Lynne Kiesling Over the past few weeks I’ve been paying some attention to the increasing, and spreading, bedbug infestations in the U.S. I’m not particularly squeamish, but bedbugs are rapacious colony-dwelling critters that can survive for a year without food, feast on the blood of sleeping animals (humans YUM YUM), and colonize easily in mattresses …
Bedbugs, Public Policy, and Relative Risk Assessment Read More »
Michael Giberson Tom Konrad explains, “When it Makes Sense to Worry About Jevons Paradox, and When it Doesn’t.” Konrad highlights the critical point – whether demand for the good in question is elastic or inelastic – and suggests that the demand for electric power is relatively inelastic and therefore the demand for lighting is inelastic, hence …
Michael Giberson The title above is a quote from Harold Margolis’s paper, “Are Economists Human?” HT Marginal Revolution. (I wonder if Tyler Cowen laughed when he read it?)
Michael Giberson The current issue of The Economist reports on research that concluded “making lighting more efficient could increase energy use, not decrease it.” SOLID-STATE lighting, the latest idea to brighten up the world while saving the planet, promises illumination for a fraction of the energy used by incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. A win all …
The Economist: Making Lighting More Efficient Could Increase Energy Use Read More »
Lynne Kiesling I recently recommended Joel Mokyr’s The Enlightened Economy and mentioned that I was going to have a more lengthy discussion of it soon. I still have things I want to say about it, but Trevor Butterworth fills some of the void with his review in the Wall Street Journal. Butterworth has some pointed …
Lynne Kiesling I like Peter Klein’s review in the Independent Review of Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks. Apart from giving a good overview of the Benkler work, Peter offers some original insights that are worth thinking about. For example: To ensure open access to the networked economy, Benkler favors a public-ownership network infrastructure, loose …
Lynne Kiesling This weekend’s Wall Street Journal has, for your reading pleasure, a wonderful profile of Pete Boettke. Many of you know Pete as an economics professor at George Mason, a contributor to Coordination Problem, and a tireless and fierce intellect to be reckoned with. He is also a good friend to Knowledge Problem, and …
Wsj Profile of Pete Boettke and Modern Austrian Economics Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Last night the KP Spouse and I spontaneously decided to go out to dinner. We went to Chalkboard, our favorite restaurant near our house, and I ordered a salad as a starter (and amazingly delicious Hawaiian Ono as a main course, yum yum). We were chatting with the chef later (it being a …
Michael Giberson I suppose it is still true that, as Raymond de Roover wrote in 1958, “The history of price regulation remains to be written….” The full sentence and several more (emphasis added): The history of price regulation remains to be written, but we know it to be a tale of woe. In the absence …
The History of Price Regulation is a Tale of Woe Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Bruce Yandle, call your office — it’s another bootleggers and Baptists alert! This time it’s RIAA and radio broadcasters, who usually are at loggerheads over things like song royalties but have found common cause and joined forces to lobby the FCC to mandate that all mobile devices have an FM receiver implanted in …
Bootleggers and Baptists Alert: Riaa and Radio Broadcasters Read More »
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