Lynne Kiesling Today sees a couple more articles about Radiohead’s decision to sell their album online, at prices determined by the buyer. This New York Times article highlights one thing that I find interesting: letting the radio listeners themselves determine which songs off the album should be considered the “hit singles”: The Radiohead camp has …
Lynne Kiesling Thanks to Jesse Walker at Reason for the link to the Baltimore Sun’s Bay & Environment Blog. If, like me, you are interested in environmental issues pertaining to water use, this site looks like it will be quite useful. The current top post by Rona Kobell prompts me to think about something that …
Lynne Kiesling The regulatory policies of the past century in the electricity industry have enshrined the regulatory compact: in return for being granted a monopoly franchise with legal entry barriers, the regulated utility assumed an obligation to serve all customers in their service territory who desired service. The compensation received for this bargain is an …
The Regulatory Compact and Its Consequences for Innovation Read More »
Michael Giberson Discussions of internal corporate prediction markets have sometimes pointed out that open, anonymous participation can lead to better information flow within the corporation. See, for example, Jed Christiansen’s write-up of the recent Consensus Point conference on prediction markets, particularly his notes on the presentations of Dave Perry and Fortune Elkins. A lot of …
Prediction Markets and the Flow of Information Inside Organizations Read More »
Lynne Kiesling As has been pointed out here, at Environmental Economics, and elsewhere, the ethanol subsidies included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 have wrought a host of unintended consequences: the shift in demand increased corn prices, inducing farmers to substitute out of growing soybeans and into growing corn. This production substitution was not …
Proprietary, Sweeter Tomates: Another Unintended Consequence of Ethanol Subsidies Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Today sees a good article from the aforementioned Jonathan Adler on regulatory barriers to innovation and implementation of renewable energy. His conclusion: To promote alternative energy development, there’s no need for more handouts. Instead the government should get out of the way. If the goal is to increase actual alternative energy production, and …
Adler On Regulatory Barriers To Renewable Energy Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Jonathan Adler has a Volokh post on energy regulation linking to Andy Morriss’s article about regulatory sclerosis in energy. America’s energy markets, including the infrastructure that makes trading in energy possible (made up of pipelines, oil and gas terminals, and refineries), are clogged with the debris of almost a hundred years of state …
Lynne Kiesling Here’s a new example of dynamic, creative capitalism: shifts in relative prices of urban transportation (i.e., high gasoline prices) have increased the number of urban residents who use bicycles for transportation instead of/in addition to sport and fitness. This shift in relative prices and previously-untapped demand has led to a new product market: …
Lynne Kiesling Ron Bailey has a thorough and thoughtful article about climate change at Reason that is well worth a read. Part of the article focuses on the crucial role that technological change plays in affecting future resource use and climate conditions, and points out that such technological change is the main way that progress …
Michael Giberson As a follow-up to yesterday’s note on prizes vs. grants, George Mason University economist and MarginalRevolution.com blogger Tyler Cowen spoke on the topic at Google’s New York City office. Cowen was speaking the day after the “Google Lunar X Prize” was announced, and carried into the lecture a clipping of the story from …
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