Michael Giberson The Isolated Plant magazine published “A letter from a New York Correspondent,” in their August 1909 edition: Mr. Editor: From the viewpoint of one of the “common people,” the recent issues of your magazine have been striking fire with every telling blow… The following incident is mentioned as a bit of local history. …
Cogeneration Vs. Monopoly Electric Utility Service, Circa 1909 Read More »
Michael Giberson H. S. Knowlton said, “In the establishment of many kinds of modern business the question of cheap power is one of fundamental importance, and in not a few cases the industrial manager finds it a most difficult problem to decide between installing an isolated plant and contracting for central station service.” That’s from …
Michael Giberson And while linking to the Master Resource blog (as I did in the prior post), check out Guillermo Yeatts’s excellent article posted this morning, “Subsoil Oil and Gas Privatization: Private Wealth for the Common Good.” Privatization, or at least partial privatization, has been tried and has failed in several Latin American countries, as Yeatts …
On the Development of Mineral Resources in Latin America Read More »
Michael Giberson In the course of making a point about current political actions pursued by some in the electric power industry, Rob Bradley points to the views of industry pioneer Samuel Insull: Where did the drive for automatic pass-through of “reasonable” costs begin? For the electric industry, it began in Chicago in June 1898 in …
Samuel Insull’s Argument for State Regulation of Monopoly Electric Utilities Read More »
Michael Giberson Many keystrokes this week have been devoted to praising or damning the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. I’m inclined to agree with the praisers, but others are more competent to address the legal and political issues addressed by the court. I just want to pass along a useful …
The Founders Were Deeply Skeptical of Corporations Read More »
Lynne Kiesling I am, and always have been, a fan of Nikola Tesla, having most recently celebrated his birthday with a post here that included a link to the video of the O.M.D. song “Tesla Girls”. Now I find out that my appreciation of Tesla makes me a hip trendsetter! Who knew? Today’s Wall Street …
Lynne Kiesling Hi! How are you? I’m well, thanks. Long time no chat. Frankly, I’ve been tired, and have had too many work obligations stretching me in too many disparate directions. This has been bad for my KP writing, because much of what is happening with electricity regulation and policy right now is ripe for …
Hi Again; Some Reading Recommendations for the Holiday Season Read More »
Michael Giberson The city of Lubbock Texas has had two competing electric power companies since 1917. If a just announced deal goes through, competition will be eliminated. The new “official story” is that competition produced inefficiency, but this view is in stark contrast to old “official story” as told in the “The History of Lubbock …
The (soon to Be Revised) History of Electric Competition in Lubbock Read More »
Lynne Kiesling The NPR Planet Money folks do a great job of communicating complicated economic ideas with more nuance and sophistication than any other media folks around. The most recent episode of This American Life is an outstanding example: 392: Someone Else’s Money This week, we bring you a deeper look inside the health insurance …
Melissa Thomasson on This American Life on Health Insurance Read More »
Lynne Kiesling If you aren’t listening to EconTalk (and you should be, it’s wonderful!), you will miss Russ Roberts talking with Charlie Calomiris about financial crises. Truly, simply, unequivocally outstanding. Charlie brings the perspective of an economic historian along with his prodigious background in macroeconomic theory and his deep institutional knowledge about banking history. Almost …
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