Interesting blog bits

1. Joan Costa-i-Font, Stefan Felder and Andrew Felton ask Does ageing really affect health expenditures? If so, why?

   Over the last half century, life expectancy in the industrialised world has risen dramatically – and so has the healthcare bill. Is population ageing the main reason? This column argues that while ageing does affect health spending, it is far less important than many think. It adds that obsession with an ageing population is a dangerous red herring that prevents dealing with the real culprits of rising costs.

2. Richard Posner asks Does the Earth Have Room for 10 Billion People?

   On May 3, the United Nations issued its 2010 Revision of World Population Projections, which, according to the media, predicts that the world’s population, expected to reach 7 billion by the end of this year, will be 10.1 billion by the end of the century. But the media reports have tended to be imprecise. The UN report offers three predictions—a high, medium, and low—depending on different assumptions. The high is almost 16 billion and the low 6.2 billion (which is actually lower than the current world population), and a cautious appraisal of the report is that it provides a plausible basis for thinking that the world population will probably be between 6 and 16 billion 89 years from now.

3. Laura Freschi asks Are Lax US Gun Laws Spilling Violence into Mexico?

   The answer may be yes. But you do have to ask, What are the effects on deaths of "the war on drugs"?

4. Liberty Scott gives a UK and NZ roundup

   Recent political events in both countries.

5. Peter Klein on Frank Knight and the Austrians

   In what ways was or wasn't Knight an Austrian?

6. Matthew Philips asks Does Destroying Highways Solve Urban Traffic Congestion?

   And yes it could.

7. Don Brash's Dear John Letter

   Makes a number of good points.

8. Greg Mankiw on Evaluating ARRA

   Tim Conley and Bill Dupor have a new paper on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (that is, the Obama stimulus bill).