CBO Blog

Health Affairs held a briefing on the future of health care reform earlier this week. A theme that emerged during the session I participated in with Jason Furman of Brookings, and that will be the focus of an upcoming speech, is the need for more attention to behavioral economics and psychology in health policy.

I am testifying this morning on SCHIP before the Subcommittee on Health of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The testimony is very similar to testimony delivered before the Senate Finance Committee in April. The audio Webcast of the hearing is posted here.

Last month, I participated in an event on mortgage and housing markets with Alan Blinder of Princeton and Zanny Minton Beddoes of The Economist magazine. The event was co-hosted by the Woodrow Wilson School and The Economist.

A new study out yesterday provides yet more evidence of substantially widening inequality in life expectancy by education and socio-economic status.

For those who haven't seen it, the Joint Committee on Taxation earlier this week released an interesting report delineating a new approach to analyzing and estimating tax expenditures (that is, targeted tax provisions that reduce revenue through special credits, preferential tax rates, exclusions, exemptions, deductions, etc.). Ed Kleinbard, the chief of staff at the JCT, has made tax expenditure analysis a high priority, and the report released earlier this week is the first of many that JCT will be publishing in coming months.

CBO has issued a cost estimate for H.R. 2419, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. Under the legislation, most of the policies would extend only through 2012; following baseline construction rules for mandatory programs, however, we assume that expiring programs are continued indefinitely. (Note to those who favor including all expiring tax provisions "in the baseline": this example demonstrates how the baseline is intended to work in conjunction with the budget scoring process.

CBO released a new report this morning, prepared at the request of the Chairman of the House Committee on the Budget, analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of adopting a capital budget at the federal level. In addition, I am testifying on infrastructure spending this morning before a joint hearing of the House Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

I am testifying this morning before a joint hearing of the House Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. To view the hearing click here.

CBO released a new monthly budget review today. During the first seven months of fiscal year 2008, CBO estimates that the federal government ran a deficit of $151 billion -- $70 billion more than during the same period in 2007. Outlays are roughly 7 percent higher than last year, whereas revenue is up by only about 3 percent. (Corporate income tax revenue is down by more than 13 percent.)

Last week, the LBJ School at the University of Texas-Austin held a conference on the history and future of Medicare, as part of a series of activities to commemorate Lyndon Johnson's 100th birthday.