November 2009 – Page 2 – Knowledge Problem

Apparently “Light-handed Regulation” is Actually a Form of Regulation

Energy markets, Regulation / By Michael Giberson

Michael Giberson Tom Fowler, at NewsWatch: Energy, takes note of commentary by Tudor Pickering concerning a FERC investigation into whether three natural gas pipeline companies were over-recovering on their regulated rates. (See FERC press release here; a Reuters article.) Tudor Pickering, an energy industry advisory and investment company, notes that since 1992 FERC hasn’t required …

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Tres Amigas Project Discussed on Public Radio Show

2 Comments / Electricity / By Michael Giberson

Michael Giberson My most recent 15 seconds of fame*: The Environment Report: The ‘Tres Amigas’ Project. (Or, if you prefer, you can listen to today’s full 4:00 minute news segment.) In the segment I make the outrageous claim** that the project is located in an area where many renewable power resources will be built. The …

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Research Mounts Showing Vitamin D’s Health Benefits

1 Comment / Food and wine, Sport and fitness / By Lynne Kiesling

Lynne Kiesling Over the past year or so I’ve been following the debate and research on Vitamin D intake. Initially Vitamin D supplementation was recommended simply to reduce the incidence of rickets in children, but increasingly Vitamin D is associated with a wide range of health benefits, from reducing fatigue to improving metabolism to improving …

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Jonah Lehrer Channels His Inner Economist

4 Comments / Economics / By Lynne Kiesling

Lynne Kiesling I’ve recommended Jonah Lehrer’s The Frontal Cortex blog before, and if you haven’t checked it out, here are two more reasons to do so. His most recent post discusses Bill Belichick’s decision to go for the first down from 4th and 2 in Sunday night’s Patriots game, and ties it to David Gordon’s …

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More on Natural Gas from Shale and Its Critic

Energy markets / By Michael Giberson

Michael Giberson The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has a story on shale gas production critic Art Berman: Arthur Berman runs a one-man energy consulting firm out of his home near Houston, producing research that says forecasts for natural gas production in the U.S. are flawed. He’s won the industry’s attention and its anger. Since last month, …

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Long-Distance Transmission Complements “Local Self Reliance”

5 Comments / Energy markets, Environmental policy / By Michael Giberson

Michael Giberson A few weeks ago we mentioned commentary by John Harrell of the Institute for Local Self Reliance asserting that the “last thing renewable energy needs right now are new transmission lines.” The ILSR has a recent study suggesting the almost every state could be energy self sufficient relying only on in-state renewable power …

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Football Helmets and Head Injuries

1 Comment / Economics, Professional sports / By Michael Giberson

Michael Giberson Paul Walker at Anti-Dismal sees the economic content in the recent Wall Street Journal article on football, helmets, and head injuries. Here’s a piece of the story: Why do football players wear helmets in the first place? And more important, could the helmets be part of the problem? “Some people have advocated for …

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Cooperation and Cheating Among Bacteria

2 Comments / Economics, Miscellany / By Michael Giberson

Michael Giberson Ed Yong, at Not exactly rocket science, describes recent research into, uh, I guess you could describe it as the socioeconomic life of bacteria: Bacteria may not strike you as expert co-operators but at high concentrations, they pull together to build microscopic ‘cities’ called biofilms, where millions of individuals live among a slimy …

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Yergin: Oil Prices Not Driven by Supply and Demand…

4 Comments / Economics, Energy markets / By Michael Giberson

Michael Giberson Reuter’s reports remarks of Daniel Yergin made in Singapore: “Oil prices today do not reflect the world’s supply and demand fundamentals. Instead, prices are reflective of the weak dollar and expectations of a strong economic recovery,” Yergin told reporters on the sidelines of a conference. Changing value of the dollar aside, isn’t all …

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If Wishes Were Horses, then What Should Venture Capitalists Do?

3 Comments / Economics / By Michael Giberson

Michael Giberson Thinking about wishful thinking (see previous post), I am reminded of a minor error in George Stigler and Claire Friedland’s classic article, “What Can Regulators Regulate? The Case of Electricity.” As part of their introduction, they write: And if wishes were horses, one would buy stock in a harness factory. I believe they …

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