PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE USA: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

High costs and low graduation rates characteristic of 21^st‐century US public higher education stem from the bout of rent‐seeking attributable to the post‐Sputnik explosion in research spending and the consequent crusade to enrol new students, with diminishing concern for academic aptitude. New policies that tighten admission standards, encourage earlier graduation and enhance financial aid for the truly needy would constructively address these problems, as would incentives for faculty members to curtail outside consulting.     

PRESCRIPTION FOR CONFLICT: WHY THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY AND THE ANTI‐TOBACCO MOVEMENT IS NOT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF SMOKERS

Large pharmaceutical companies are major funders of anti‐smoking lobby groups. The same firms manufacture the products used in Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and stand to gain when governments recommend this approach to smoking cessation. There is growing evidence, however, that NRT is less effective than ‘cold turkey’ methods, and, indeed, that it has a number of harmful side effects. Its continued promotion, together with counterproductive anti‐smoking measures, raises serious questions about the influence of special interests over tobacco policy.