Michael Giberson One paper presented at the recent Second Annual Conference on Competition and Regulation in Network Industries in Brussels addressed the topic of regulation as an imperfect institution. The abstract seemed a bit of a mess, but I’m interested in views of utility regulation as an economic institution (particularly from a new institutional economics …
Lynne Kiesling Tim Haab helpfully points out an article from Time about EnergyHub, a device for consumers to see more, and more timely, information about their energy consumption. I’ve written about EnergyHub here before, and honestly, they have not been among the most forward-looking or impressive of the products I’ve seen for providing consumers with …
Energy Information Devices Start to Go Mass Market Read More »
Michael Giberson Al Roth surveys development of the market design course and field of study in economics at Harvard: [M]arket design is an eclectic field, drawing on game theory, experiments, computation, and field observation of all sorts (rules are data!).” … When Paul Milgrom and I began the class (when he spent a year at …
Lynne Kiesling Britain’s legal institutions may be about to get even more Orwellian than they already are (which is pretty Orwellian, given their widespread use of government CCTV surveillance cameras and their penchant for euphemism). The Digital Economy Bill, introduced in the Queen’s speech to Parliament earlier this week, is downright craven and very likely …
Lynne Kiesling I’ve recommended Jonah Lehrer’s The Frontal Cortex blog before, and if you haven’t checked it out, here are two more reasons to do so. His most recent post discusses Bill Belichick’s decision to go for the first down from 4th and 2 in Sunday night’s Patriots game, and ties it to David Gordon’s …
Michael Giberson Paul Walker at Anti-Dismal sees the economic content in the recent Wall Street Journal article on football, helmets, and head injuries. Here’s a piece of the story: Why do football players wear helmets in the first place? And more important, could the helmets be part of the problem? “Some people have advocated for …
Michael Giberson Ed Yong, at Not exactly rocket science, describes recent research into, uh, I guess you could describe it as the socioeconomic life of bacteria: Bacteria may not strike you as expert co-operators but at high concentrations, they pull together to build microscopic ‘cities’ called biofilms, where millions of individuals live among a slimy …
Michael Giberson Reuter’s reports remarks of Daniel Yergin made in Singapore: “Oil prices today do not reflect the world’s supply and demand fundamentals. Instead, prices are reflective of the weak dollar and expectations of a strong economic recovery,” Yergin told reporters on the sidelines of a conference. Changing value of the dollar aside, isn’t all …
Yergin: Oil Prices Not Driven by Supply and Demand… Read More »
Michael Giberson Thinking about wishful thinking (see previous post), I am reminded of a minor error in George Stigler and Claire Friedland’s classic article, “What Can Regulators Regulate? The Case of Electricity.” As part of their introduction, they write: And if wishes were horses, one would buy stock in a harness factory. I believe they …
If Wishes Were Horses, then What Should Venture Capitalists Do? Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Hi! How are you? I’m well, thanks. Long time no chat. Frankly, I’ve been tired, and have had too many work obligations stretching me in too many disparate directions. This has been bad for my KP writing, because much of what is happening with electricity regulation and policy right now is ripe for …
Hi Again; Some Reading Recommendations for the Holiday Season Read More »
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