The October 2003 issue of Reason’s Privatization Watch was a special electricity issue, featuring articles on demand response, the August blackout, and how technological change affects regulation. In particular, I’d like to draw your attention to two feature articles. The first, by Vernon Smith, Stephen Rassenti, and Bart Wilson of the Interdisciplinary Center for Economic …
Busy day today, opera tix tonight (Samson & Delilah), traveling Thurs and Fri, so things may be a bit quiet around here for the next couple of days.
I’m taking a page from Professor Bainbridge’s book and will start including wine reviews on this site. Let’s start with the trendy phenom that, at least here in the middle of the country, is “Three-buck Chuck”. Charles Shaw has recently released a 2001 Shiraz, and it’s got all of the features you want in a …
The Heartland Institute, a policy think tank located in Chicago that focuses on issues of state and local policy, has started publishing a new telecom newsletter called IT Update. It’s got columns from a lot of knowledgeable telecom policy folks, including Alfred Kahn, Solveig Singleton, Sonia Arrison, and Clyde Wayne Crews. The January issue has …
This article on students writing skills and blogging’s role in developing them, which features our own Kevin Brancato, makes some nice points about the skill development inherent in such an endeavor. For instance, I never thought about how the desire to connect to a network and the presence of public fact-checking can reduce plagiarism. Personally, …
Here’s an interesting article about the expansion of hybrid vehicles at the Detroit Auto Show. The article has a couple of nice comments about issues that I think are important, namely the unpredictable pace of technological change and the role that consumer preferences play in shaping the decisions of the manufacturers. Past auto shows have …
One of the main themes of my work is that the value of customer retail choice in electricity is not just an increased likelihood of lower prices. Choice is good because it enables customers to go out and look for, and purchase, differentiated products. But, but, but, … the nattering nabob says, electricity is a …
There’s More Than Price To Retail Electricity Competition Read More »
Toyota/Lexus unveiled their hybrid engine SUVs at the Detroit Auto Show; Toyota will make a hybrid Highlander and a hybrid pickup, while Lexus will make a hybrid RX400. From the Toyota press release: Like the popular four-cylinder Prius gas-electric hybrid, the 3.3-liter V6-equipped Highlander Hybrid will be powered by a new version of Toyota’s Hybrid …
According to this ITV article, the rumor that Rowan Atkinson is going to be in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is true, and that he’s going to play Voldemort! Voldemort? Voldemort! That’s some goofy casting. I am having serious difficulty imagining Rowan Atkinson in a sinister and non-funny role, notwithstanding the fact that …
Virginia’s recent New York Times column includes an interview with my friend and mentor Joel Mokyr, who recently edited the Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, which was published last fall. It’s a masterful work, with over 900 entries (complete with references) on a vast array of topics. For example, I wrote three entries for the …
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