Environment
Environment
California Says No Thanks to $100 Million; Never Mind to $4 Billion
Even after all the spending cuts and state worker furlough days, the state continues to be short on cash. The Assembly’s vote against the offshore drilling lease is troubling because it seems to lack any acknowledgment of California’s dire position both today and in the long term. Offshore drilling in ...
Commentary
Expanded Government — and No More Tonsil Theft?
In his televised press conference on Wednesday evening, President Obama said three separate times that he was being “honest” with the American people. So we know he was telling the truth. Therefore, we know that we can take the president at his word when he said: If you already have ...
Climate Change
Climate Economics 101 and Policy Activism
(1) The Discount Rate. Economists give wildly different estimates of the “social cost of carbon” and hence the “optimal” tax on an additional unit of emissions. These differences are not primarily due to the assumptions about climate systems or human vulnerabilities to warming. On the contrary, the main difference between, ...
California
California Counts the Cost on Climate Change Legislation
Last week, an investment management and advisory firm comprised of professors from California State University, Sacramento, released a report attempting to estimate the costs to small businesses – and therefore to California’s economy – of implementing Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. While the Varshney & ...
Climate Change
Waxman-Markey: An Exercise in Unreality
“Waxman-Markey … seeks a first in economic history: rationing without scarcity or price inflation. [It] allows generous ‘offsets’ so that carbon-based energy does not, in fact, become scarce. The bill does, however, contain a multitude of new regulations, product-efficiency mandates, and spending programs that will require extensive managerial attention from ...
Commentary
Rep. Tom McClintock and “California’s Meltdown”
CEI and the Pacific Research Institute recently co-hosted a Capitol Hill briefing on “California’s Meltdown” – the unprecedented combination of flawed economic, energy and environmental policies that have left the state with a massive budget deficit and facing even tougher times ahead. Our keynote speaker was Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), ...
Business & Economics
When Economic Stimulus Does Not Stimulate
A majority of Americans now give President Obama’s handling of the economy a negative rating and many economists and city officials are concerned that Obama’s gargantuan stimulus effort has not given the expected quick boost to the economy. Some argue this is because funds have been slow in coming due ...
Business & Economics
The Economics of Climate Change
During the last ten years, one of the biggest drivers of public opinion and policy has been concern over global warming or climate change. The economics of climate change uses economic theory and computer models to study the interactions among government policies, the climate system, and the economy. In this ...
Commentary
Sweden, Universal School Choice Vouchers, and the Case for Participation by For-Profit Firms
SWEDEN, UNIVERSAL SCHOOL-CHOICE VOUCHERS, AND THE CASE FOR PARTICIPATION BY FOR-PROFIT FIRMS Speech at the Almedalan Week Seminar Sponsored by Almega Tjansteforetagen and Friskolornas Riksforbund At Visby, Sweden On July 2, 2009 By Lance T. Izumi, J.D. Koret Senior Fellow and Senior Director in Education Studies Pacific Research Institute Preface: ...
Commentary
ABC Pulls John Stossel’s Canadian Healthcare Piece
John Stossel, ABC News’ co-anchor of “20/20” and a New York Times best-selling author, likes to take a skeptical look at a wide array of issues, but hold the phone on his new healthcare special — it was pulled to make room for yet more coverage of Michael Jackson. Bad ...
California Says No Thanks to $100 Million; Never Mind to $4 Billion
Even after all the spending cuts and state worker furlough days, the state continues to be short on cash. The Assembly’s vote against the offshore drilling lease is troubling because it seems to lack any acknowledgment of California’s dire position both today and in the long term. Offshore drilling in ...
Expanded Government — and No More Tonsil Theft?
In his televised press conference on Wednesday evening, President Obama said three separate times that he was being “honest” with the American people. So we know he was telling the truth. Therefore, we know that we can take the president at his word when he said: If you already have ...
Climate Economics 101 and Policy Activism
(1) The Discount Rate. Economists give wildly different estimates of the “social cost of carbon” and hence the “optimal” tax on an additional unit of emissions. These differences are not primarily due to the assumptions about climate systems or human vulnerabilities to warming. On the contrary, the main difference between, ...
California Counts the Cost on Climate Change Legislation
Last week, an investment management and advisory firm comprised of professors from California State University, Sacramento, released a report attempting to estimate the costs to small businesses – and therefore to California’s economy – of implementing Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. While the Varshney & ...
Waxman-Markey: An Exercise in Unreality
“Waxman-Markey … seeks a first in economic history: rationing without scarcity or price inflation. [It] allows generous ‘offsets’ so that carbon-based energy does not, in fact, become scarce. The bill does, however, contain a multitude of new regulations, product-efficiency mandates, and spending programs that will require extensive managerial attention from ...
Rep. Tom McClintock and “California’s Meltdown”
CEI and the Pacific Research Institute recently co-hosted a Capitol Hill briefing on “California’s Meltdown” – the unprecedented combination of flawed economic, energy and environmental policies that have left the state with a massive budget deficit and facing even tougher times ahead. Our keynote speaker was Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), ...
When Economic Stimulus Does Not Stimulate
A majority of Americans now give President Obama’s handling of the economy a negative rating and many economists and city officials are concerned that Obama’s gargantuan stimulus effort has not given the expected quick boost to the economy. Some argue this is because funds have been slow in coming due ...
The Economics of Climate Change
During the last ten years, one of the biggest drivers of public opinion and policy has been concern over global warming or climate change. The economics of climate change uses economic theory and computer models to study the interactions among government policies, the climate system, and the economy. In this ...
Sweden, Universal School Choice Vouchers, and the Case for Participation by For-Profit Firms
SWEDEN, UNIVERSAL SCHOOL-CHOICE VOUCHERS, AND THE CASE FOR PARTICIPATION BY FOR-PROFIT FIRMS Speech at the Almedalan Week Seminar Sponsored by Almega Tjansteforetagen and Friskolornas Riksforbund At Visby, Sweden On July 2, 2009 By Lance T. Izumi, J.D. Koret Senior Fellow and Senior Director in Education Studies Pacific Research Institute Preface: ...
ABC Pulls John Stossel’s Canadian Healthcare Piece
John Stossel, ABC News’ co-anchor of “20/20” and a New York Times best-selling author, likes to take a skeptical look at a wide array of issues, but hold the phone on his new healthcare special — it was pulled to make room for yet more coverage of Michael Jackson. Bad ...
