One of the intellectual strengths of JHPPL is its multidisciplinary orientation. At a time when the social and behavioral sciences are becoming hyperspecialized and increasingly focused on narrow research questions, JHPPL continues to publish creative, high-quality articles of broad significance by scholars who bring to their work the ideas, tools, and methods of a wide variety of disciplines and research traditions. This issue showcases the impressive range of JHPPL authors. It contains articles written by economists, marketing professors, professors of medicine, and political scientists. All of the articles are focused on significant health politics and policy topics, take seriously the institutional and political complexity of real-world governance, and are written in a way that is accessible to a broad audience.
In our lead article, Helen Levy, John Z. Ayanian, Thomas C. Buchmueller, Donald R. Grimes, and Gabriel Ehrlich examine one of the most important current health policy questions facing state...