There are two long-standing debates in economics that fundamentally affect how one views the challenges our society faces. The two sides of the first debate are often associated with Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman on one side and John Maynard Keynes and Karl Polanyi on the other. Wapshott (2011) and Delong (2022) elaborate this debate […]
We know quite a bit about human well being, broadly defined to include the physical, behavioral, social, economic, and political elements of the concept. We seem to lack the will and the resources to pursue broadly based improvements in the well being of everyone. Many of us feel that everyone is on their own, and […]
Do the times make leaders or do leaders make the times? I have long thought that great leaders understand the times and determine how to take advantage of them. More specifically, I think many great leaders have had a naturalistic orientation to understanding their worlds in terms of what is achievable, in what time frames, […]
We seem to think of the future, and perhaps the past, in terms of decades. We likely recall our grandparents and, of course, our parents. We consider our own lives and those of our children in terms of employment, education and eventually retirement. Our overall time horizon for planning is likely 20-40 years. Our plans […]
Thirteen months ago, the Trump wing of the Republican party attempted a coup of the US government. They failed despite injuring hundreds and killing several. Many hundreds of these people have been indicted for their acts of insurrection. Prison terms have started to result with hundreds more in the offing. The Republican party has characterized […]
Most organizations and people like to think that everything is under control, proceeding as planned, and the sought outcomes will be realized. If anyone suggests otherwise, they will be chastised for not being team players, perhaps for having bad attitudes, or quite simply for being outright wrong. Unpopular positions are seldom socially acceptable in organizations. […]
Charles Dickens’ immortal phrase portrays a time of radical opposites taking place at the same time in a 1859 historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities. set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. Are we at a similar time of radical contrasts? Are similar consequences likely? Current technology and economic trends […]
A recent email brought notice of four impressive National Academy reports. Two were 2021 reports on High Quality Primary Care and The Future of Nursing. One was a 2017 report on Pathways to Health Equity and the other was a 2012 report on Primary Care and Public Health. These are all impressive pieces of work. […]
As I have discussed many times before, a compelling overall goal is a healthy, educated, and productive population that is competitive in the global marketplace. Anyone who is not healthy is a drag on the national economy Anyone who is not educated is a drag on the national economy Anyone who is not productive is […]
We have, of late, been focused on federal policies to assure and enhance the STEM talent pipeline in the US. There is a widespread sense that the pipeline is not as robust as the economy and competitiveness requires. Are we trying to “fix” STEM? Maybe, but we need to keep priorities in perspective. As I […]
For many years, my research related to design, operations, and maintenance of national security and space systems. Over the past two decades, I have added healthcare delivery, higher education, urban systems, as well as energy and transportation. These complex ecosystems interact in myriad ways. In particular, they interact in terms of claims on societal resources. […]
The 2020-21 “multi-demic” of the coronavirus, economic disruption, and racial unrest has prompted a wealth of promising ideas for how to improve everyone’s lives in terms of health and wellness, economic security, and racial equity. As appealing as these ideas may be, they will face enormous implementation challenges and hurdles. We have been here before […]
Bill Bryson’s remarkable book, Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United State (William Morrow, 2001), chronicles the history of the English language in the US. His chapters on travel, cooking, shopping, and advertising are particularly compelling. A key element of Bryson’s story concerns how we are convinced to value, […]
What if you could make money by selling people securities, or equivalent, that have no inherent value, but people think will eventually be worth substantially more than they paid you for them? You can potentially make money from an endeavor that provides no value to the economy or society. You can make money off of […]
I recently read Javier Blas and Jack Farchy’s The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources (Oxford University Press, 2021). This fascinating book reads like a novel, almost a page turner. What will the traders do next? They chronicle the history of commodity traders of oil, grain, metals, and […]
During the Era of Colonialism (late 1400s to the mid- to late 1900s), European powers colonized most of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and the Arctic, excluding Antarctica. This typically involved oppression and exploitation of indigenous ethnic and racial groups inside the geographical area colonized. This oppression and exploitation often is […]
I recently finished James Suzman’s fascinating book Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots (Penguin Press, 2021). He chronicles humans’ work practices over many millennia. The meaning of work has changed dramatically over this period. Perspectives that we take for granted emerged much more recently than one might have […]
Many problems and potential fixes are being considered and debated to address the pandemic, associated economic slump, and economic and social inequities. Climate change is hovering in the wings. How do all these potential initiatives fit together? I think we can integrate all of these ideas by thinking about how they all support pursuit of […]
What needs to change to transform our society in the ways needed to achieve new levels of equality, performance, and value creation? I have nine suggestions in two broad areas. In general, we need to move from status quo practices to best practices as shown in the table below. Function Best Practices Status Quo […]
This is a very risky time. What does that mean? Risk equals the probability that something unfortunate happens times the consequences of it happening. It seems like both sides of this equation are working against us. So, what to do? First, we need to differentiate risks to you and the general public. If you have […]
How should we handle the current wave of domestic terrorism? It has been suggested that armed guards at all schools and houses of worship could solve the problem. Let’s estimate what that would cost, never mind its effectiveness. There are roughly 360,000 houses of worship — 350,000 churches, 4,000 synagogues, and 3,000 mosques. 360,000 times […]
We continue to anguish over escalating healthcare costs. To gain control of these costs, we need to understand one essential equation. The total cost of healthcare is Total Cost = Costs Per Use x Number of Uses Careful design of delivery processes to eliminate unwarranted care process variations can decrease the costs per use. Variations […]
