The “Great Manure Crisis” of the late 19th century offers some serious lessons for those worried about the “existential threat” of global warming from CO2 emissions.
Horse Manure, Climate Change, and Nuclear Energy
Horse Manure, Climate Change, and Nuclear Energy
14 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, health economics, politics - USA, transport economics, urban economics Tags: climate alarmism
Noah Smith on L.A: fire lessons
13 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, environmental economics, environmentalism, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: unintended consequences
The best piece I have seen so far, here is one bit: Basically, the lessons I take away from the horrific L.A. fires are: The insurance industry as we know it is in big trouble. Climate change is making wildfires worse, but there’s not much we can do about that right now. Forest management needs […]
Noah Smith on L.A: fire lessons
Price controls destroy wealth: California Fire Insurance
11 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, environmentalism, financial economics, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: price controls
Noah Smith via Marginal Revolution, and Kim Mai Cutler. The CA insurance regulator is elected, and is reluctant to allow higher rates for fire insurance, despite the big risks, lest she be voted out of office. As a consequence, expected profits are low, so a majority of top insurers have stopped issuing fire insurance in CA.…
Price controls destroy wealth: California Fire Insurance
Smart Growth Burns Thousands of Homes
11 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, environmental economics, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, urban economics Tags: land use planning, unintended consequences, zoning
Los Angeles city and regional planners are just as responsible for the Palisades, Eaton, and other fires that have burned in the past few days as if they had poured gasoline on the homes and lit the matches. The destruction of these homes, including, for what it is worth, homes … Continue reading →
Smart Growth Burns Thousands of Homes
Sabotaging productivity
03 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: land supply, nanny state, zoning
Is there any better – or should that be worse? – example of how the consenting process sabotages productivity than the current hearings on McDonalds’ application to open in Wanaka? Public submissions were sought, and of the 366 made, 339 were opposed, 21 in support and six wanted changes to the plan. Among the submissions […]
Sabotaging productivity
Time for Starmer to Be Honest About What Net Zero Means: Rationing, Blackouts and Travel Restrictions in the Next Five Years
02 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, transport economics, urban economics Tags: British politics
The shamble at COP demonstrates that the world is moving away from the idea that hydrocarbons can be removed from a modern economy. But an accident of recent electoral politics has left Britain with a fanatical Government of Net Zero zealots. The anti-working class Labour party was returned to power with a popular vote count less than its losing Marxist leader obtained in 2019. The U.K. FIRES work demonstrates what lies in store. A resurgent America bounding ahead on cheap energy and unleashed entrepreneurial spirits will contrast with its European allies shutting down industrial manufacturing in pursuit of an increasing unpopular state-mandated doomsday cult.
Time for Starmer to Be Honest About What Net Zero Means: Rationing, Blackouts and Travel Restrictions in the Next Five Years
Growing Electric Car Sales Slump In Germany… Ford Cuts Back Production In Cologne Plant
18 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, transport economics, urban economics Tags: electric cars, Germany
Germany’s Blackout News reports on the ongoing sales slump for in e-cars and how the Ford plant in Cologne is putting its employees on reduced work times (Kurzarbeit). AI generated symbol image (Chat GPT) Currently there’s a “growing crisis in the e-car market” and the production of the Explorer and Capri electric models at the…
Growing Electric Car Sales Slump In Germany… Ford Cuts Back Production In Cologne Plant
Local Labor Market Effects of Amazon
18 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, labour economics, labour supply, urban economics
Does the entry of a large employer to a local labor market increase welfare for residents? To answer this question, I analyze the local effects of the dramatic expansion of Amazon’s fulfillment center (FC) network from 2010 onward. I exploit the staggered roll-out of FCs across large U.S. metros in a difference-in-difference framework. I find […]
Local Labor Market Effects of Amazon
Resolving the infrastructure deficit
16 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, transport economics, urban economics
Peter Dunne writes – Last week the government announced plans to build two new tunnels in central Wellington to ease traffic congestion. One will be a second tunnel through Mount Victoria to improve the flow of traffic to the eastern suburbs and Wellington International Airport. The other will be alongside the existing Terrace tunnel to […]
Resolving the infrastructure deficit
Trumping the Electric Vehicle Mandate
15 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA, transport economics, urban economics Tags: 2024 presidential election, electric cars
Four principles will likely guide the Trump Administration’s actions on the auto industry in the next several months: (a) tariffs to protect domestic auto industry jobs, (b) fighting against mandates that tilt the playing field toward an EV technology that is both widely unpopular especially for load-carrying vehicles, (c) lowering the overall cost of owning reliable transportation for American consumers, and (d) consumer choice, not government mandates, must drive the auto and truck marketplace.
Trumping the Electric Vehicle Mandate
Electric Vehicles: A Tale of Woe in the Absence of the Market Process
09 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, industrial organisation, politics - USA, survivor principle, transport economics, urban economics Tags: electric cars
There is a market for electric vehicles, but government mandates and subsidies—regulators predicting winners and losers—cause more harm than good. By forcing technology into widespread use before it is ready for primetime, governments are causing consumers to resist EVs. Instead, government regulators should allow consumer demand, competition, and the “market process” to guide EV adoption.
Electric Vehicles: A Tale of Woe in the Absence of the Market Process
The Shinkansen and Japan’s Lost Decades
30 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics, survivor principle, transport economics, urban economics Tags: Japan
Japan is known for many things, but two of them are the Shinkansen high-speed trains and the nation’s three Lost Decades of slow economic growth. Unfortunately, most tourists who go to Japan see the former and don’t see the latter and especially don’t see the connection between the two. The … Continue reading →
The Shinkansen and Japan’s Lost Decades
‘Taxpayer Talk’ | Simon Court joins Jordan Williams to talk RMA reform
14 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, resource economics, transport economics, urban economics Tags: zoning
Addressing the Housing Crisis
10 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: affordable housing, land supply, regressive left
Japan’s population is roughly equal to the five most-populous states of the U.S. — California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas — concentrated in a nation that has approximately the land area of Montana, which is only about a fourth as large as those five most-populous states. Moreover, well over … Continue reading →
Addressing the Housing Crisis
Transit’s Ride into Irrelevance
10 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in transport economics, urban economics
Just 3.5 percent of American workers commuted to work by public transit in 2023, according to American Community Survey data recently released by the Census Bureau. That’s down from 5.0 percent in 2019. Since transit ridership so far in 2024 is only about 4 percent more (when measured as a … Continue reading →
Transit’s Ride into Irrelevance
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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