Jim responds to Wonks Anonymous piece on Seldane, saying that prescription drug advertising has nothing to do with health costs. He says that Wonks Anonymous should read Uwe Reinhardt on this issue.

Now Wonks Anonymous has read a great deal of work by Professor Reinhardt but seen little on this particular issue. If Jim might provide a citation?

But really this would not convince Wonks Anonymous of the error of his ways. A great many economists have assured a great many students that advertising does nothing. At the same time the world goes around and businesses continue to spend a great deal of money on advertising.

If economic theory cannot accommodate economic behaviors then there is a problem with economic theory.