FERC Judge Finds for California Refunds, But Recognizes State?s Role in Creating Market Power On Thursday 12 November, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission administrative law judge Bruce Birchman proposed refunds that electricity suppliers should offer in redress of allegedly excessive wholesale power prices in 2000 and 2001. This decision should resolve some of the regulatory uncertainty …
Reason’s Director of Natural Resource Policy, Michael DeAlessi, has been following the impending water crisis in California, and has written this commentary in the San Diego Union Tribune. Background: water property rights in the West follow the “first in time, first in use” rights structure, which is very different from the riparian rights (your water …
Yet another panel to review the US Post Office, yet another promise to introduce some much-needed privatization. According to this CBS Marketwatch article, In drawing up the new commission’s marching orders, the Bush administration is demanding reform that stops short of total privatization. But it can’t favor subsidies, either, said Peter Fisher, undersecretary of Treasury …
Just to illustrate how complex oil markets are, especially when you consider the strategic interaction of the OPEC members, look at what’s going on right now, as summarized in Bloomberg Energy News article. There’s so much cheating on quotas, to the tune of about 10% of OPEC’s entire supply, that Saudi Arabia is trying to …
I subscribe to the wonderful A Word A Day list operated by Anu Gang. It’s a superb little treat for anyone who loves language and etymology. Monday’s word was eudemonia (yoo-di-MO-nee-uh) noun, also eudaemonia 1. A state of happiness and well-being. 2. In Aristotelian philosophy, happiness in a life of activity governed by reason. [From …
In presenting the medal to Vernon Smith, the presenter said that the “elegant methods you have developed are invaluable components in the empirical toolbox” and mentioned that now, 40 years hence, experiments are routinely performed in specialized laboratories around the world to improve our economic insights. Very cool.
So I’ve got the Nobel Ceremony on in the background while I grade papers (I’m dying to see Vernon Smith in full formal wear!). The presentations are themselves quite grand, but I am really enjoying the musical interludes. Right now it’s Bach’s first Brandenburg Concerto. Lovely. Now it’s on to literature. UPDATE: Now it’s Bartok’s …
WATCH THE NOBEL CEREMONY LIVE ONLINE: Tuesday, 10 December, 10:30 AM eastern time, watch the Nobel ceremony live online.
It’s from June, but this is a great Thomas Sowell article about price controls and all of their pernicious effects. Price controls rear their ugly heads in energy industries often, and as the California and the more recent Ontario experiences indicate, they are no help in the face of a supply shortage because they totally …
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