Health Legislation

Archive for Health Legislation

Yet More Clarification on ObamaCare and Work Incentives

Now I understand why Krugman feels driven to use examples like alien invasions; it’s the only way to shake everyone and say, “This is my point!!!” And with that, I offer you my lastest salvo in the ObamaCare work incentive debate: There is a feeling that giving low-income workers means-tested subsidies is harmful because the […]

A Red Herring? Substitution vs. Income Effects on CBO Analysis of ObamaCare

[UPDATE below.] My latest at Mises Canada. Key excerpt: For example, if the government says to workers, “We’ll give you $50,000 in annual support payments, so long as you don’t ever take a job,” then this would obviously be a disaster. I think Yglesias would agree wholeheartedly with me. Yet suppose instead the government said, […]

Tyler Cowen on the Keynesian Pundits’ Views of Employment

Since Tyler is so much gentler than me, perhaps his opinion on this won’t be dismissed as mere Krugman Derangement Syndrome. In any event, he is saying the same thing as me on this one: Following the CBO report that Obamacare will induce many people to leave the workforce or cut back on their hours, […]

Krugman Incorporates the Liquidity Trap Into His Affordable Care Act Job Analysis

I’m not trying to be obnoxious about this, but in his latest post Krugman completely vindicates my claim that he had been totally ignoring the liquidity trap–the staple of his analysis the last 6 years–when dealing with the CBO’s report on the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka “ObamaCare”). In the comments at my first post, […]

Awkward: CBO More Than Doubles Estimate of Negative Employment Effect of “ObamaCare”

[UPDATE below.] At Mises Canada I explain the CBO’s new report that has people guffawing. Note: Please be careful in how you cite their analysis; it’s not really accurate to say, “CBO says ObamaCare will destroy 2 million jobs!” (Don’t get me wrong, it may very well do just that, but my point is, that’s […]

Krugman Once Again (Unwittingly) Confirms What the Critics Warned of ObamaCare

Unfortunately I can’t find it now, but at some point in 2013 Krugman was making the argument that deep down, Republicans knew ObamaCare would actually be a good thing, and that’s why they were fighting it tooth-and-nail before implementation. For if ObamaCare actually were a disaster, Krugman continued, then it would be plain as day […]

Is UPS Just as Bad as Healthcare.gov?

My latest at Mises Canada. An excerpt: Paul Krugman is no stranger to silly statements that come back to haunt him, but it has been particularly amusing to watch him twist and turn with the debacles of Healthcare.gov, the website devoted to “ObamaCare.” Krugman’s latest analogy is nothing short of hilarious, but first let’s review […]

Full-Time vs. Part-Time Workers

Does anyone else find this chart shocking? Here’s the source. I was looking up the proportion of part-time versus full-time workers to see if the passage of ObamaCare had any noticeable impact. (Note: Be sure to look carefully at the left and right axes. It’s not that the whole composition of the workforce has flipped.) […]