Second Quarter 2014

In the latest Milken Institute Review, david e. bloom, elizabeth cafiero-fonseca, mark e. mcgovern of Harvard and klaus prettner of Germany's University of Gottingen estimate the dimensions of the health crisis sneaking up on China and India. "The cost of non-communicable diseases (in particular, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes) will be high no matter what," they conclude. But "unless the issue is given top priority, it will be utterly staggering. Action will of course be costly, but far less costly than the alternative."

Also in this issue: A proposal to reform the income tax, stabilize entitlement spending and tame budget deficits in one grand bargain; a look at the role of financial derivatives in managing business risk and expanding access to capital; a response to jeremiads mourning the consolidation of the big carriers in the airline industry; a review of the Cash for Clunkers stimulus program of 2009; a view of the implications of our dependence on technology for continuing growth; and an argument that the rulers of Oman, Jordan and Morocco survived the Arab Spring because they deliver more of what their citizens crave.