The latest topic of The City podcast is the higher education bubble, featuring Cate MacDonald, Dr. John Mark Reynolds, and Dr. Holly Ordway. Reynolds makes the point that bubbles can arise when things are overvalued, but that it is important to determine whether that thing is relatively overvalued or absolutely overvalued. That is, to speak of a higher education bubble is to recognize that higher education is relatively more expensive than it is worth, but that it isn’t therefore worth nothing. The challenges facing higher education are various and multi-faceted, and one of the key issues is the necessity of determining how college education ought to be valued.

Read more on The Various Challenges of the Higher Education Bubble…

The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as “Obamacare”, is a strange law from the perspective of economic theories of insurance markets. Still, one can see where its designers were starting from. The individual mandate may be onerous from a liberty standpoint, but it makes sense if you understand that insurance markets are vulnerable to a phenomenon known as the “death spiral.”

The idea behind the death spiral is based on the recognition that insurance is a risk management scheme. Insurance companies, despite their best efforts, are less knowledgeable about its customers’ health than are their customers. As such, the prices an insurance company charges are based on the average risk that a customer will need care. Read more on The Tortured Logic of the Obamacare Law…

It has been over a year since the passing of the Affordable Care Act, and we are still discovering problems with it. Supporters claimed passing the bill will help everyone, especially the vulnerable. However, the Affordable Care Act ironically does just the opposite by placing the elderly in a very dangerous position. Dr. Don Condit, author of the Acton monograph a Prescription for Health Care Reform, explains how the Affordable Care Act negatively impacts the elderly and its violation of subsidiarity in this week’s Acton Commentary. Get Acton News & Commentary in you email inbox every Wednesday. Sign up here.

Read more on Dr. Don Condit: A Sugar Coating for the Bitter Pill of ObamaCare…