Lynne Kiesling I know that pointing out the economic illiteracy of politicians is akin to shooting fish in a barrel, but I have an irrationally optimistic hope that shining a light on such illiteracy will help reduce it. Today’s economic illiterate is U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who in an interview with Ezra Klein …
Economic Illiteracy Alert of the Day: Ag. Secretary Tom Vilsack Read More »
Michael Giberson In February, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission made its eleventh report to the U.S. Congress on the status of efforts to build a natural gas pipeline in Alaska. The twice-annual reports are required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Three efforts to bring gas from the North Slope of Alaska to market …
Progress Toward a Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Thwarted by Shale Gas Read More »
Michael Giberson John Tierney’s column, “When Energy Efficiency Sullies the Environment,” in the New York Times examines the rebound effect and some of the broader consequences of trying to promote conservation through policies inducing energy efficiency. Some of the biggest rebound effects occur when new economic activity results from energy-efficient technologies that reduce the cost …
Michael Giberson The recent New York Times series on natural gas fracking suggested that poorly treated produced water was being discharged into streams and rivers in Pennsylvania, and that disposal of produced water was a larger environmental issue than groundwater contamination from poorly completed wells. A key concern raised in both industry and regulator documents …
Fracking Wastewater Not Causing Radioactivity Issues in Pennsylvia Rivers Read More »
Michael Giberson Evan Turgeon, a lawyer working for the Cato Institute, has an article on gasoline taxation in the Journal of Land, Resources & Environmental Law: “Triple-Dividends: Toward Pigovian Gasoline Taxation.” The “triple dividends” asserted are benefits to the U.S. domestic economy, the national security outlook, and the environment. In general the idea is that if …
A Triple-Dividend from Pigovian Gasoline Taxation? Read More »
Michael Giberson Criticisms of the growing field of empirical legal studies by UCLA law professor Stephen Bainbridge were issued in such broad brush strokes that he ended up blasting just about every law academic engaged in any sort of interdisciplinary work, especially so if the academic seeks to examine data of some sort. The main …
Michael Giberson Clarity in the law is usually deemed a virtue. Groundwater planning processes implemented in Texas a few years ago have led to a few legal fights and the legislature has taken up groundwater law to help clear up some of the confusion. The conflict has arisen when groundwater management districts issue landowners permits …
Michael Giberson At Knowing and Making, Leigh Caldwell writes about “a charming pop song by the delightful young artist Jessie J” about “the important and neglected issue of pricing.” Initially he is pleased with the song, but ultimately “his faith in humanity is shaken. Shattered, in fact.” A great deal of drama for a short …
Singing About Pricing (Is It, Too, Like Dancing About Architecture?) Read More »
Michael Giberson At first it seemed like just another newspaper article on the potential environmental dangers of fracking to produce natural gas from shale, but on second look there is something new in the New York Times article, “Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers.” Most such stories, and much of the public’s …
Lynne Kiesling Mirror neurons have captivated my attention for the past year. Think about the last time you were out walking around and smiling, and you noticed that others who saw you started smiling themselves (this happens to me all the time, is that strange?). Even that simple unconscious mimicry is triggered by our brain’s …
New Working Paper: Mirror Neurons, Adam Smith, and Sympathy Read More »
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