Stand-Up Economist Blog 
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In the news
Posted 3/01/10
Nature Conservancy’s carbon footprint calculator.
How the G.O.P. Goes Green (Lindsey Graham)
Senators to propose abandoning cap-and-trade
Hayhoe’s dairy paper in PNAS
South Dakota legislators tell schools to teach ‘astrological’ explanation for global warming
Robert J. Myers, Actuary Who Shaped Social Security Program, Dies at 97
Vermont Senate Votes to Close Nuclear Plant. “Plant officials had testified [...][more]
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Round Two (part 2) with libertarians on global warming
Posted 2/21/10
Here’s Rossputin’s response to my recent post on climate change. This statement stands out for me:
There is probably an atmospheric data set we could agree on…
Great, Ross, what is it? The hallmark of science is testable predictions, so give me a data set and make a prediction about it. How about the satellite data from [...][more]
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In the news
Posted 2/19/10
U.S. Economy Grinds To Halt As Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion
Gregoire proposes new taxes on soda, water, candy
The Ethical Dog: Looking for the roots of human morality in the animal kingdom? Focus on canines, who know how to play fair
California Death Spiral: Adverse selection in the individual health insurance market in [...][more]
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In the news
Posted 2/15/10
Meghan McCain passes the GOP “purity test” but is seriously confused about economics and market-based environmental policy:
[I support] market-based energy reforms by opposing cap-and-trade legislation.
Yes and no. I believe in climate change and support market-based energy reforms. I also support cap-and-trade legislation, in theory. But I oppose, as my father says, Obama’s “cap and tax” [...][more]
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Round Two with libertarians on global warming
Posted 2/12/10
About two years ago I had a back-and-forth on climate change with libertarian blogger Rossputin, the Cato Institute’s Jerry Taylor, and the Heartland Institute’s James Taylor. Rossputin recently emailed me to ask: “After ClimateGate, GlacierGate, etc…. do you give even a little credence yet to my view that [anthropogenic climate change is] essentially a hoax?” [...]
[more]
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In the news
Posted 2/08/10
$2.6 billion gap in state budget prompts Dems to look at taxes. But not carbon taxes. They are looking at a pollution tax that opponents say would raise gas prices 4 cents per gallon. Also WA among states weighing sale of liquor business; it’s about time. (If the state wants to discourage alcohol consumption it [...]
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In the news
Posted 2/04/10
For Scots, a Scourge Unleashed by a Bottle (alcoholism)
Microsoft’s Creative Destruction. “Microsoft’s huge profits — $6.7 billion for the past quarter — come almost entirely from Windows and Office programs first developed decades ago… While the company has had a truly amazing past and an enviably prosperous present, unless it regains its creative spark, it’s [...][more]
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In the news
Posted 1/28/10
From Obama’s State-of-the-Union:
But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. (Applause.) It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. (Applause.) It means [...][more]
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C’mon, Bill G, you’re smarter than this!
Posted 1/25/10
From the last page of Bill Gates’s annual letter:
One area that I have been spending a lot of personal time on is energy and its effect on climate. The most important innovation required to avoid climate change will be a way of producing electricity that is cheaper than coal and that emits no greenhouse [...]
[more]
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In the news
Posted 1/22/10
The Guantánamo “Suicides”: A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle. Wow, this article sure makes it look like there was a cover-up. And if there was it’s bad bad bad. More here from Slate.
Our Basic Human Pleasures: Food, Sex and Giving. A good read for the selfishness crowd.
Hedging America by Robert Solow. The first [...][more]
