The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. – F.A. Hayek
Posted in Environment, Flotsam and Jetsam, Institutions on Aug 9th, 2010
I just finished watching Ken Burns’ recent documentary on America’s National Parks. The scenery was great, but Burns’ interpretation of the meaning of the National Parks was a bit confused. The entire series seemed to be a celebration of democracy – that the creation of the National Parks was an essentially American idea, to create [...]
Posted in Environment on Aug 7th, 2010
BP’s spill is known to have killed just over 1,300 birds so far. Just one wind farm, at Altamont Pass in California, was until recently known to kill perhaps 1,300 birds of prey every year.
That was from Matt Ridley. I called the Audubon Society to ask about another serious peril to birds … cats. Can [...]
Posted in Environment, Government Gone Wild on Jul 25th, 2010
Our ethanol follies reduce a ton of carbon for the cost of $754 per ton. In case any of you were wondering what the social costs of CO2 are (i.e. the evil bad horrible negative externalities caused by our voracious capitalistic consumption of fossil fuels and meat) they are somewhere in the $25 to $50 [...]
Posted in Environment on Jul 17th, 2010
Cabbage has 49 natural “pesticides” in it, more than half of which are carcinogenic.
A single cup of coffee contains more carcinogenic chemicals than in a full year’s pesticide exposure from “inorganically grown” foods.
Posted in Environment on Jul 11th, 2010
In order to replace all of the “inorganic” nitrogen fertilizer that we currently apply in industrial farming and use more “organic” methods – namely using cow manure as fertilizer, we would need an extra 7 billion cattle grazing on an estimated 30 billion acres of pastureland.
Yes, the impacts on land use and climate would be [...]
Posted in Environment on Jul 7th, 2010
Who is the largest and most severe polluter in the United States?
Posted in Environment on Jun 1st, 2010
Orley Ashenfelter and Karl Storchmann find that German vintners would enjoy a 30% increase in revenues if temperatures increased by 1 degree Celsius. They must be secretly pumping lots of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Posted in Environment, You Can't Have it Both Ways on May 14th, 2010
More than once have I edited a paper that includes these two points:
China has been developing at a pace unprecedented in human history, and has thrown environmental caution to the wind. As such, their air is unacceptably dirty, their water is unacceptably dead and poisoned, their likelihood of contracting certain kinds of cancers are unacceptably [...]
Posted in Environment, Property Rights on May 13th, 2010
The use of torts is an imperfect, albeit valuable tool for environmental protection (I’ll put up lecture notes in the coming months). Think about the implications for the environment of a world where there are limits to private property, or where private property is eliminated.
How would aggrieved parties deal with pollution? If you do not [...]
Posted in Environment, Regulation on Apr 29th, 2010
My favorite quote of the day (actually for tomorrow):
Meanwhile, contemplate this depressing change in America’s can-do spirit: The 6.6 million-ton Hoover Dam that tamed the mighty Colorado River was finished in 1936 after a mere five years. Yet 130 offshore wind turbines, a pioneering project of President Obama’s “new energy economy,” may take three times [...]
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