When environmental push comes to economic shove, European Union ministers seem willing to back down on the EU’s tough environmental regulations to help limit the economic damage caused by “leakage” (production moving out of the EU to unregulated countries), according to this story: EU ministers responsible for industry, trade and research are due to agree …
Continue reading ‘The Greening of Europe Taking a Back Seat to the Economy?’ »
Today’s edition of Inkstain Economic Indicators is not good. There’s a new bike trail through my neighborhood, so I no longer cut behind our Mega Wal-Mart Giganto Store, but I took a detour today to see what’s up. The paved pads behind the store have always been a good economic indicator. When there are a …
I have the typical attention span of a journalist, and once the gas price spike turned into whatever the opposite of a spike is, I rushed off to the next front page thought, but really, gas prices have remained interesting: But for full context, also this: Sorta hard to see without referring to the underlying …
Continue reading ‘Gas Prices Creeping Up, Demand Still Down’ »
One of our great difficulties, whether the subject is climate change or the economy, is the problem of decision-making in the face of uncertainty. We want to know the right answer, and the lack of one makes us uncomfortable. But, as Win Quigley points out, sometimes that’s just the way it is: Every economist and …
From this morning’s Albuquerque Journal, a look at the difficulties in Congress as greenhouse gas regulation becomes real rather than an abstract exercise: Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., was one of 26 Democrats who joined Republicans last week in voting to make it harder for the Senate to act quickly on President Barack Obama’s greenhouse gas …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Realities of Cap and Trade’ »
Last week, I wrote a piece for the newspaper (adwalled) about the difficulties faced by greenhouse reduction advocates in New Mexico in getting their Western Climate Initiative legislation moving: The difficulty in passing legislation here is mirrored in other states. Efforts in Montana, Arizona, Utah and Washington, which are also part of the Western Climate …
Continue reading ‘Is the Western Climate Initiative tanking?’ »
This paper, a study of the effect of the closure of the Cincinnati Post on elections, got a good ride in the metamedia blogosphere a few weeks back when it came out, but I just got around to reading it. Interesting stuff, and you can see why it was popular with we inkstained scribes: The …
Win Quigley on why it wasn’t really a black swan: [E]very morning my wife and I spend a half hour to an hour reading the newspaper before we walk our dogs. Every morning for many months, up until the real estate market collapse, Bonnie would read the real estate ads and ask the same questions: …
Climate scientists, apparently, are a dour, grumpy bunch, while economists have the cheerful demeanor of a plucky role model heading enthusiastically into the future.* This, at least, is the impression left by Jean-Marie Macabrey’s account** of last week’s Cophenhagen climate fest: At the congress, it seemed that all the scientists had to share with their …
Continue reading ‘The Difference Between Climate Scientists and Economists’ »
Clearing out some old piles of reading material, I ran across an old CBO report from a year ago on gasoline prices. It seems so long ago, my obsession with elasticities (short term and long) and the effect of rising energy prices on behavior large and small. Many drivers have responded to higher gasoline prices …