I wholly recommend it. Summary graph: Hint: the U.S. is the lavender-ish line on top. As he says, is there anything about this graph that isn’t concerning? (more…) *This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat* (Source: Better Health) Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4060593 Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:00:00 +0100 4060593 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3911685&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F-EHV7yb6O3w%2F By Daniel GriswoldWhat had been a recurring story line buried in the business pages has now burst onto the front page: “Economic growth slowed by trade gap,” the Washington Post reports this morning in an above-the-fold headline. The lead sets the stage for a story long on generalizations: “A widening U.S. trade deficit has become a substantial drag on economic growth as the country’s exports struggle to keep pace with the swelling sums that Americans are again spending on imported goods.” The half truth in the story line is that exports fell by $2 billion in June compared to the month before, and that this has a negative effect on overall GDP growth. In our more globalized world, the rising wealth of our trading partners translates into more production in our own economy, an... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3911685 Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:27:49 +0100 3911685 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3805807&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTRI1NV8M0e8%2F By Alan ReynoldsFrom January 2009 to the present, President Obama and his team have repeatedly made grandiose claims about the economic benefits of shoveling money at shovel-ready projects or green jobs.  “It is largely thanks to the Recovery Act that a second Depression is no longer a possibility,” said the President.   He also claimed that lavish spending alone (not Federal Reserve actions or bank bailouts) is what prevented the unemployment rate from “getting up to . . . 15%.” If any of that were remotely close to being true then, as a matter of simple accounting, rising federal spending would have shown up as a huge offset to falling GDP in 2009, and also as a major component of the modest increase in GDP growth in early 2010.   On the contrary, the tabl... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3805807 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:21:11 +0100 3805807 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3687079&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXJAiQwLRQiA%2F By Alan ReynoldsA recent Washington Post column by Ezra Klein dreamed up a new excuse for the conspicuous failure of Obama’s so-called stimulus plan.   Klein argues that the stimulus of federal spending has been offset by the “anti-stimulus” of fiscal austerity by state and local governments.  For proof he quotes Bruce Bartlett, who is fast becoming the favorite go-to guy for liberals seeking conservative allies in their endless quest for more spending and taxes.  Bartlett says, “When the history of the current crisis is written, much of the blame will be placed on the sharp fiscal contraction of state and local governments.  I think economists will view this as a preventable error equivalent to the Fed’s passive shrinkage of the money supply in the early 1930s.&#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3687079 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:32:41 +0100 3687079 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3658952&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fproposed-sgr-fix-an-interesting-twist%2F2010.06.14 This is something I haven’t seen reported on elsewhere, but according to the ACEP 911 Legislative Network Weekly Update, there was an interesting twist in the Democrats’ proposed SGR fix: The latest plan increases physician payments by 1.3% for the remainder of this year and by an additional 1% in 2011. In 2012 and 2013, physician services would be separated into two categories, or “buckets.” One bucket would be for E&M services (including emergency department, primary and preventive care) and the other group would include all other services. The E&M bucket would increase at the same rate as the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) plus 2%, while the other group would receive a payment increase of GDP plus 1%.After 2013, the payment formula would revert back t... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3658952 Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +0100 3658952 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3508174&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FGd0Qo8ejPZU%2F By David BoazIt was a good idea to get science and democracy from the ancient Greeks. It’s not such a good idea to get fiscal policy from the modern Greeks. But that’s the way we’re headed. Greece has a budget deficit of 13.6 percent. We’re not in that league — ours is only 10.6 percent, the highest level since 1945. Greece has a public debt of 113 percent of GDP. We’re not there yet. But the 2009 Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports show the combined unfunded liability of these two programs has reached nearly $107 trillion. Under President Obama’s budget, debt held by the public would grow from $7.5 trillion (53 percent of GDP) at the end of 2009 to $20.3 trillion (90 percent of GDP) at the end of 2020. It could rise to 215 percent of GDP in 30 year... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3508174 Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:13:47 +0100 3508174 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3167090&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F6hNK1oMEAhA%2F By Daniel IkensonWhy blame only media and politicians for the public’s confusion about imports and trade deficits? Surely economists deserve some scorn. Some of the misunderstanding can be traced to the famous National Income Identity, which expresses gross domestic product, as: Y = C + G + I + (X-M). That is, national output (Y) equals personal consumption (C) plus government spending (G) plus investment (I) plus exports (X) minus imports (M). The expression clearly lends itself to the wrong interpretation. The minus sign preceding imports suggests a negative relationship with output. It is the reason for the oft-repeated fallacy that imports are a drag on growth. Here’s why that conclusion is wrong. The expression is an accounting identity, which “accounts” for all of the... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3167090 Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:03:39 +0100 3167090 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3079323&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUKClRcE7WKw%2F By Chris EdwardsThe expansion in government and poor state of the economy got me thinking about how government growth is reflected in measured gross domestic product. So here is a wonky look at the treatment of government in the Bureau of Economic Analysis GDP data. Data notes: By “government,” I mean total federal, state, and local. For 2009, I’m using the average of second and third quarter data. All data from BEA Tables here. GDP measures total production. In 2009, government production was 20.7 percent of U.S. GDP.  Government production is roughly the sum of government value-added (the stuff it produces itself) and government purchases. The first item, government value-added, was 12.4 percent of GDP and mainly consists of employee compensation. For exampl... