If I told you that neighborhoods cause people to develop diabetes, would you believe me? And would that make you more or less willing to see your tax dollars spent researching ways to treat and prevent diabetes?

That is essentially the question my colleagues and I posed...

In an effort to be the first president since Lyndon Johnson to succeed in reforming our nation's health care system, President Obama is exhibiting honorable flexibility. Taxing health care benefits for employees? He was against it when running for office, but he is considering it now that the federal budget...

Did you know that Adolf Hitler had three testicles?

You didn't? Well, you are right. That is just an urban legend -- one that I have just created.

In fact, if anyone tells you that Hitler had three testicles, they are either misinformed or they are lying.

Why am I...

Republicans criticizing health care reform efforts are beginning to sound as principled as Groucho Marx, who once quipped: "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them, . . . well I have others." On the one hand Republicans complain that health care reform will cost too much money....

Any sensible plan to reform the U.S. health care system must reform the way we pay physicians. Currently, we reward doctors for doing more "stuff" for their patients -- for performing tests and procedures whether or not these interventions are necessary. Because of this strange reimbursement system, many primary care...

American presidents have been trying to reform our health care system since at least the Nixon era, but with only limited success. Past reform efforts have failed for many reasons. For starters, the U.S. health care system is complex, with the medical industry making up almost 1/6 of our economy....

Hiking in Switzerland several years ago, I came across a trail that seemed to dead-end at a farmer's gate. I looked around for a way to avoid the property, but there was none. Instead, the trail continued through the middle of the farm. I walked through the gate, side-stepping some...

On the Freakonomics blog recently, Ian Ayres reviewed my new book Free Market Madness, and singled out a story I tell there. Ian has written many books himself, so it isn't surprising which story, of the many stories in my book, he discussed.

He picked out a section near the...

"With luck, Ted Kennedy will be dead soon."

She uttered these words two minutes after expressing hope that the nation would rally behind Obama. A lifelong Republican, she had voted for McCain. I expect she harbored concerned about Obama's terrorist pals and his anti-American pastor. But with Obama now newly...

Not long before the presidential election, the Wall Street Journal editorial page warned its readers about what it called the attack of the killer Oreos. You have to admit it's a pretty sensational image -- of an Oreo silently stalking its prey, leaping upon an unsuspecting consumer. In fact, this...

Lance Armstrong will soon be competing again in bicycle races around the world, meaning that the casual biking fan will once again show interest in the sport. It also means that doping allegations against Armstrong are likely to resume. If Lance wins some big races -- at his age and...

If President-elect Obama wants to know the challenges he can expect to contend with in his first 100 days of office, his "honeymoon period," he need look no further than the state of Michigan.

I'm not talking about what he can learn from Michigan about unemployment, where we are...

Last week, I had the pleasure of participating in what the World Economic Forum founder, Klaus Schwab, described as the planet's largest brainstorming session. Approximately 700 leading thinkers (and me, too) converged upon Dubai to discuss the greatest economic challenges facing the world, from the current economic crisis to future...

Here in the final stretch of the presidential campaign, things are getting even uglier, with the other side lobbing misleading verbal attacks while our side tries to remain above the fray. With this kind of negativity and distortion, it is hard to imagine the winning candidate being able to pull...

Despite Barack Obama's recent surge in the polls, much could change between now and election day. While it looks like this election will be decided by the economy, unexpected events could dramatically change the campaign narrative. Terrorists could conduct an attack inside the US. Obama, despite his two years of...

Barack Obama would like the next two debates to be about the economy. John McCain would like them to be about anything but the economy, preferably with plenty of discussion of 60's radicals and crazy preachers.

McCain won't get his way, of course. We will hear discussions of the bailout,...

This Friday, John McCain and Barack Obama will presumably (John McCain willing) square off in the first presidential debate of the season. For people like you, interested enough in politics to be reading this post, the outcome of the debate is already largely determined -- your favorite candidate will not...

This week's version of John McCain -- the populist version -- is blaming our current, um, situation on greed. (With such strong fundamentals in our economy, we couldn't call it a crisis.)

Last week's John McCain, and the one from the week before that, and the week before that, and...

With the nomination of Sarah Palin as vice presidential candidate, the McCain campaign seems to hope that the election will hinge upon personality rather than policy, on candidates' life narratives rather than their 15 point energy plans. Recognizing that they cannot win based on whose policies benefit the largest number...

Seven days into the patient's hospital stay, his doctors realized they had fought a losing battle. The patient, an overweight smoker with a touch of diabetes, had come to the emergency department with shortness of breath. After a series of tests in the emergency room, he was given a dose...