Now we know what a decade of quotas on Japanese cars cost consumers. In May 1981, with the American auto industry mired in recession, Japanese car makers agreed to limit exports of passenger cars to the United States. This “voluntary export restraint” (VER) program, initially supported by the Reagan administration, allowed only 1.68 million JapaneseContinue reading “Voluntary Export Restraints on Automobiles”
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Straw Houses Withstand Huffs And Puffs
An accountant with a Washington State paper mill was the unlikely inspiration for a new process to produce recycled newsprint. Although the engineers said it couldn’t be done, Carl Simpson suggested replacing woodchips with office paper and telephone directories in order to provide the fiber content needed for newsprint. Steilacoom’s Abitibi Consolidated is now theContinue reading “Straw Houses Withstand Huffs And Puffs”
A Trust for Grand Staircase-Escalante
Private land trusts are proliferating around the nation as ways of preserving environmental values. So why not a federal land trust to manage the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah?
Incentives key to improving park service
Bozeman Daily Chronicle August 4, 1999 By Richard Stroup The special corner of God’s country called Yellowstone National Park is constantly in the news — and the news is often bad. We learn that there are too many visitors, too many elk, too many crumbling roads, and not enough money. On July 25 theContinue reading “Incentives key to improving park service”
Water, water everywhere, waiting for a market
Orange County RegisterJuly 18, 1999 CLAY LANDRYCopyright 1999 The Orange County Register THE WRITER: Mr. Landry is a research associate at the political Economy Research Center in Bozeman, Mont., and the author of "Saving Our Streams Through Water Markets: A Practical Guide." Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt called for water markets, conservation and aquifer recharge inContinue reading “Water, water everywhere, waiting for a market”
Economic Value of Government-provided Information
Late 19th-century storm warnings from the U.S. Weather Service yielded substantial, positive net returns to society. Economists are notorious for using both sides of our mouths when talking about the government. We claim that government has a comparative advantage in provision of so-called public goods, such as national defense, the creation of property right systems,Continue reading “Economic Value of Government-provided Information”
Banking On Wetlands
The Florida Wetlandsbank is transforming a weed-choked, garbage-strewn tract near Pembroke Pines into a pristine wetland, creating a product in high demand by local developers.
A Change For The Better
When you drive into Hoffman’s near Albany, New York, for an oil change and a car wash, you’re doing a favor for your car, a good turn for the environment, and you are supporting a growing business. Tom Hoffman Sr. is using the oil that he drains from your crankcase to heat the water forContinue reading “A Change For The Better”
Poplars To The Rescue
The lowly poplar tree is well on its way to becoming the new hero of environmental cleanups. Fast-growing hybrid poplars can provide an economical and reliable way to clean contaminants from the soil. Scientists have found that poplars absorb a variety of chemicals which they safely store or release into the air as less volatileContinue reading “Poplars To The Rescue”
Saving Open Space
When a 930-acre farm went on the market near Yellow Springs, Ohio, a town known for its 1960s counterculture ambiance, the residents went to battle in the marketplace. Fearful that developers would buy the property at auction, residents earmarked $400,000 from a greenspace fund and organized an array of fund-raising events. A concert along withContinue reading “Saving Open Space”