Ideas travel far and fast
I read with interest, as usual, the Spring edition of PERC Reports, I remember the book very well, and not only that, it seems to me that we may have one of the first quotations of the book in an article in Spanish. Together with Alberto Benegas Lynch we both authored an article on environmental issues related to Argentina that was published at the academic journal Libertas, Nr. 17, October 1992, Buenos Aires, where there are several mentions and quotations of the book. This is just information for you on how far and fast ideas can go.
—Martin Krause
Professor of Economics
ESEADE Graduate School
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Musings of a loyal reader
I am a loyal reader of PERC Reports. The spring 2007 issue got me thinking of my involvement in free market environmentalism during my 35 years as a wildlife biologist. It rang a lot of bells. For about 15 years I have been writing for that splendid lady Carol LaGrasse who heads up the Property Rights Foundation of America (see Nate Dickinson’s Common Sense Perspectives at www.prfamerica.org). I recall taking off on a piece by Matt Ridley, “Controlling the British Countryside,” from a 2002 issue of PERC Reports. Keep up the good work!
—Nathaniel R. Dickinson
Wildlife Biologist and author of
Common Sense Wildlife Management
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Climate change figures clarified
Mr. Anderson’s articles are always a joy to read, but there was one noticeable error in the spring 2007 “On Target.” The article states “Combine this with the estimate from Britain’s recent ‘Stern Report’ that meeting Kyoto targets would cost between 5 and 20 percent of world economic output forever, and you have goals that make no sense.”Stern’s 5–20 percent estimate is for the damage due to climate change, not the cost of meeting the Kyoto Protocol. Stern never directly estimates the cost of the Kyoto Protocol. Now, whether Stern’s estimates are defensible is another question altogether, and I’ve written about this in a recent Fraser Forum article (http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/admin/books/chapterfiles/Feb07ffSchneider.pdf#).
—Nicholas Schneider
Policy Analyst
The Fraser Institute
Editor’s note: Terry L. Anderson, author of “On Target,” stands corrected.
Exciting news from PERC!
The Atlas Economic Research Foundation recently announced that PERC’s Enviropreneur Camp (www.enviropreneurs.org) is the first-place winner of the 2007 Tmpleton Freedom Award for Social Entrepreneurship. The multi-faceted awards program, which attracted more than 200 entries from 53 countries, recognizes innovative civil society programs sponsored by independent research institutes around the world. “Economic and political freedom are advancing globally, and men and women focused on ideas, rather than violence, are leading the way,” said Atlas President Alejandro Chafuen. “The winners of this year’s Templeton Awards demonstrate the breadth of this movement.
A judge for the competition had this to say about the Camp: “PERC’s Enviropreneur Camp…seems to be a model of what other organizations should strive to do. The Camp is educational, but it also goes out of its way to introduce a free market perspective into discussions of environmental policy. Consequently students will leave the Camp understanding more about the environment and also more about nongovernmental approaches to what almost everyone today believes should be left up to government.”
