Arnold Kling mentions the success today of the new GBP5 congestion charge for driiving into London. Arnold also has a good discussion question: Why do economists like tolls so much? I plan on asking my Environmental Economics class that very question tomorrow afternoon (we are discussing tradeable emissions permits). Other links on the London congestion …
Regarding the 1967 oil embargo, Yergin then goes on to say By July 1967, a mere month after the Six-Day War, it was clear that the “Arab oil weapon” and the “selective embargo” were a failure; supplies were being redistributed to where they were needed. … the formal emergency machinery for joint operations and antitrust …
The comments section of Megan McArdle’s post “Whither Iraqi Oil?, which I mentioned yesterday, has had an interesting conversation going on. One of the commenters, Patrick Sullivan, made a crucially important point about both the role of transportation costs and the role of trade in creating prosperity (regardless of whether or not you have lots …
Reason Public Policy Institute has published an article by Pierre Desrochers, of the Montreal Economic Institute, examining how creating institutions, rather than mandates, will increase sustainable reuse of industrial by-products.
In Tuesday’s State of the Union Address, President Bush proposed increasing federal subsidies to hydrogen fuel cell research. His administration had made similar recommendations in its national energy policy proposal in May 2001, to supplement the existing energy technology research subsidies. Such technology subsidies, particularly to get renewable energy technologies to the point where they …
While I’m making reading recommendations, let me belatedly recommend this Reason Online article by Jonathan Rauch on fuel cells. He’s a fantastic writer (this article is very much in the same tone as his outstanding April 2002 Atlantic Monthly article on computer-generated artificial societies as a tool to understand migration and the demise of Anasazi …
Gas prices to rise by summer, government says. Gas prices always rise by summer, it’s called seasonal demand variation. But this AP article is more substantive than that (I realize that they are hard-pressed to come up with pithy headlines), discussing how the current supply problems from Venezuela are likely to lead to a higher-than-average …
Now the Venezuelan opposition is encouraging citizens to stop paying taxes. Again I raise the question: has Chavez abrogated his constitutional responsibilities to his constituents? If so, then you could argue either the Locke argument that citizens have the right to rebel, or the Sidney argument that citizens have the responsibility to rebel. The extent …
Orin Kerr had a really good post yesterday on the Volokh Conspiracy about technology and law. Here’s an excerpt: In contrast, I argue, the latest technologies are constantly in flux, and the social meaning of different technologies and their regulation can vary considerably over the years (and with some technologies, over a matter of months). …
Traveling by air this holiday season? Then you are likely to encounter off-duty air traffic controllers leafleting about the proposed federal competitive sourcing initiative, under which federal agencies will be responsible for putting some of their functions and jobs up to competitive bid. Problem is, the ATC workers and the FAA have their facts wrong …
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