John Cleese’s Wine for the Confused
Lynne Kiesling Feel a bit adrift when confronted with the dizzying complexity of wine? Then John Cleese’s Wine for the Confused may help, and may make you laugh along the way.
July 2009
Informal Networks As Social Insurance
Lynne Kiesling Nancy Folbre has an interesting post about informal safety networks on the New York Times Economix blog. She observes that during economic downturns, those in need of assistance can avail themselves of either formal public assistance or informal assistance through family, friends, and social networks. This coexistence of public and private has been …
FERC’s Smart Grid Policy Statement (And an Aside on Federal-State Jurisdictional Issues)
Michael Giberson Also emerging from today’s FERC meeting, issuance of the Commission’s smart grid policy statement. At present only a press release and the chairman’s statement is available, but likely the full policy statement and remarks by other commissioners will be posted on the FERC home page in the next few hours. I imagine our …
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FERC Directs New York Power System Operator to Fix “Loop Flow” Scheduling Problem
Michael Giberson Today the FERC approved public release of the results of an internal staff investigation into allegations of “loop flow”-based market manipulations in the New York ISO market (see links below): In this order, we authorize the public disclosure of the attached Office of Enforcement Staff Report (OE Report) addressing its non-public investigation of …
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World’s First Utility-Scale, Zero-Emissions Hydrogen Power Plant?
Michael Giberson The Associated Press is reporting that a New Mexico company, Jetstream Wind (WARNING: annoying animated introduction accompanied by equally annoying dramatic soundtrack), has broken ground on what it claims will be “the world’s first utility-scale, zero-emissions hydrogen power plant.” According to the company website, their plan is to use renewable energy to produce …
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Five Guys in Lubbock: The New Best Burger in Town
Michael Giberson Five Guys Burgers and Fries opened today in Lubbock. For over 10 years I lived a few miles up the road from the original store in Arlington, Virginia. It was out of the way for me, too small, almost always crowded and peanut shells littered the floor. It was always worth the trip …
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More on the FTC and Western New York Gasoline Prices
Michael Giberson Following up on the earlier post, a recent FTC document details the agency’s activities addressing the oil and gas industry during the first six months of 2009. Of the investigation into gasoline prices in Western New York, the FTC said: The Commission’s work involving oil and natural gas also includes the examination of …
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Kidney Markets and Exchanges
Lynne Kiesling I see that Mike and I are both reading Market Design today … I liked Al Roth’s post on Virginia Postrel’s kidney exchange article in the Atlantic that came out last week. In addition to his highly complimentary commentary on Virginia’s article, which I recommend, he reviews some of the other press coverage …
Who Likes Ticket Scalpers?
Michael Giberson Al Roth at Market Design, directs our attention to The Ticket Economist: Grownup economists recognize that there’s a place for secondary markets, but I wonder if a convention of ticket re-sellers doesn’t have something of the flavor of a sex-workers’ conference, in the sense that the participants are engaged in an industry that …
Never Did See That Ftc Report on Western New York Gasoline Prices
Michael Giberson In October of last year, Congressman Brian Higgins sent a letter to then FTC chairman William Kovacic requesting an investigation of gasoline prices in his home area of western New York. Historically, prices in Buffalo and surrounding areas have been below the average price in the state, but beginning around the time of …
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