A logical first topic to connect the new Reasonable People series to my earlier posts on carbon taxes: what might a reasonable person advocate? At minimum the “no regrets” price for carbon is appropriate but probably the ideal is likely the median damage estimate among studies published in reputable journals. Deep uncertainty about the extent, effects, […]
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For much of the 20th century, if one was to look at the share of national income that ended up in the pockets of “capitalists” versus in the hands of laborers, you would have seen something very surprising given the conventional wisdom. What you would have seen is that in evil, greedy, capitalist America, workers […]
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If you were to ask a proponent of wind energy or solar energy or fairie-powered bicycle energy whether public subsidy of those industries was necessary, correct and relevant, I am pretty confident you’d hear a “yes.” I’d be really curious to see a rundown of the common reasons WHY those positions would be justifiable. Would […]
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Posted in Health Care, Regulation on Sep 10th, 2012
Wintercow’s post today brought this IOM poster to mind from Ezra Klein: Hmm, it’s intriguing that best practices in health care would have so much to mimic from other (competitive!) industries. There are good arguments a la Robin Hanson for cutting health spending in half, but they’re orthogonal to the boots-on-the-ground efficiencies that competition in health […]
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Posted in Environment, Fun Facts, Regulation on Jun 8th, 2012
A 1992 study by the Rand Institute for Civil Justice ("Superfund and Transactions Costs: The Experiences of Insurers and Very Large Industrial Firms") finds that 88% of the money paid between 1986 and 1989 by insurance companies to pay Superfund claims was administrative and legal while only 12% of the funds were allocated to mitigation of […]
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And then they banned the plastic bags. But why? … (LA) council members stood by the ban, despite being confronted with evidence that bag bans have no discernible effect on the health of the environment and make up less than 1 percent (pdf download) of California's waste stream. "When you're looking at 1 percent, that's a huge difference," says […]
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I was thinking about getting my kids onto a plane for the first time in my life and two things bugged me. First is what lesson I wanted to teach my children about the role of government as we get strip searched in an airport just because we want to fly to see our cousins. […]
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Posted in Regulation, Taxation on Mar 19th, 2012
Warren Meyer, aka “Coyote” is coming to visit us next Thursday – hence my increasing references to his site. He runs a private recreation management company and I began reading his site to learn more about the challenges of operating a for-profit business that works in the environmental arena. Here is his latest illustration of […]
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Posted in Regulation on Mar 15th, 2012
One of the great pleasures of being on a college campus is to observe the regular doses of hypocrisy, inconsistency and message massaging that takes place. It sort of feels like working in Disney Land. In today’s installment we learn some good news about a new medical device that was developed here at the U […]
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Posted in Central Planning, Regulation on Feb 19th, 2012
That used to be how the US Dollar was thought of in international exchange markets. Now, perhaps far more depressing, is that the regulatory environment and true economic freedom in the United States is laughable. Don’t be misled by looking at the Economic Freedom of the World by thinking that being in the “Top 10” […]
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