A new drilling technology is opening up vast fields of previously out-of-reach oil in the western United States. This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half.
Author Archives: admin
The State of Property Rights in Egypt
From Hernando de Soto in yesterday’s WSJ: • As far as real estate is concerned, 92% of Egyptians hold their property without normal legal title. • We estimated the value of all these extralegal businesses and property, rural as well as urban, to be $248 billion—30 times greater than the market value of the companiesContinue reading “The State of Property Rights in Egypt”
No Ziploc for This 6-Year-Old
by Jane S. Shaw Canada’s National Post reports that a six-year-old boy was not allowed to participate in a lunchtime drawing for a stuffed teddy bear at his daycare. Why? Because his parents had packed his lunch in a disposable plastic bag rather than reusable Tupperware. “We have to take care of our planet andContinue reading “No Ziploc for This 6-Year-Old”
Bootleggers and Baptists in Retrospect
PERC Senior Fellow Bruce Yandle orginated the theory of Bootleggers and Baptists in the early 1980s. In essence, two different groups suppor the same, regulations, but benefit from different effects of the regulation. Has anything changed?
A Break with the Past
by Jane S. Shaw The Boston Globe reports that New Urbanism is being challenged by “landscape urbanism,” an approach to planning that is comfortable with people living in “spacious suburbs.” The conflict pits Andres Duany, designer of nostalgic “cityscapes”–towns with a “compact grid of narrow, tree-lined streets laid out around a walkable downtown with storesContinue reading “A Break with the Past”
PERC Links
by Shawn Regan 1. Interactive data on water use by sector and over time. 2. Bruce Yandle says government can’t just plant jobs. They need the right climate to grow. (working paper here) 3. Holly Fretwell in the National Review: “It’s going to end up in a catastrophic wildfire.” (sub req) 4. David Harsanyi, formerContinue reading “PERC Links”
Lights Out America
by Laura E. Huggins I thought $400 per month to heat my house in Montana was high, but “one month’s electricity bill at the Department of Labor topped a MILLION dollars,” according to D.C. reporter Andrea McCarren. So how much are the federal agencies’ electricity bills costing you? Using the Freedom of Information Act, McCarren andContinue reading “Lights Out America”
Enviropreneur Using Incentives for Conservation
by Shawn Regan Todd Gartner, a 2007 Enviropreneur Institute alum, describes how economic incentives can be used to connect U.S. forests, water, and communities in an essay at the World Resources Institute. Todd discusses his work with WRI on two pilot projects that are connecting the buyers of ecosystem services with the sellers of the services.Continue reading “Enviropreneur Using Incentives for Conservation”
Unleash the Entrepreneur
We don’t need to go back to the failed Nixon-Ford-Carter energy and economic policies. We need to nurture an economy in which entrepreneurs are able to compete to create new technologies, jobs, and wealth, without political interference. That’s how Andrew P. Morriss and I conclude our essay in the Boston Review’s forum on full employment.Continue reading “Unleash the Entrepreneur”
Why So Bad at Science?
by Jane S. Shaw The New York Times reports that U. S. high school students are sadly lacking in their understanding of science. Could that be because they have spent their school days studying how to recycle, why we need wind energy, and one-sided views about global warming?