September 2010

Temporary Policies Have Temporary Effects – And Sometimes That is Good News

Michael Giberson Recent research has revealed that the “cash for clunkers”-policy boost to car sales did little more than rush car sales that would have taken place over the following several months, and no evidence was found of broader economic effects on employment or home prices due to the so-called stimulus effects of the spending. …

Temporary Policies Have Temporary Effects – And Sometimes That is Good News Read More »

Will Faking a Consumer Cartel Help Make Power Markets More Efficient?

Michael Giberson Does the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) really want to go down this path? Do they really think that faking a consumer cartel will help make wholesale power markets work more efficiently? Consumers come to any market in pretty direct competition with each other. Suppliers are offering their goods and I would like …

Will Faking a Consumer Cartel Help Make Power Markets More Efficient? Read More »

OPEC Turns 50 Years Old

Michael Giberson OPEC was founded on September 14, 1960, in Baghdad, Iraq by five oil-exporting countries that decided to join forces to safeguard their legitimate rights and exercise control over their petroleum resources after years of manipulation. From the OPEC “Secretary General’s Message” on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the organization. The slogan …

OPEC Turns 50 Years Old Read More »

Price Gouging, Ethics, Markets, and the Corrupting Influence of Econ 101

Michael Giberson Last I checked, James Kwak had 147 comments on his blog post on price gouging and the corrupting influence of Econ 101. Other bloggers have jumped into the fray: Adam Ozimek at Modeled Behavior, the Undergraduate at Observations of a Naive Undergraduate, and David Beckworth at Macro and Other Market Musings.  Quite a …

Price Gouging, Ethics, Markets, and the Corrupting Influence of Econ 101 Read More »

Taxpayers, Ratepayers, City Government, Municipal Utilities

Michael Giberson Cities have taxpayers and monopoly utility companies have ratepayers. When the city owns the utility, the taxpayers are – more or less – the same group of people as the ratepayers. In this case, does it matter which group pays how much for what? Should, for example, the municipal utility buy vehicles for …

Taxpayers, Ratepayers, City Government, Municipal Utilities Read More »

The Fictional (And Extremely Unhealthy!) Big Rock Candy Mountain

Michael Giberson [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYGCpGzFWh0] From the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Kids Pages, an earnest warning – accompanying the lyrics to the song Big Rock Candy Mountain – not to be lead astray by the wild (and extremely unhealthy!) images conjured up by the songwriter Harry “Haywire Mac” McClintock: IMPORTANT REMINDERS ABOUT THE LYRICS: Mr. McClintock’s …

The Fictional (And Extremely Unhealthy!) Big Rock Candy Mountain Read More »