Lynne Kiesling Today in Technology Review, Jonathan Koomey has an interesting analysis of computational energy efficiency. We’re all familiar with Moore’s Law — Gordon Moore’s prediction that the number of transistors on a chip will double approximately every two years — but I did not realize that Moore’s Law is also borne out in improvements …
The Internet of Things and Computational Energy Efficiency Read More »
Michael Giberson Oil and gasoline prices are high and so it isn’t too tough to find complaints about skyrocketing greed at oil companies. Yet at the same time natural gas prices have fallen to incredible lows (about $2.10 per MMBTU on the NYMEX this morning for May 2012). Aren’t natural gas company executives greedy too? It …
Greedy Oil Companies and Charitable Natural Gas Companies? Read More »
Michael Giberson An article by Sarah Kent in the WSJ, “Gulf in oil prices may set up market for a fall,” takes notice of wide gap that has emerged between the current price of oil on the world market and the futures price of oil a few years into the future. A variety of explanations …
Current Oil Prices: Scarcity Rents, Political Unrest, Inflation Hedging, or Speculation Read More »
Lynne Kiesling I mentioned a while ago my working paper on the neuroscience research on mirror neurons and its relevance for Adam Smith’s theory of sympathy developed in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). After revision and some extremely helpful referee guidance, the paper has been published in The Review of Austrian Economics: Mirror neuron …
Lynne Kiesling I loved seeing pictures a couple of weeks ago of an endangered Bengal tiger and her cubs from a hidden camera. Large predator wildlife that roam and are territorial often face reductions in their territory when humans move in; in the Bengal tiger territory in India, both traditional farming and the construction of …
Lynne Kiesling Fracking and energy self-sufficiency is the topic of the week at the Becker-Posner blog. Becker’s contribution provides a stream-of-consciousness overview that is consistent with the past fracking discussions here; it touches on fuel source competition, the quest for self-sufficiency, the environmental impact of fracking, and the likely effects of fuel export regulation. I’m …
Michael Giberson In principle, there is nothing in the science of climate change that imposes a partisan political commitment. It isn’t as if, for example, you have to believe in steeply progressive tax rates in order to understand climate science. Yet there seems to be a partisan divide on the science. Three recent posts at …
Lynne Kiesling Last week was our spring break, and I finally took some time to read Gary Taubes’ 2008 book Good Calories, Bad Calories. Taubes is an investigative science journalist who has been writing for years about the science of nutrition and epidemiology, and the book focuses on a long, careful, detailed narrative about how …
Nutrition Experience, Research, and Orthodoxy, with Some Economics Parallels Read More »
You know what? I’d happily spend the $27.98 for the 6 LED chandelier bulbs at Costco IF THEY WERE DIMMABLE. Yes, I know I’m shouting, but crikey, if you want people to use less energy, MAKE IT EASIER FOR THEM. Seriously, electronics engineers, what’s the problem? Who on earth thinks that people want to sit …
Lynne Kiesling I am happy to say that Learn Liberty has published another video that we did together. This one is a short one in which I talk about government regulation of monopolies, essentially laying out Schumpeter’s argument that when entry costs are low, monopolies do not persist because monopoly profit serves as a lure …
Learn Liberty Video: Should Government Regulate Monopolies? Read More »
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