CBO Blog


Income and earnings variability June 30, 2008 The variability of individual earnings and household income (that is, how much a worker's earnings or a household's income bounces around from year to year) has become a topic of much interest to analysts and the policy community. Today, CBO issued a comprehensive paper on the topic. The study follows up on our earlier work on earnings and income variability -- see here.
Efficiency in health care and new technologies June 29, 2008
Better Health Care Together forum June 26, 2008 Yesterday, I participated in a forum discussing a new paper on health care financing options from Better Health Care Together. The video is posted here.
Cost savings from follow-on biologics June 25, 2008
CBO interns June 24, 2008 CBO has a fantastic internship program -- I regularly hear from former interns about what a wonderful experience they had as part of the program. In addition to our summer intern program, we also recently created a Health Policy Internship, which may be available on a summer, semester, or year-long basis depending on work needs and students' availability. Here's a photo of this year's CBO interns:
Medicare legislation June 24, 2008
Behavioral economics in the UK redux June 24, 2008 As I mentioned in a previous post, behavioral economics seems to have advanced substantially in influencing policymakers in the UK. For some recent commentary on that phenomenon, see this article from the Sunday Times and this comment on the article. The comment notes that "The Sunday Times is very good at spotting intellectual trends. When they print an entire piece on some new thinking, it is an important sign that a change is taking place."
Alliance for Health Reform/RWJ briefing on health IT June 23, 2008 On Friday I participated in a briefing sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on the effects of health IT. The video from the event is posted here .
Offsetting distributional effects of a cap-and-trade program June 17, 2008
Long term budget outlook redux June 17, 2008 I delivered testimony today before the Senate Finance Committee on CBO's long-term budget outlook and options for slowing the growth of health care costs. Under any plausible scenario, the federal budget is on an unsustainable paththat is, federal debt will grow much faster than the economy over the long run.
Senate Finance Committee Health Reform Summit June 16, 2008 Today I am speaking at the Prepare For Launch Health Reform Summit of the Senate Finance Committee. My statement is available here.
Cost estimate for Senate housing legislation June 9, 2008
Resource Implications of the Navy's Shipbuilding Plan June 9, 2008
Monthly budget review June 5, 2008
The RAND health IT study redux June 5, 2008 RAND researchers recently sent me a letter and an attachment , which they have circulated to others, commenting on CBOs analysis of a recent RAND health IT study. Our analysis is summarized here and the full analysis is here .
Race for the Cure June 5, 2008 CBO has a team of runners in Saturday's National Race for the Cure. Here's the CBO team photo from today:
Behavioral economics in the UK June 5, 2008 I just returned from a brief trip to the United Kingdom, where among other activities I gave a talk at the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit. I am increasingly convinced that we need to incorporate more behavioral economics into public policy (for example, see here). The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit has been doing impressive work on the topic.
Increasing transparency in the pricing of health care services and pharmaceuticals June 5, 2008
Budgetary effects of an amended climate bill June 2, 2008