The Economists’ Voice: Top Economists Take On Today’s Problems featured a core collection of accessible, timely essays on the challenges facing today’s global markets and financial institutions. This book is the next installment in this series, gathering together the strongest essays published in The Economist’s Voice, a nonpartisan online journal, so that students and general readers can gain a deeper understanding of the financial developments shaping their world. The chapters tackle the plain economics and architecture of health care reform, its implications for society and the future of th ... More

The Economists’ Voice: Top Economists Take On Today’s Problems featured a core collection of accessible, timely essays on the challenges facing today’s global markets and financial institutions. This book is the next installment in this series, gathering together the strongest essays published in The Economist’s Voice, a nonpartisan online journal, so that students and general readers can gain a deeper understanding of the financial developments shaping their world. The chapters tackle the plain economics and architecture of health care reform, its implications for society and the future of the health insurance industry, and the value of the health insurance subsidies and exchanges built into the law. The book considers the effects of financial regulatory reform, the possibilities for ratings reform, and the issue of limiting bankers’ pay. An objective examination of the financial crisis and bank bailouts results in two chapters on investment banking regulation after Bear Stearns and the positives and negatives of the Paulson/Bernanke bailout. The chapters weigh the merits of future rescues and suggest alternative strategies for addressing the next financial crisis. A final section examines a unique array of topics: the stability of pension security bonds; the value of a carbon tax, especially in fostering economic and environmental sustainability; the counterintuitive perils of net neutrality; the unforeseen consequences of government debt; the meaning of the Google book search settlement; and the unexploited possibilities for profit in NFL overtime games.