January 19, 2010

The Costs of Policy Uncertainty: Venezuela Edition

Michael Giberson Maybe there is more to this story than “no company with the least respect for stockholders money would invest in Venezuela these days”, but that might be a sufficient explanation.  From Bloomberg: Venezuela’s Mariscal Sucre project, which has estimated reserves of 14.7 trillion cubic feet of gas, has failed to attract private interest …

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Taking out a Mortgage to Buy Led Lights for Your Home

Michael Giberson A Financial Times article discusses advances in the application of LED technology, both for television and other display technologies and for general lighting applications. Pete Moran of the DCM venture capital firm says LEDs have advantages such as longer life and greater efficiency compared with both incandescents and the energy-saving compact fluorescents with …

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Stretching the Meaning of “Price Gouging” in Venezuela and Alaska

Michael Giberson What does “price gouging” mean?  Commonly it is taken to refer to merchants raising prices substantially on necessities during emergencies.  Each of the three elements – substantial price increase, necessary items, emergency periods – is part of a proto-typical case of price gouging. However, the term is frequently also used in cases lacking …

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