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3079323 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:37:11 +0100 3079323 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2967272&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fcrca-kAaJqQ%2F In a recent post, I argued that while third-quarter GDP was positive, the underlying data revealed that U.S. private investment was still in the toilet. While government spending might be providing a short-term “sugar high” for the economy, U.S. business investment remains in recession. I speculated that Obama’s anti-business agenda is likely one cause of the problem. For those observations, economist Brad DeLong called me an “utter fool.” Let me draw your attention to an article in the Washington Post today entitled “Corporate giants sit on piles of cash.” Nucor Steel is sitting on piles of cash that it is unwilling to invest. Nucor’s chief executive Daniel Dimicco explains: Everything is still on hold because we don’t have a lot of ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2967272 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:11:06 +0100 2967272 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2963077&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FjM6R2iKJpcE%2F Drop the neocons: “Republicans should take this opportunity to return to their traditional noninterventionist roots and throw their neoconservative wing under the bus.” John Samples on the national impact of this week’s elections: “The evidence suggests the Obama administration might be on the same path that led the Clinton presidency to the election of 1994. But there is an important difference: In 1994, the public had some faith in the alternative to Clinton and the Democrats in Congress.” Afghan election analysis. A few things you might not know about Bhutan. Podcast: “Independents and the GOP Victories“ (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2963077 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:33:44 +0100 2963077 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2946895&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fyv8FtntNb90%2F The Bureau of Economic Analysis released third-quarter gross domestic product numbers yesterday, and overall real growth at 3.5 percent was pretty good. But examining the components of GDP reveals a more disturbing picture. While consumption, exports, and the government sector were up, private investment has fallen through the floor. Figure 1 reveals a dramatic collapse of private investment over the last two years. In nominal dollars, private investment in 2009 has only been at about the same level as the bottom of the last recession eight years ago (BEA Table 1.1.5). Figure 2 has the same data in real 2005 dollars (BEA Table 1.1.6). It shows that private investment is stuck in a rut at about 17 percent below the lowest level reached at the bottom of the last recession. The t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2946895 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:26:54 +0100 2946895 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2796408&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FslSQYwK3I5Q%2F Republicans made many big mistakes when they controlled Washington earlier this decade, so picking the most egregious error would be a challenge. But continued American involvement with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development would be high on the list. Instead of withdrawing from the OECD, Republicans actually increased the subsidy from American taxpayers to the Paris-based bureaucracy. So what do taxpayers get in return for shipping $100 million to the bureaucrats in Paris? Another international organization advocating for big government. The OECD, for example, is infamous for trying to undermine tax competition. It also has recommended higher taxes in America on countless occasions. And now it is suggesting that Iceland impose high tax increases – even thoug... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2796408 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:25:47 +0100 2796408 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2788509&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FznpyTnlvQzw%2F Jack of all trades and master of none: What happens when the government gets so big that it fails to fulfill its most important role. The hard truth about end-of-life care in America. If current trends continue, the U.S. government will soon spend a greater portion of GDP on Medicare and Medicaid than Canada now spends on its entire single-payer government-run system. Here’s a way to fix that. How about a little honesty from time to time in the tobacco policy debate? More drug-related chaos along the Mexican border. Go North Young Man! Will Wilkinson becomes “forever Canadian.” (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2788509 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:34:15 +0100 2788509 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2605950&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fp8YF_NBYC1U%2F Last week Conor Clarke at The Atlantic blog , apparently as part of a running argument with Jim Manzi, raised four substantive issues with my study, “What to Do About Climate Change,” that Cato published last year. Mr. Clarke deserves a response, and I apologize for not getting to this sooner. Today, I’ll address the first part of his first comment. I’ll address the rest of his comments over the next few days. Conor Clarke:  (1) Goklany’s analysis does not extend beyond the 21st century. This is a problem for two reasons. First, climate change has no plans to close shop in 2100. Even if you believe GDP will be higher in 2100 with unfettered global warming than without, it’s not obvious that GDP would be higher in the year 2200 or 2300 or 3758. (This depends cru... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2605950 Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:51:11 +0100 2605950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2517206&cid=t_121366_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXZPaps-1-Nw%2F The Heritage Foundation has a chart up on its blog, showing defense spending as a percentage of gross domestic product and declaring that “Obama plan cuts defense spending to pre-9/11 levels.” This is a standard rhetorical device for defense hawks (see the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Mitt Romney and lots of others) so it’s worth pointing out that it’s misleading. The unfortunate truth is that Obama is increasing non-war defense spending this year and seems likely to increase it at least by inflation in the near future. It’s true that defense spending will probably decline as a percentage of GDP, assuming the economy recovers. But that’s because GDP grows. Ours is more than six times bigger than it was in 1950.  Meanwhile, we spend more on de... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2517206 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:09:59 +0100 2517206 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=638266&cid=t_121366_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F119351637%2F From the Examining Room of Dr. Charles (not a reference to my own Charles—who is, BTW, more likely to be referred to as “Cholly,” with a proper NJ or NY accent), some health statistics courtesy of the WHO. Dr. Charles summarizes some key figures and notes that Tuvalu spends 16.6% of its GDP on health care, vs. the 15.4% that the US spends. Also: *The leading causes of death in 2030 are projected to be cancers, ischemic heart disease, stroke, HIV/AIDS, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Tobacco-related deaths are projected to rise from 5.4 million in 2005 to 6.4 million in 2015 and 8.3 million in 2030. *Ten percent of the world’s children under age 5 years suffer wasting as a result of malnutrition, according to 2005 data. *In 2004, the world spent $4.1 tril... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=638266 Thu, 24 May 2007 17:30:17 +0100 638266