Economic History of JapanDeflation in Japan started in the early 1990s. On 19 March 2001, the Bank of Japan and the Japanese government tried to eliminate deflation in the economy by reducing interest rates (part of their 'quantitative easing' policy). Despite having interest rates near zero for a long period, this strategy did not succeed.
This page is currently UNDER CONSTRUCTION, but you can start thinking about the Questions below while viewing the video above and the State-Space Model outputs below.
For me, it is really difficult to write about Technology without either falling into the "Gee-Wiz" trap or the "We-are-all-Doomed" trap. I think the problem is Techno-Fascism and the dawning realization that we might already be living in that future. I guess I'm just too committed to stop now, so misinterpret what I'm doing in any way you want. It won't really matter to the Future!
Steady-State Economyan economy made up of a constant stock of physical wealth (capital) and a constant population size. In effect, such an economy does not grow in the course of time.
AI Bubble a concept that asserts there is a stock market bubble growing since 2025 amid the AI boom, a period of rapid increase in investment in artificial intelligence (AI) that is affecting the broader economy. Speculation about a bubble largely originates from concerns that leading AI tech firms are involved in a circular flow of investments that are artificially inflating the value of their stocks.
How well is the US Healthcare System being managed? Google AI Reports:
“...the executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie” Marx’s famous formulation in The Communist Manifesto.
The PBS video (above) plays an interview with a Primary Care Physician explaining (1) why US Healthcare is so expensive and (2) why nothing is going to be done about it ("...the system is designed to make money off illness..." and it makes a lot of money).
George W. Pasdirtz’s 2007 paper “Controlling the U.S. Health Care System with Policy Wedges” introduced a state-space modeling approach to address the long-term growth of the U.S. health care sector, which has historically expanded faster than the economy PubMed+1.
Core Methodology
Pasdirtz built two state-space models:
U.S. economy model (1950–1999)
U.S. health care system model (1950–1999)
The economy model’s output served as a reference input to control the health care model’s growth, allowing simulation of a “controlled” scenario where health care growth matched economic growth PubMed+1.
The “Policy Wedges” Concept
A policy wedge is a targeted intervention that shifts the growth path of the health care system toward the economy’s growth rate. These wedges are measurable, policy levers—changes in investment, pricing, or service delivery—that can slow health care growth without eliminating care macropolicyspace.blogspot.com+1.
Key Findings from Simulations
To align health care growth with the economy over the late 20th century, Pasdirtz’s model suggested:
13% reduction in capital expenditure
15% reduction in drug prices
32% reduction in physician service prices PubMed+1
These reductions would have brought health care spending as a share of GDP from 3.4% in 1950 to nearly 14% in 1999 back in line with economic growth PubMed.
Application to Universal Health Care
Pasdirtz also applied the framework to universal health care design:
Use planning and economic incentives rather than over-engineering benefits
In short, Pasdirtz’s framework provides a macroeconomic modeling tool to test counterfactual outcomes and design policies that align health care growth with economic growth, with practical implications for both cost control and universal coverage.
I use my blogs to make informal comments on policy topics related to my research interests in the World-System, computer simulation of the US Health Care System, the US Economy, the US Stock Market, and the US Financial System. I am retired from the University of Wisconsin -- Madison. I have taught Statistics and Computer Science and also served on the UW's HIPAA Task Force and the Bioterrorism Task Force. I have also been a member of my local planning commission, a jazz guitarist and a golfer, so some of that may find its way into the blogs.
