Economics

Adam Smith and the Digital Economy: Connectedness and Gains From Trade

Economics, Uncategorized / By

How can an 18th-century Scottish philosopher and economist help us understand the digital economy and our modern, hyper-connected world? That’s a question I’m tackling in a series of three essays at libertarianism.org. Digital technologies have increased our connectedness in profound ways. In the first essay I examine how Smith’s ideas about specialization and exchange combine …

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The Uk Smart Meter Transition: Industry Structure, Market Power, and Interoperability

Economics, Electricity, Energy markets, Regulation, Technology / By

The UK government started an energy digital smart meter rollout in 2008, an “… £11bn scheme to put 53m devices in 30m homes and small businesses by 2020” to yield an estimated gross benefit of £16.7bn. Calling the rollout a disaster would be generous — it’s behind schedule, about £1bn over budget, and full of technical …

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“Any Aid Package, No Matter What Dollar Amount, is a Band-Aid on an Arterial Bleed.”

Economics / By

More stinging criticism of the agricultural industry harms from the Trump tariffs and the proposed aid package to offset some of those harms since my post about the dairy industry yesterday — this article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is full of pointed arguments against them: Bill Gordon, a soybean farmer near Worthington, Minn., said his crop …

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Dairy Farming, Tariffs, and Trump’s “12 Billion Dollar Crutches”

1 Comment / Economics / By

Farming has always been an uncertain business. Weather and the price-taking nature of being small relative to large commodity markets lead to feast or famine. The Trump Trade War and today’s palliative farm subsidies to farmers harmed by Trump’s tariffs combine with pre-existing subsidies to amplify that underlying boom and bust cycle, imposing high costs on …

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Two Ev Entries in the “How Cool is This?” File

4 Comments / Economics, Electricity, How cool is this?, Transportation / By

Economical energy storage has long been the Holy Grail of electricity. Since 1800, when Alessandro Volta invented the electric pile (a forerunner of the modern battery), hobbyists, scientists, and engineers have experimented with chemicals and materials to create economical storage at a smaller scale than a hydroelectric dam and with a more portable technology than, …

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Coase’s Influence on Economics, and Adam Smith’s Influence on Coase

Economics, Uncategorized / By

https://www.facebook.com/CPCMP/videos/vb.181913810273/10160362413965274/?type=3&theater Understanding the economy as a dynamic, complex system relies on the foundational work of several economists, including Adam Smith (of course) and Ronald Coase. As Coase observed in his 1991 Nobel Prize address, What I have done is to show the importance for the working of the economic system of what may be termed …

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Epistemology and Synthetic Market Design: Examples from Ecosystem Services

1 Comment / Economic history, Environmental policy / By

Some of the most illuminating work in market design lately has been in payment for ecosystem services (PES). These projects provide examples of the continuing relevance of institutions to economic and policy outcomes, and the importance of Elinor Ostrom’s work on the diversity of governance institutions in common-pool resources; despite criticisms leveled at synthetic markets, …

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Edf on Grid Modernization

Economics, Electricity, Environmental policy, Uncategorized / By

Last week the Environmental Defense Fund released a new report on grid modernization, Grid Modernization: The Foundation for Climate Change Progress (pdf). This short report provides a clear overview of how grid modernization enables a cleaner energy future, examining six areas where investment and regulatory policy should focus to make that happen. The focus of this …

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