Colleague and comrade-in-arms Sally Pipes likens federally funded research comparing medical treatments — to which the so-called “stimulus” bill would devote $1.1 billion — to federally funded research comparing cheeseburgers.

I too think the case for federally funded comparative-effectiveness research is misguided, but it’s stronger than the comparison to cheeseburgers would suggest. Why? Cheeseburgers are not credence goods.