Germany’s rapid renewables expansion has been made possible by extensive government support. Berlin paid for these green subsidies by levying a renewables tax on consumers, which has raised the cost of electricity for households and industries alike. Concerned about the effect such costs might have on the competitiveness of its much vaunted heavy industry, Germany […]

Watching academic lectures is rarely much fun. But what if the lectures were delivered by Matt Damon? As odd as it may seem, a number of MOOC providers are asking this question, given that the format allows anyone to deliver the lectures professors prepare. Slate reports: One for-profit MOOC producer, Udacity, already brings in camera-friendly […]

Peering at the intricacies of Chinese political decision-making can be like trying to see through the thick smog that frequently hangs over many of its cities. Analysts and journalists are frequently left with nothing to do but speculate on what actions Chinese leaders might take when big decisions loom, and there’s plenty of speculation swirling […]

Retail health clinics and nurse practitioners could together dramatically lower the costs of US health care, according to a new study published in Health Affairs. Allowing nurse practitioners to work autonomously in retail clinics could amount to big savings: It is estimated that retail clinics will account for about 10 percent of outpatient primary care visits in 2015. If NPs do […]

Obama made many mistakes in the rollout of his healthcare law, but one of the biggest may be that he overestimated the quality of our country’s public service system. As Frank Fukuyama notes elsewhere on the site, Obama turned responsibility for creating an extremely complicated website to a civil service that has been in decline since […]

The Syrian peace process had only just begun before it was delayed: “We were hoping that we’d be in a position to announce a date today, unfortunately we’re not,” [special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi] told reporters. “But we’re still hoping that we’ll be able to have the conference before the end of the year.”The envoy added that “nothing […]

Green policies are increasingly a luxury that only the rich can afford, yet seem to be living halcyon days in places like Europe and California. The ever-insightful Joel Kotkin writes of the ascendancy of the green gentry pushing these ideas, and the class warfare they’re currently waging in his home state of California: The environmental movement […]

Over at Forbes, Tomas Philipson notes that with or without Obamacare, US health care costs will still skyrocket over the coming decades. Health care liabilities will continue to push federal deficits far over tax revenues, and private spending will rise similarly. What’s causing this? Philipson has an answer: Surprisingly, the health policy community largely agrees […]

Saving for retirement is probably the last thing debt-burdened college grads want to think about, but unfortunately they may have to start sooner than they think. According to a new study, many Millennials may not be able to retire comfortably until age 73 due to their college debt. Essentially, the problem is that while students are […]

A recent lawsuit settlement in Northern California could be a major turning point in the fight for price transparency in health care. Sutter Health is a hospital chain that runs 24 hospitals throughout the region. As the LA Times reports, a billing auditing company sued the chain for double-charging patients for anesthesia, and now, right before the […]