Econ 101 is often dismissed as too simplistic. Yet recent events suggest that Econ 101 is underrated. Take the tariff debate: understanding that a tariff is a tax, that prices represent opportunity costs, that a bilateral trade deficit is largely meaningless, that a so-called trade “deficit” is equally a goods surplus or an investment surplus—these […]
Econ 101 is Underrated: Pharma Price Controls
Econ 101 is Underrated: Pharma Price Controls
22 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: 2024 presidential election, patents and copyrights, price controls, price discrimination
A Wartime Natural Experiment About Copyright
26 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, defence economics, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, war and peace Tags: patents and copyrights, World War II
One of the hardest questions in copyright policy is: “What would have happened otherwise?” When Disney lobbies for longer copyright terms or academic publishers defend high subscription fees, we struggle to evaluate their claims because we can’t observe the counterfactual. What would happen to creativity and innovation if we shortened copyright terms or lowered prices? […]
A Wartime Natural Experiment About Copyright
The Pharmac Fiasco
09 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: drug lags, patents and copyrights
If you don’t understand how things work you make foolish mistakes. To explain how the government got into its cancer drugs muddle, we need to explain first how New Zealand’s pharmaceutical purchasing system works. There is a parallel between Pharmac and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The Government sets the monetary policy framework with […]
The Pharmac Fiasco
High prices for the newer, safer Insulin Drives Diabetics to Take Extreme Measures
11 Jan 2019 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: creative destruction, drug lags, monopoly and competition, patents and copyrights
#Seinfeld economics: The Muffin Tops (intellectual property rights)
08 Sep 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, law and economics, television Tags: patents and copyrights, Seinfeld, trade secrets
#EpiPen has two rival suppliers
28 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in health economics, industrial organisation, politics - USA Tags: intellectual property rights, monopoly and competition, patents and copyrights
The West Wing: “In This White House” (2000)
28 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of media and culture, growth disasters, growth miracles, health economics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: drug prices, intellectual monopolies, patents and copyrights
Paper Towns- Fake Places Made to Catch Copyright Thieves
02 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, law and economics, property rights, survivor principle Tags: entrepreneurial alertness, maps, patents and copyrights
Songs that sound the same: “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” and “Taj Mahal”
15 May 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, Music, property rights Tags: patents and copyrights
Songs that sound the same? “My Sweet Lord” and “He’s So Fine”
14 May 2016 Leave a comment
in economics, economics of media and culture, Music, property rights Tags: patents and copyrights
@mattyglesias on why greedy drug companies are heroes
20 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights Tags: avoiding difficult choices, drug lags, generic drugs, intellectual monopolies, invisible graveyard, patents and copyrights
The discovery void in antibiotic drugs
13 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, entrepreneurship, health economics Tags: creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, intellectual monopolies, patents and copyrights, research prizes, The Great Escape
No new classes of antibiotics has been discovered since 1987. They are looked upon as a poor investment by pharmaceutical entrepreneurs because there are so many generic competitors. To make it even more complicated, any new antibiotic that might be invented would have to be held in reserve for a major case of an antibiotic resistant infection.
Software piracy by country
08 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of media and culture, law and economics, property rights Tags: intellectual property, patents and copyrights, software piracy
A specialty drug for a year costs more than most household incomes
02 Dec 2015 Leave a comment
in health economics Tags: creative destruction, drug lags, drug prices, entrepreneurial alertness, patents and copyrights
Drug Price Controls End Up Costing Patients Their Lives
24 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, health economics, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, endogenous growth theory, innovation, intellectual property rights, patents and copyrights, pharmaceutical innovation, price controls
Our research shows that when prices fall, innovation falls even more. Patients would see their lives cut short by delayed or absent drugs.
Source: Drug Price Controls End Up Costing Patients Their Health – NYTimes.com
…cutting prices by 40 to 50 percent in the United States will lead to between 30 and 60 percent fewer R and D projects being undertaken in the early stage of developing a new drug. Relatively modest price changes, such as 5 or 10 percent, are estimated to have relatively little impact on the incentives for product development – perhaps a negative 5 percent.
Source: The Effect of Price Controls on Pharmaceutical Research
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