March 2012

Antony Davies’ Sobering Federal Debt Summary

Lynne Kiesling While we’re at Learn Liberty, and in light of today’s Congressional Republican federal government budget proposal, here’s economist Antony Davies on the implications of our government’s indebtedness. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID4xay5RITY&feature=player_embedded] When we covered this in my intro macro class this winter, it was sobering for my 18-20-year old students to realize that they are the …

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Are Refiners and Wholesalers Price Gouging on Petroleum Products in Alaska?

Michael Giberson As the chart below shows, during the summer of 2008 gasoline prices in Anchorage, Alaska switched from following typical prices in the lower 48 to a modest but notable amount above such typical prices. Not shown, but you can check it out at Gasbuddy.com where I generated the chart, after the summer of …

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How Fear Affects Policy: Adam Thierer on Technopanics

Lynne Kiesling Fear is a strong motivating factor, having evolved over millennia as we have protected ourselves against predators. Fear supports self-preservation by making us risk-averse and cautious. But such a deep, visceral, evolved emotion does not always serve our long-term objectives of thriving; it leads to maximin outcomes, and it is often mismatched to …

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The Wsj’s Awful Editorial Against the Wind Power Industry

Michael Giberson Like the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, I’d like to see the Production Tax Credit for wind and other renewable energy technologies expire at the end of this year as scheduled. So policy-wise, I’m with them. Still, their editorial against the wind power policy yesterday was awful and it deserves public …

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Well, in That Case I Favor Higher Automobile Fuel Economy Standards

Michael Giberson Gasoline prices are relatively high and we’re well into the 2012 political campaign, so that means we have presidential wannabees and a wannabee-reelected promising to pass out candy to voters faster than a newly split piñata. In North Carolina yesterday President Obama announced a $1 billion initiative for a “National Community Deployment Challenge …

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Welcome Sarah Skwire!

Lynne Kiesling I am thrilled to welcome my friend, knitting buddy, poetry expert, and all around Renaissance woman Sarah Skwire as a guest blogger! Sarah’s incisive intellect enables her to see connections across literature, economics, and political theory, and we welcome her insightfulness whenever the economics bug bites. Welcome, Sarah.

The Matt Ridley Prize for Environmental Heresy

Michael Giberson The Spectator magazine in the U.K. announces the Matt Ridley Prize for Environmental Heresy: Matt Ridley has long deplored the wind farm delusion, and was appalled when a family trust was paid by a wind farm company in compensation for mineral rights on land on which it wanted to build a turbine. The …

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