Michael Giberson Danny Morris at Common Tragedies explains and advocates for wider adoption of the Idaho Stop Law: The law, named after the clever state that instituted it in 1982, says that cyclists may treat stop signs as yield signs (they must stop for those w/ the right of way, but can proceed w/o stopping …
Michael Giberson Should public policy accommodate the irrational fears of non-voters? In this case, the phrase “irrational fears” refers to a seemingly innate overwhelming aversion to vertical structures, namely wind turbines and high-voltage transmission lines, and “non-voters” refers to the lesser prairie chicken. A few weeks ago the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal ran a story on wildlife …
Wind Power, Birds, Public Policy, and the Irrational Fears of Non-voters Read More »
Michael Giberson From Fortune-Investor Daily: If Congress or the CFTC forces through stiff curbs on futures trading by so-called “speculators” — i.e. investors who use futures to bet on future price movements but don’t buy actual oil — it may lead to higher, not lower, oil prices over the long term. Why? Imagine you’re an …
Keeping Some Speculators out of the Oil Market May Lead to Higher Oil Prices Read More »
Michael Giberson High frequency trading practices by some financial firms have spilled into the news. The Economist provides a summary of the issue. Bloomberg notes the Sen. Charles Schumer has proposed to ban one such trading strategy. Here, Tyler Cowen said he is not worred about high frequency trading (HFT). In a follow-up, he said: …
We Can “Cure” High Frequency Trading, but is It Really a Public Policy Problem? Read More »
Michael Giberson The office of the attorney general of the state of New York announced yesterday that a total of 16 … wait, make that 17 wind power companies have signed onto the state’s new “Wind Industry Ethics Code.” The news release indicates that the main point of the industry “ethics code” is to prohibit …
Michael Giberson At Freakonomics, a Q&A with Christopher Steiner, author of $20 a Gallon. Haven’t read the book, but my present question has only to deal with an issue raised in the Freakonomics Q&A: the energy economics of school buses. Freakonomics asks how higher fuel prices would affect the way children get to school. Steiner …
Do School Buses Use More Energy Than the Likely Alternatives? Read More »
Michael Giberson I have a longish guest post, “Windpower: Focusing the Criticism Away from NIMBYism and Aesthetics,” up at Master Resource, Rob Bradley’s free market energy blog. In general, in the post I offer advice to free-market-oriented critics of wind power, urging them to focus on the distortionary policy problems and to stay away from …
Michael Giberson “Still, the wind-power industry loves to fret,” writes Keith Johnson at the WSJ‘s Environmental Capital blog, “Now, the worry is about a slowdown in manufacturing which could put thousands of ‘green jobs’ at risk—unless Congress offers even more support to the wind industry in the form of tougher renewable-energy standards.” Of course “fretting” …
Michael Giberson First, the news: Washington Township, N.J., gas station ordered temporarily closed for price gouging A judge on Monday [July 13] ordered the temporary closing of a Washington Township, N.J., gas station after the owners pleaded guilty to price gouging. Express Fuel on Route 31 North, south of Washington, will reopen on Monday. The …
Punishing Gasoline Customers for Non-Existent ‘Price Gouging’ by New Jersy Station Read More »
Michael Giberson In October of last year, Congressman Brian Higgins sent a letter to then FTC chairman William Kovacic requesting an investigation of gasoline prices in his home area of western New York. Historically, prices in Buffalo and surrounding areas have been below the average price in the state, but beginning around the time of …
Never Did See That Ftc Report on Western New York Gasoline Prices Read More »
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