All Posts Tagged With: "environmentalism"
Some Utility Companies Want Cap and Trade Now
“Utility executives are stepping up calls for legislation to cap greenhouse-gas emissions, fearing that if Congress doesn’t act, the EPA will establish rules that would be costlier and less effective.” (Wall Street Journal, Monday)
Summary of domestic energy policy debate: Devil you know or the devil you don’t?
FEE Timely Classic:
“The Perverse Popularity of Command and Control” [...]
Climate Bill Pushed Through Committee
“In a step that reflected deep partisan divisions in the Senate over the issue of global warming, Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee pushed through a climate bill on Thursday without any debate or participation by Republicans.” (New York Times, Friday)
Looks like its Hail Mary time.
FEE Timely Classic:
“Mandating Renewable Energy: It Ain’t Easy Being [...]
Dim Bulbs
“Hell, there are no rules here—we’re trying to accomplish something.”
—Thomas A. Edison
Edison’s words may have been true in the 1800s. Today, however, we have plenty of rules, thanks to the U.S. Congress. Some are so bizarre that you have to question the judgment of those who come up with them. One rule in particular is [...]
Gas Prices: The Latest Excuse to Reengineer Society
As someone who commutes 16 miles each way to work in a gas-guzzling sports car along the LA-area freeways, I’ve been less-than-amused by the nearly $5 a gallon I must pay for the premium fuel that keeps my mid-life-crisis-mobile running. Yet despite the misery of high prices, I’ve taken a certain joy in watching the [...]
1Nov2008 | Steven Greenhut | 0 comments | ContinuedUnpleasant Economists
Economists are not the most pleasant people to have around when others are delightfully praising the benefits of this or that public policy. We acknowledge the existence of scarcity, the fact that to enjoy more of one thing requires having less of another, which in turn forces us into bringing up the unpleasant topic of [...]
1Sep2008 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedEconomists and Scarcity
In a world where concerns about the environment and resources dominate political discussion and, for people like Al Gore, are a “generational mission [that gives] moral purpose” to our lives, thinking clearly about these issues is crucial. Economics can contribute to this discussion by providing its perspective on words such as “scarcity” and “resources,” which [...]
1Jun2008 | Steven Horwitz | 0 comments | ContinuedDon’t Look to Government to Cool Down the Planet
Recently on “20/20” I said “give me a break” to Al Gore for claiming that the global-warming debate is over and suggesting that all dissenters were in it for the money. I interviewed independent scientists who say Gore is wrong.
Some people were relieved to finally hear the other side: “Thank you, thank you, thank you [...]
Book Reviews – December 2007
- Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World
by Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu Reviewed by Andrew P. Morriss
- Econospinning: How to Read Between the Lines When the Media Manipulate the Numbers
by Gene Epstein Reviewed by Joseph Coletti
- The Entrepreneurial Imperative: How Americas Economic Miracle Will Reshape the World (and Change Your Life)
by Carl J. Schramm Reviewed by Frederic Sautet - The Green Wave: Environmentalism and Its Consequences
by Bonner Cohen Reviewed by George C. Leef
How a Free Society Could Solve Global Warming
The phrase“global warming” has been around for quite some time, but in the past year it has captured the spotlight as never before. One can’t turn on the radio or open a newspaper without facing ads from “green” corporations, or hearing the latest way to reduce one’s “carbon footprint.” With even prominent Republicans (such as [...]
1Oct2007 | Gene Callahan | 2 comments | ContinuedThank You, Internal-Combustion Engine, for Cleaning up the Environment
The internal-combustion engine is widely believed to have been an environmental disaster. It has been accused of harming our health by reducing air quality and contributing to what is currently claimed to be the most threatening of all environmental problems, global warming. But long before carbon dioxide was declared a major pollutant, a car was [...]
1Oct2007 | Dwight R. Lee | 0 comments | ContinuedFreedom Is the Environment’s Best Friend
John Semmens is a transportation policy analyst at the Laissez Faire Institute in Arizona.
Every April 22 celebrations of Earth Day take place around the world. This can serve as a reminder to reflect on the status of our planet. Some believe the earth is in great peril and that stringent measures to restrain economic development [...]
Re-Thinking Green: Alternatives to Environmental Bureaucracy
Edited by Robert Higgs and Carl P. Close Reviewed by Michael Sanera
1Mar2007 | agardner | 0 comments | ContinuedRemembering Julian Simon
Paul A. Cleveland is a professor of economics at Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama. Erin Hagert is studying economics at The King’s College in New York.
The late Julian Simon was not a household name, but he left an indelible mark nonetheless by demanding that environmentalists produce evidence for their doomsday predictions. Meanwhile, he produced his own [...]
Global Warming and the Layman
Global warming is a divisive issue. People are either believers or skeptics, with each side viewing the other with apprehension. I’ve sided firmly with the skeptics, but lately I have had a nagging concern. Like most people, I am not an atmospheric scientist. I have no firsthand way to evaluate a scientifically based argument for [...]
1Jan2007 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedMandating Renewable Energy: It’s Not Easy Being Green
Environmentalists abhor all fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and petroleum) and nuclear energy. They collectively refer to this type of energy as “brown” power. Along with a bipartisan collection of Washington politicians, they instead advocate “green,” or “renewable,” power. This earth-friendly alternative energy includes geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass, solar, and wind. While we all know that [...]
1Oct2006 | Michael Heberling | 4 comments | ContinuedBook Reviews – October 2006
- Reviving the Invisible Hand: The
Case for Classical Liberalism in the Twenty-First Century
by Deepak Lal Reviewed by Richard M. Ebeling
- Laws of Fear
by Cass Sunstein Reviewed by Donald J. Boudreaux
- Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an
Empire’s
Slaves
by Adam Hochschild Reviewed by Becky Akers
- Why Men Earn More
by Warren Farrell Reviewed by George C. Leef
Book Reviews – September 2006
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On Political
Equality
by Robert A. Dahl
Reviewed by Richard M. Ebeling -
Collapse: How
Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
by Jared Diamond Reviewed
by Gene Callahan -
Economic Liberties
and the Constitution
by Bernard H. Siegan Reviewed by George C. Leef -
Kidney for Sale by
Owner: Human Organs, Transplantation, and the Market
by Mark J. Cherry Reviewed by William L. Anderson
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Latest Toon
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Book Reviews
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The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy–If We Let it Happen
By Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter J. Tanous
