The Economists' Voice 2.0

by Edlin, Aaron S.; Stiglitz, Joseph E.; De Long, J. Bradford; Gale, William; Hines, James

• ISBN13: 9780231160148
• ISBN10: 0231160143
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-05
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

The Economists' Voice: Top Economists Take On Today's Problems featured a core collection of accessible, timely essays on the challenges facing today's global markets and financial institutions. The Economists' Voice 2.0: The Financial Crisis, Health Care Reform, and More is the next installment in this popular series, gathering together the strongest essays published in The Economist's Voice, a nonpartisan online journal, so that students and general readers can gain a deeper understanding of the financial developments shaping their world. This collection contains thirty-two essays written by academics, economists, presidential advisors, legal specialists, researchers, consultants, and policy makers. They tackle the plain economics and architecture of health care reform, its implications for society and the future of the health insurance industry, and the value of the health insurance subsidies and exchanges built into the law. They consider the effects of financial regulatory reform, the possibilities for ratings reform, and the issue of limiting bankers' pay. An objective examination of the financial crisis and bank bailouts results in two indispensable essays on investment banking regulation after Bear Stearns and the positives and negatives of the Paulson/Bernanke bailout. Contributors weigh the merits of future rescues and suggest alternative strategies for addressing the next financial crisis. A final section examines a unique array of topics: the stability of pension security bonds; the value of a carbon tax, especially in fostering economic and environmental sustainability; the counterintuitive perils of net neutrality; the unforeseen consequences of government debt; the meaning of the Google book search settlement; and the unexploited possibilities for profit in NFL overtime games.

Table of Contents

Health Care Reform
The Health Care Reform Legislation: An Overview	p. 3
The Simple Economics of Health Reform	p. 13
The Economics, Opportunities, and Challenges of Health Insurance Exchanges	p. 21
Can the ACA Improve Population Health?	p. 30
Systemic Reform of Health Care Delivery and Payment	p. 39
How Stable Are Insurance Subsidies in Health Reform?	p. 46
Financial Market Regulatory Reform
Financial Regulatory Reform: The Politics of Denial	p. 57
Government Guarantees: Why the Genie Needs to Be Put Back in the Bottle	p. 65
How Little We Know: The Challenges of Financial Reform	p. 73
Finding the Sweet Spot for Effective Regulation	p. 81
A Recipe for Ratings Reform	p. 89
Should Banker Pay Be Regulated?	p. 95
Fixing Bankers' Pay	p. 103
It Works for Mergers, Why Not for Finance?	p. 115
Financial Crisis and Bailouts
Hedge Fund Wizards	p. 125
Investment Banking Regulation After Bear Steams	p. 130
Why Paulson Is Wrong	p. 138
Dr. StrangeLoan: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Financial Collapse	p. 142
Questioning the Treasury's $700 Billion Blank Check: An Open Letter to Secretary Paulson	p. 147
Auction Design Critical for Rescue Plan	p. 154
A Better Plan for Addressing the Financial Crisis	p. 159
Please Think This Over	p. 172
Is Macroeconomics Off Track?	p. 181
If It Were a Fight, They Would Have Stopped It in December of 2008	p. 188
Comment on Barbera: Your Gift Will Make You Rich	p. 195
Innovations in Policy and Business
Pension Security Bonds: A New Plan to Address the State Pension Crisis	p. 201
Carbon Taxes to Move Toward Fiscal Sustainability	p. 208
Net Neutrality Is Bad Broadband Regulation	p. 215
Trills Instead of T-Bills: It's Time to Replace Part of Government Debt with Shares in GDP	p. 224
The Google Book Settlement: Real Magic or a Trick?	p. 232
The Stakes in the Google Book Search Settlement	p. 241
The NFL Should Auction Possession in Overtime Games	p. 251
Index	p. 259
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