Category Health economics
Someone is Getting Health Spending Under Control
The sustainability of provincial government health spending is a big issue and drug spending in particular has garnered a fair amount of attention. Whereas in 1975, drug spending only made up about 2 percent of public sector health spending in Canada, today it makes up nearly 10 percent and indeed has been one of the […]
The evolutionary value of cancer
A recent article in Nature Reviews documents the rarity of cancer in antiquity, and speculates that "carcinogenic environmental factors in modern societies" may explain today's much higher cancer rates. Without disputing the authors' basic premise or conclusions, I wish to posit an alternative explanation: old people are useless. Women typically finish child bearing by 40 […]
The economics of health care: lessons from the animal hospital
The veterinarian called at 2:30 a.m with an update on our dog's status. The bladder stone was still stuck in Micky's urethra. Did we want to go ahead with surgery, or…? The unstated alternative: euthanasia. As I sank back on the pillow I thought "I've been teaching health economics wrong all these years."
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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