Study Debunks Urban Sprawl And Population Growth Myths
In a recent Heritage Foundation study, "The Costs of Sprawl Reconsidered: What the Data Really Show," urban experts Wendell Cox and Johsua Utt debunk the myths that higher densities cost less and that lower costs are associated with lower rates of population growth and older neighborhoods.
Anti-sprawl advocates claim that "uncontrolled growth" will cost about $227.4 billion between 2000 and 2025, which amounts to about $9.1 billion in gross costs per year. Yet, when spreading the cost out over 115-million households for 25 years, Cox and Utt conclude:
Furthermore, the researchers discredit the idea that increasing density saves a significant amount of money. Cox and Utt found:
For more information on this Heritage Foundation Backgrounder by Wendell Cox and Joshua Utt (Backgrounder 1770), visit the Heritage Foundation website: www.heritage.org.
Drug Reimportation: Free-Market Solution
The CATO Institute will host a Capitol Hill briefing in the Rayburn House Office Building (B-369) on "Drug Reimportation," Monday, September 20, 12:00 p.m., which will include a luncheon after the briefing.
The featured speaker is Roger Pilon, Vice President for Legal Affairs at the Cato Institute. Cato Capitol Hill briefings and luncheons are free of charge.
Drug reimportation looks "inevitable," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson in May. Last year the House overwhelmingly passed a bill lifting the federal ban on reimporting prescription drugs, and three such bills are now pending in the Senate. Several state and local officials, defying federal law, have begun their own reimportation programs.
In his recent Cato study, Roger Pilon has taken an in-depth look at this complex issue and concluded that lifting the reimportation ban is the right answer. Even if bills currently in Congress don't always do it the right way, the reimportation ban is an issue that is sure to be on Congress's plate until it is resolved.
To register for this event, contact the Cato Institute: 202-789-5229.
New Book Scrutinizes Single-Payer Healthcare
A new book titled Lives at Risk: Single-Payer National Health Insurance Around the World by John C. Goodman, Gerald L. Musgrave, and Devon M. Herrick
(published by Rowman, Littlefield Publishers, Inc.), compares and contrasts the effectiveness and efficiency of national healthcare insurance or single-payer health plans, such as the Canadian healthcare system.
The growing interest in health care reform begs the following questions: What kind of reform? Will reforms reflect a free-market health-care model or a socialized healthcare system such as the Canadian experiment? Which system is able to minimize costs and provide more efficient services to patients on a regular basis? What is the track record of government-managed national healthcare insurance?
The authors, the president (Goodman) and two senior fellows (Musgrave and Herrick) of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), consider the critical failures of national health insurance systems. Visit the NCPA website for more information.
