Dean Baker

Financing Drug Research: What are the Issues?

Rising drug prices are placing an ever larger burden on family budgets and the economy. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates 2004 expenditures at

The Upward Redistribution of Income

207 billion (more than

Social Security: The Phony Crisis

700 per person), and projects that annual spending will grow to more than

Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy

500 billion by 2013 (more than

The United States Since 1980

1,600 per person). The immediate cause of high drug prices is government granted patent monopolies, which allow drug companies to charge prices that are often 400 percent, or more, above competitive market prices.

The Value of the “Too Big to Fail” Big Bank Subsidy

This paper examines the extent to which the growth in rents can explain the upward redistribution in income since 1980. It examines and provides preliminary estimates for the growth of rents in four main areas: increased patent and copyright rents, the growth of the financial sector, the increase in CEO pay due to the failure of the corporate governance, and the increase in pay for the most highly paid professionals due to protectionist barriers.