Lynne Kiesling The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson parses Mary Meeker’s annual state of the Internet presentation, which includes some nifty and insightful analyses of data. Here’s my favorite: Note that this is in percentage terms, so it doesn’t show the overall increase in the number and variety of digital devices used — the number of devices …
Lynne Kiesling As Megan McArdle noted on Wednesday, fracking in the US is causing dissension within OPEC; couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of cartel members. Megan’s analysis is dead on, well worth reading, and reveals how different the ideal strategies are of the different OPEC members. At some level, this is not new — …
Lynne Kiesling As a follow-up to my previous post about cutting down trees for biofuels, here’s some interesting news about the unintended consequences and perverse incentives embedded in regulations to promote the use of biomass as fuel: a BBC investigation reveals trees cut from swamp forests in the US being used to fuel electricity generation …
More on the Purported Environmental Benefit of Cutting Down Trees Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Cutting down trees to generate biofuels to substitute for fossil fuels can’t make sense in terms of carbon accounting, can it? I never thought so, but apparently some people have contended that it does. This Project Syndicate essay from Bjorn Lomborg addresses the question, and I think it’s worthy of consideration not just …
Lynne Kiesling [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/66335887 w=500&h=281] David Ricardo: Principles of Political Economy & Taxation from Lynne Kiesling on Vimeo. You may know David Ricardo for his pioneering analysis of comparative advantage as the foundation of mutually beneficial specialization and trade. Ricardo’s work goes farther and deeper than that, exploring (among other things) the determinants of rent …
Course Video 3: David Ricardo on Rent and on Trade Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Here’s the second video for my history of economic thought course: a synopsis of Adam Smith’s Inquiry Concerning the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The video gives an overview of the entire work (except for Book III, his stage theory of history), and I hope it entices you to read …
Lynne Kiesling For the past few months I’ve been working with some talented and creative folks at Northwestern University Academic Technologies to produce some videos for use in my History of Economic Thought course. Over the next few weeks I’ll be releasing them here, and they will be available on my Vimeo page. Please distribute …
Course Video 1: Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Last week the EPA released a report on the extent of methane release during shale gas drilling; the results indicate that methane release is substantially smaller than previously thought. According to an article in Fuel Fix summarizing the report, The scope of the EPA’s revision was vast. In a mid-April report on greenhouse …
Lynne Kiesling Today’s Hayek’s birthday, a worthwhile landmark for reflection on his work and why it’s important to read. I assign “The Use of Knowledge in Society” in every class I teach, and I recommend it if you haven’t yet read it. Here Hayek argues that the fundamental economic problem societies face is not the allocation …
Lynne Kiesling [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYO3tOqDISE] Are you a fan of Leonard Read’s I, Pencil (see video above)? Hayek’s argument the “The Use of Knowledge in Society” about how prices coordinate the decisions of anonymous individuals with diffuse private knowledge? Adam Smith’s tale of the making of a woollen coat? Pietra Nivoli’s book on the global travels of …
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