CASEY MULLIGAN, a professor of economics at the
University of Chicago, received his Ph.D. in economics from the
University of Chicago in 1993. He has been a visiting professor at
Harvard University and Clemson University, and is affiliated with the
National Bureau of Economic Research, the George J. Stigler Center for
the Study of the Economy and the State, and the Population Research
Center. He has written for the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, and is the author of three books, including Side Effects: The Economic Consequences of the Health Reform.
The following is adapted from a speech by Casey Mulligan delivered on October 24,
2014, at a Hillsdale College Free Market Forum in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The topic of my talk today is the economic side effects of the
Affordable Care Act (ACA), sometimes referred to as Obamacare. Since
most of the economy has to do with labor and work, that’s where I’ll
start. But, first a caveat. I’m an economist, and I’m going to talk
about some parts of this complex law that have an impact on the labor
market. Other parts of it relate to health and medicine, and because I’m
not a doctor or a biologist, I’m not going to speak to those parts.
From an economic or labor-market perspective, I’m going to explain how
the costs of the ACA outweigh its benefits. But I can’t measure or
estimate its effects on health care. I leave that to others.