Michael Giberson Buzzfeed columnist Russell Brandom explains, “Economists Are Taking Over the Game Industry: The game industry is hiring a new class of central bankers — but not in time to save Diablo III.” The post links to my earlier post on Diablo’s auction market design. Perhaps in support of Brandom’s title, the current (June 2012) Job …
Game-industry Market Design Job Openings for Economists Read More »
Michael Giberson My title is a little grand, at least the “and social progress,” but maybe it will be justified in some later, more carefully worked out version of the ideas clashing about in my head. As this is a blog, I’m sharing the more immediate, less carefully worked out version. 😉 I’ve been reading …
Doing What Seems Like It Should Work: Experiments, Tests, and Social Progress Read More »
Michael Giberson Boone Pickens, among others, has been hot to have Congress devote taxpayers money to rolling out natural gas vehicles and refueling stations as a way of encouraging long-distance trucking companies and other folk to convert their fleets from diesel fuel to natural gas. A report produced by energy consulting group IHS CERA concludes …
The Natural Gas Revolution Need Not Be Subsidized Read More »
Michael Giberson I don’t play Diablo III, but I do follow price gouging discussions online, which led me to this post on the Diablo III discussion forum: “Auction House and Price Gouging.” The initial complaint comes from a player trying to equip a new character through purchases in the Auction House, an in-game player-to-player trading mechanism, and …
Poor Market Design Causing High Prices in Diablo Iii Auction House? Read More »
Michael Giberson In the Christian Science Monitor, Robert Rapier wishes for a stable energy policy. It is an attractive idea. After all, policy uncertainty plays havoc with the ability of investors, managers, workers and consumers to coordinate plans in ways that usually work to make us all better off. He provides three examples–the production tax credit …
Not Your Grandfather’s Dysfunctional Energy Policy Read More »
Michael Giberson “Get the prices right!” was the rallying cry of some economists in the aftermath of the break up of the Soviet Union. Don’t plan the transition, stop planning and let markets sort it out. Similar advice goes out to developing economies around the world. Don’t ease your way to liberalization, throw open the …
Adam Smith Opposes “Shock Therapy” for Developing and Transitioning Economies Read More »
Michael Giberson Jeremy’s Blog at LDSLiberty.org comments on a price gouging episode in The Long Winter, the sixth book in the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Due to a long winter of snow and storms, the people in the town of De Smet are at the point of starving. Suddenly …
Price Gouging in Literature: Little House on the Prairie’s “The Long Winter” Read More »
Michael Giberson The question troubling some folks in Texas’s competitive power market: Will Texas consumers want to consume more electric power than suppliers are able to supply? A resource adequacy review by ERCOT, the power system and market operator for most of the state, suggests that consumer demand may outstrip resources available as early as 2014. …
Competitive Power Market in Texas Faces Supply Concerns. Now What? Read More »
Michael Giberson Loren Steffy, business columnist at the Houston Chronicle, is frequently a sensible guy. But his writing gig seems to require him to announce the sky is falling on a regular basis, so you have got to be a little careful when reading him. What else can you say about a column that cites …
From the Upside Down Market View of Houston Chronicle Columnist Loren Steffy Read More »
Michael Giberson A crisis is coming for the New Jersey solar power installation industry. Stringent solar power purchase requirements imposed on electric utilities (i.e. on electric utility ratepayers) has turned the state into the nation’s second largest for solar power capacity installed, behind only sunny California. But now that installed capacity is sufficient to meet …
New Jersey Solar Installers Seek “Endless Summer” at Ratepayer Expense Read More »
Copyright © 2022 Knowledge Problem Archive