Lynne Kiesling Check out this Wired article about methane capture from a trash dump in Bangaledesh. Methane capture technology can serve three objectives here: generating power, improving the utilization of the dump, and creating fertilizer that can enrich the thin soil in the area. When it gets going, this system can produce enough electricity to …
Lynne Kiesling James Hamilton’s recent discussion of Chinese oil demand mentions the government actions to subsidize oil consumption to fuel economic growth (yikes, what a far-flung distortion!). A WSJ article (subscription required) from Wednesday describes the consequences of China’s refined fuel subsidies: shortages and queues. Drivers in southern China have been queuing for as long …
Lynne Kiesling There was an interesting little blurb in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal on the increasing use of econometrics in advertising (subscription required). Econometrics uses statistical analysis to measure the relationship between different sets of events, such as the effect of educational qualifications on wage levels. To determine an advertisement’s effectiveness, econometricians write an equation …
Lynne Kiesling One of the beautiful and often-overlooked things about human action and exchange is not just comparative advantage. It’s the dynamic changes in comparative advantage as the environment changes. What you do relatively well (and relatively less badly, to really trigger the comparative advantage concept) changes over time, as you change, adapting to the …
Oil And Fuel Price Summary, And Musing On Comparative Advantage Read More »
Lynne Kiesling According to Slashdot, Google is buying up lots of unused fiber capacity and building a backbone from which it could build a wi-fi network, and is considering making access free. The Business 2.0 link here is a very informative article, containing a lot of information about the vertical transaction structure of the Internet. …
Lynne Kiesling At the new Austrian Economists blog, Pete Boettke has a very nice post on autonomy and how freedom and responsibility affect economic models. His discussion gives some insights into the ideas underpinning James Buchanan’s work, as Pete learned it and teaches it in his courses. He reminds us of the extent to which …
Pete Boettke On James Buchanan, And Implications In Electricity Read More »
Lynne Kiesling This observation on the NHL broadcast contract negotiations from The NHL is Back highlights an important economic concept: ESPN is seriously considering matching Comcast’s offer for the NHL. It’s not so much that ESPN wants hockey back as they want to keep a potential competitor from getting off the ground. The figure was …
Lynne Kiesling There’s a rumor circulating that Comcast and the National Hockey League are on the verge of a broadcast agreement. The purported deal would involve two games per week on OLN. It’s not clear what other games would be allowed to be televised, although there is another outstanding agreement with NBC for some games …
Lynne Kiesling It came out while I was at a conference and distracted, but here’s this month’s New Energy Currents from John Atkinson at Winds of Change. If you are interested in energy technology and policy, this is a must read. And thanks to John for the links here!
Lynne Kiesling This item has been sitting open on my desktop for a few days … I enjoy reading Jonathan Schwartz’s blog, and he recently had a post in which he discussed what it means to be a commodity. See also his post from July 2004 on commodification that he links therein. Andrew Morton (of …
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