In mid-May, opposition MPs submitted a bill on healthcare fees to parliament. A few days later came a signal from the ministry that it was preparing changes to so-called "supplementary office hours" – likely connected to the same issue. Fees come up at every other healthcare conference, and it's no secret that the ministry has…
In recent years, Slovakia has been engaged in a debate about being "stuck in the middle-income trap," about having "exhausted our growth model," and about the need to move "from assembly line to brain gain." This debate matters. The trouble is that its vocabulary tempts us into a far too mechanical view of prosperity. Let…
The wonderful thing about economics is that it recognizes truths about the world that laypeople cannot intuitively grasp, based on simple statements about human action. Consider two concepts: opportunity costs and marginal decision-making based on marginal benefits and costs. If you really understand these two concepts, then it must seem normal to you that there…
