Archive for September 29th, 2006

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A Wind Power Giant Arises in India

September 29, 2006

Michael Giberson

From the New York Times:

Suzlon has expanded rapidly as global demand for wind energy has taken off. Its sales and earnings tripled in the quarter ended June 30, as the company earned the equivalent of $41.6 million on sales of $202.4 million.

The demand for wind turbines has particularly accelerated in India, where installations rose nearly 48 percent last year, and in China, where they rose 65 percent, although from a lower base. Wind farms are starting to dot the coastline of east-central China and the southern tip of India, as well as scattered mesas and hills across central India and even Inner Mongolia.

The story also provides some insights about the perils and benefits of setting up wind turbines in rural India and the challenges of trying to serve the rapidly growning demand for energy in China.

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The Sports Economist on Freakonomics vs. Moneyball

September 29, 2006

Michael Giberson

At The Sports Economist, David Berri uses the occasion of a brief Business Week piece, “Freakonomics vs. Moneyball” to draw further attention to an article by Jahn K. Hakes and (Sports Economist blog-founder) Skip Sauer that appeared in this summer’s edition of the Journal of Economic Perspectives. In the article, Hakes and Sauer find econometric support for a bit of analysis key to the Moneyball story: that a batter’s “on base percentage” was undervalued in baseball labor market. Hakes and Sauer also conclude that the undervaluation of OBP diminished after the book was published.

As Berri notes, this isn’t just an article about sports, or a sports book, but about labor markets and economics, too.

The on-line Business Week story is limited to subscribers, as is the JEP article. You can find earlier versions of the Hakes and Sauer article online by searching for “An Economic Evaluation of the Moneyball Hypothesis.”

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