Best Business Longreads for the Week of July 27, 2013
From the rent is too damn high to baby formula holding up the Chinese economy, The Daily Beast brings you the best in business journalism from this week.
Ng Han Guan/AP
“Chinese Search for Infant Formula”Edward Wong, The New York Times
Baby-formula prices from foreign brands have skyrocketed in China since the death of eight infants in 2008 over tainted domestic formula. And while the government is investigating price fixing by foreign companies, the upturned noses at domestic brands may be a big sign of one of the biggest problems facing the government’s push to a consumption-based economy: nobody trusts Chinese brands.
“Your Health Plan: The Next Frontier”Amanda Gengler, Money
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, may lead to some major changes in the way Americans purchase health insurance. What happens if more employers decide that they are better off leaving their employees to buy insurance on their own?
“The Perverse Effects of Rent Regulation”Adam Davidson, The New York Times Magazine
The next time somebody grouses about greedy developers or rich Russians when they talk about the exorbitant cost of housing in New York, tell them to catch up on their rent-regulation history—or just read this.
“Can Three Technologists, $40 Million, and Obamacare Change Health Insurance Forever?”Ezra Klein, Wonkblog
Historically, starting a new health-insurance company was a steep challenge. Three young tech guys think that when the new exchanges go live on January 1, 2014, they will be able to upend the system by making it painless.