Credit Crisis

Financial Plumbing Most to Blame for 2008 Crisis

The storm that rocked the world economy in 2008 involved many forces, hitting financial, housing and broader sectors of the economy all at once. As the world continues to reform and reflect on the lessons of that crisis, we note the broad consensus that has emerged among economists about what happened. In a recent survey […] 
Europe

US Healthcare: Prices vs Quantity and Quality

The US spends roughly 17% of GDP on healthcare, according to the OECD; most European countries spend less than 12% of GDP.

Higher quality-adjusted US healthcare prices contribute relatively more to the extra US spending than does the combination of higher quantity and quality of US care (interpreting quantity and quality to reflect both greater American healthcare needs due to underlying population health and the delivery of more or better healthcare services to Americans).

 
US

Aging

This week's IGM Economic Experts Panel statements:

A) Without changes in policy, a rising share of people who are over age 65 will exert a substantial downward influence on per capita real GDP in western European countries.

B) In European countries where the share of those over 65 is rising, there are net social benefits to adjusting retirement ages for state-financed (including pay-as-you-go) pension systems upwards, so that revised retirement ages better reflect longer life expectancies.