This reprint from a collection of essays at Julian Simon.com is published in connection with the recent death of Paul R. Ehrlich (1932–2026). This piece was finalized in Simon’s treatise, The Ultimate Resource 2 (1996), pp. 604–607. Simon’s relative politeness to his adversary is a tribute to open, honest, and respectful debate (versus the infamous Ehrlich approach).

“When you launch a space shuttle you don’t trot out the flat-earthers to be commentators. They’re outside the bounds of what ought to be discourse in the media. In the field of ecology, Simon is the absolute equivalent of the flat-earthers.” (Paul Ehrlich, quoted below)

For economy of treatment of the matter of attack rhetoric, let’s focus on just one critic, Paul Ehrlich, who has directed a great deal of colorful language in my direction (see also his comments in the Afternote to Chapter 15, and my interchange with him in Simon, 1990, Selection 43).…

Ed. Note: This repost from seven years ago (January 11, 2018) is reprinted for its relevancy today. What 12 or more would you add today? Here are some of mine: Craig Idso, Jr., Anthony Watts (WUWT), Kevin Dayaratna, and the other four DOE science study authors in addition to Judith Curry, profiled yesterday (John Christy, Steven Koonin, Ross McKittrick, Roy Spencer).

I previously recognized twelve individuals associated with free-market, classical-liberal energy analysis and advocacy. Here is a second “tribute” to those who have labored against the mainstream of Malthusianism and energy statism–and now find themselves with new opportunities to formulate, summarize, and promote pro-consumer, taxpayer-neutral energy policy.

This list is in alphabetical order. It is subjective and hardly exhaustive. Other candidates (such as the present writer) could also be included–and could be in a future iteration.…

Editor’s Note: This book review was published just short of 20 years ago in The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics [Vol. 8, No. 3 (FALL 2005): 93–95] by Pierre Desrochers of the University of Toronto.

“Austrian economists have so far contributed very little to energy studies…. This book could therefore go a long way in providing a new set of concrete economic examples and principles for use in classroom discussions.”

Despite its obvious economic and social importance, energy (broadly understood) is an understudied field. True, among academics, one can find several engineers and geologists, along with some economists, geographers, legal scholars, and political scientists, who devote much of their research efforts to devising and/or analyzing various energy-related technologies, supply sources, markets, and institutions.

By and large, however, very few individuals have tried to understand how all the various parts of the energy puzzle fit—or not—together, and much—if not most—of the public discussion of the issue is agenda-driven and ignorant of basic physical and economic principles.…

In Memoriam, Thomas Roger DeGregori (1935–2025)

Pierre Desrochers

Tom DeGregori, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Houston whose work has been discussed on a few occasions on this blog, passed away a few days ago. Thousands of people knew him better than me (we only met twice), but he became an occasional correspondent nearly three decades ago after I had serendipitously come across his work on technological change on the bookshelves of the Université de Montréal while researching my doctoral dissertation.

I was hooked and tried to get my hands on anything he had published in defense of human creativity and material progress, including modern agriculture. At first my readings were limited to his articles in the Journal of Economic Issues and other academic outlets then available at my alma mater.…