Mineral Resources: Market Blessing, Government Curse (Institutions matter, per Peter Kaznacheev)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 22, 2017 1 Comment

“It is no coincidence that a breakthrough in unconventional hydrocarbons (i.e., shale oil, shale gas, oil sands, and coalbed methane) should have taken place in some of the most economically free countries of the world, such as the United States, Canada, and Australia. The combination of secure property rights, transparent and efficient regulation, a favorable tax regime, and minimal red tape made it possible.”

“One of the main obstacles to economic growth and social development in many resource economies is rent-seeking. It is not a unique feature of resource economies, but it does appear to have a particularly strong effect on them and to produce institutional weaknesses.”

– Peter Kaznacheev, Curse or Blessing? How Institutions Determine Success in Resource-Rich Economies, Cato Policy Analysis No. 808 (January 11, 2017)

This new study by Peter Kaznacheev, who is Senior Research Fellow at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) in Moscow, valuably interprets mineral resource theory in light of institutions (read: market versus government control).…

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Powering Countries, Empowering People: A Case Study (Part 1 of 3)

By -- September 20, 2016 2 Comments

“Affordable energy brings jobs, improved living standards, and pursuit of happiness. But across the globe, nearly three billion people – almost half the world’s population – still lack regular, reliable electricity. Nearly 1.3 billion people have no access to electricity.”

[Part II and Part III of this series follow.]

For 16 years, in a scene out of pre-industrial America, Thabo Molubi and his partner made furniture in South Africa’s outback, known locally as the “veld.” Lacking even a stream to turn a water wheel and machinery, they depended solely on hand and foot power. But then an electrical line reached the area.

The two installed lights, and power saws, and drills. Their productivity increased fourfold. They hired local workers to make, sell, and ship more tables and chairs, of better quality, at higher prices, to local and far away customers.…

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Green Energy Shock: Canadians Confront Climate Policy

By -- September 14, 2016 4 Comments

“Ontario’s government signed contracts with wind generators that guaranteed them 13.5 cents per kWh. Solar generators actually get paid more. So with the Hourly Ontario Electricity Price at around 2.5 cents, someone has to pay for the 11-cent subsidy for wind power. Therefore, the more renewable power generated, the greater the Global Adjustment Tax becomes.”

The love affair between U.S. President Barack Obama and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is largely based on their symbiotic view of climate change and the need to radically alter their respective economies to prevent the hypothesized damage. Some of the Canadian experience with green energy and its cost pre-date Trudeau’s rise to power. Much of the experience comes from power market machinations conducted in the province of Ontario.

Alberta Downturn, Climate Taxation

The most recent Canadian green energy shock is occurring in the province of Alberta where the New Democratic Party (NDP), led by Premier Rachael Notley gained political office a few months ahead of the national election that brought Mr.…

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‘Are We Running Out of Oil?’ (2004 essay revised)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 13, 2016 5 Comments

This essay, published twelve years ago in PERC Reports (“the magazine of free market environmentalism”), challenged the then-popular theory that oil production would inexorably reach a maximum and decline thereafter. What would become the U.S. and global shale oil and shale gas boom was just getting started.

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“This time it’s for real,” says the cover story of the June 2004 issue of National Geographic. “We’re at the beginning of the end of cheap oil.”

Books and articles written by geologists, environmentalists, and others regularly announce a new era of increasing oil scarcity. 1 Today’s resurrected hero of the depletionists is M. King Hubbert (1903-1989), a Shell Oil Company geologist who a half-century ago presented a bellshaped curve depicting oil production over time. But the theory of a little-known twentieth century economist, Erich Zimmermann, suggests this is unsound.

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Ten Reasons Kemper Is Bad for Consumers (Haley Barbour, Mississippi Power boondoggle)

By Steve Wilson -- June 16, 2015 3 Comments Continue Reading

Keystone XL and Climate: 0.0001 C/yr (one ten thousandths of a degree Celsius)

By Chip Knappenberger -- January 20, 2015 No Comments Continue Reading

Fossil Fuels Industries: Time to Stand Tall! (book review of Alex Epstein’s The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels)

By Erin Connors -- November 20, 2014 1 Comment Continue Reading

Love to Hate? Anti-Fracking Group Scrubs Website

By Steve Everley -- October 16, 2014 No Comments Continue Reading

“The State of Energy: Strong and Transformative” (Exxon Mobil’s Tillerson Right On)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 15, 2014 No Comments Continue Reading

James Hansen: “I Struggle to Sleep” (with current energy trends, energy policy)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 26, 2014 1 Comment Continue Reading