January 2013

Hoffman on Price Gouging (in Which I Take on Claims Made in a 7-year Old Blog Post)

While seeking out the guns and ammo price gouging post at Mother Jones (see link here) I came across a post-Katrina 2005 Political Mojo post by Bradford Plumer on price gouging that I don’t recall having seen before, and it provides a link to a Dave Hoffman post-Katrina post at PrawfsBlawg that actually advances some …

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Mother Jones on Guns and Ammo Price Gouging

Michael Giberson A post at Mother Jones‘s Political Mojo blog sees a silver lining in current price gouging on guns (see “Gun Lovers Freaking Out Over Price Gouging“): “It might help keep sales in check—at least temporarily—while Congress gets around to thinking about thinking about considering an assault-weapon ban.” Well, technically speaking, current prices and …

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A Call for Controlled Experimentation in California’s Energy Efficiency Programs

Michael Giberson UC-Berkeley economist Catherine Wolfram has an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee advocating the state use controlled experimentation to discover with energy efficiency programs work best. As she explains, retailers are increasingly using experimentation and advanced data analysis to discover how to increase sales. Surely, she suggests, when planning to spend nearly half a …

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Al Roth, Matchmaker

Michael Giberson Stanford’s alumni association magazine has a good article on recent economics Nobelist Al Roth. Several things about the article will trigger resistance among some free market readers, beginning with the title (“The Visible Hand”) and the subhead (A new breed of economist, Alvin Roth brings an engineering sensibility to fixing markets.). Deep into …

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Would Five Epa Commissioners Be Better Than One Epa Administrator?

Michael Giberson Steven Hayward makes the unremarkable observation that the EPA is politicized followed by the somewhat surprising recommendation to fix things by adding more political appointees at the top! He recommends a five-person commission structure within which no more than three are of the same party affiliation, similar to the arrangement governing the Federal …

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New Group Formed to Promote Research in U.s. Electric Power Markets

Michael Giberson Last week saw announcement of the Electric Markets Research Foundation. The group plans “to fund unbiased research that will examine the track records of centralized electricity markets and traditionally regulated markets in providing affordable and reliable supplies of power as well as meeting clean energy, transmission and environmental needs.” The news release continues: “There is a …

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American Biofuel Policy Increases Hardship on the Guatemalan Poor, and You Help Every Time You Buy Gasoline

Michael Giberson Next time you see one of those “This product may contain up to 10 percent ethanol” stickers on a gas pump, ask yourself why federal government biofuel policies are forcing you to help increase hunger and hardship among poor Guatemalans. Sure, politicians in their comfortable offices in Washington, DC, didn’t intend to help …

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