Summary: The Inflation Reduction Act allows Medicare to negotiate the price of some drugs. What if this happened at a larger scale? The dismal answer would be “less incentive for pharma to innovate.” Yes, there is no such thing as a free lunch, but what about a cheaper lunch? The Indicator offers an optimistic view and our classroom exercise analyzes these policy ideas that may offer a solution to this “knotty” dilemma between prices and new drugs.
Doctors Trzeciak and Mazzarelli talk about the compassion crisis in our healthcare system. In their book titled Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes A Difference, the doctors explain when healthcare workers show a little compassion it can decrease costs, improve medical outcomes, and even help with physician burnout.
With 90,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list in the United States, it is shocking to learn thousands of these available organs are thrown away each year. Doctor Sumit Mohan and economist Alvin Roth discuss policy and incentive issues that lead to wasted kidneys.
The United States provides two thirds of the world’s blood plasma and incentivizes donors with money each time they donate. The more they donate, the more money they receive which is something the World Health Organization and many other countries are against. When discussing the moral issues of paying donors, a doctor from Brazil argues that moral implications are the least of our worries when a shortage of blood plasma could be a death sentence for his patients.
Amazon is beginning its own telemedicine system this summer, allowing participating companies to see a nurse or doctor remotely. This marks a shift in the healthcare industry, as it is predicted that close to 60% of doctor’s visits will be done remotely following the Covid-19 pandemic.
This podcast also discusses The Federal Reserve Bank’s decision to keep interest rates low, fewer numbers of students filing for federal student aid, and remote work in the automobile industry.
As vaccines begin to roll out there will be disparities between cities, states, and countries due to the fact that there are not enough vaccines to give out at once. The time differences between areas will have lasting effects on how economic growth takes place. This episode of Marketplace also discusses other issues facing the U.S. such as the number of women in the workforce and the terrible effects of gun-violence on children.
Central banks have cut interest rates in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. Typically when something like this happens, interest rates rise and inflation occurs, but right now the exact opposite is happening. Sectors of the economy that are taking the hardest hit include tourism, cross boarder commerce, and oil.
Original Air Date: March 3, 2020
Length: 18 minutes 39 seconds
Discussion Prompt: How does this outbreak alter consumer expectations, and inevitably, their spending habits?
Discussion Prompt: What role, if any, does the government play in stabilizing the markets in instances such as this?
Some economists believe the government should inject a monetary stimulus into the economy of hundred of millions, if not billions of dollars. Others believe our focus should be solely on the issue at hand: containing the Coronavirus. Economists discuss the importance of pushing funding into corona virus testing, paid sick days, and rebuilding after the public health issue is contained.
Original Air Date: March 13, 2020
Length: 25 minutes 17 seconds
Discussion Prompt: What is the role of the government in the economy in times of global health crises? Is a recession inevitable at this point, or are there ways the government can combat a sharp economic downturn?
Summary: Cities across the U.S. have been making efforts to increase the minimum wage, which would impact restaurant workers. However, this move results to unexpected side effects due to the higher costs that restaurants will have to face, leading them to cut back on some services. This story discusses how the effects on increasing the minimum wage ties with the hygiene of restaurants and suggests potential steps that the restaurants can take to minimize their health violations.
Summary: In response to the infamous documentary Super Size Me, one woman toured her local area in search for the best burger. Shockingly, she didn’t gain a single pound despite eating two burgers a week. Freakonomics discusses the surprising results.
Original Air Date: December 10, 2015
Length: 34 minutes 21 seconds
Discussion Question: What role does utility play in this situation? Will satisfaction of the second burger eaten always be the same? Explain.
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