Culture & Ethics
An Economist’s Perspective on Technology Forcing
Matthew Wald reports that companies that supply motor fuel will face million dollar EPA fines for not blending in cellulosic biofuel into gasoline and diesel. What excuse do such sellers make? They say that cellulosic biofuel doesn’t exist — so they can’t meet a legal mandate. If the regulator gently nudges the firm to engage in …
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CONTINUE READINGGlocalizing Garbage
“Glocalize” is a new term for me. I got it from an article in the Economist about garbage. It means “dealing with big global problems through myriad small or individual actions.” For instance: The movement complements other efforts such as a United Nations-backed campaign, now in its 19th year, called Clean Up the World. . …
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CONTINUE READINGPreemption and Prescription Drugs
I’ve been reading a lengthy history of the FDA by Harvard political scientist Dan Carpenter. I’m planning to post later about some his observations regarding the political dynamics of drug regulation. But I was also struck by the implications of his description of drug regulation with regard to preemption of state torts claims. At first …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Insanity Behind Urban Parking Requirements
Los Angeles Magazine ran a nice profile of UCLA Professor Don Shoup, pioneer of the parking reform movement to eliminate off-street parking requirements and modernize parking meters to charge performance-based prices. In Shoup’s vision, local governments would dedicate any parking revenue increases to improving the neighborhood from which they came. Few other reforms could do …
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CONTINUE READINGRedevelopment and the Future of Infill in California
As Rick blogged, the California Redevelopment Association inadvertently committed suicide at the state Supreme Court last week. Convinced by their lawyers that they would ultimately win in court, the Association’s leaders had played hardball last year at the legislature in the face of attempts to end redevelopment. But the California Supreme Court ended up immolating …
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CONTINUE READINGTwas Congressional Christmas
‘Twas Congressional Christmas, when all through the House Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The PACs were counting their money with care, In hopes that John Boehner soon would be there. Lobbyists nestled all snug in their beds, While veto-proof riders danced in their heads. Zasloff down south and I on the …
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CONTINUE READINGLiterature Imitates Law — At Least in Bombay
Aravind Adiga is one of the most brilliant forces in world literature today. His previous novel, The White Tiger, won the Man Booker Prize a few years back. Now he is out with a new novel, Last Man in Tower, a work which its publisher promises is “Searing. Explosive. Lyrical. Compassionate.” And what produces this …
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CONTINUE READINGThe “21st Century Contract with America”
I’ve just been reading Gingrich’s new version of the Contract with America. It repeats Gingrich’s desire to end most federal regulations in favor of federal coaching and subsidies for businesses and state governments: We must also replace the EPA, which pursues an anti-jobs agenda the economy simply cannot sustain. A pro-growth Environmental Solutions Agency in …
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CONTINUE READINGLocal Clean Energy Policies
With cities and counties struggling to emerge from the down economy, clean energy development has been an economic and environmental bright spot. As Berkeley Law and UCLA Law discuss in the 2009 report “In Our Backyard,” California possesses numerous opportunities to deploy solar and wind energy facilities in existing urbanized areas, such as along highways …
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CONTINUE READINGAnti-Urbanism in American Life: The Case of the Passport
For Thanksgiving, I was in Montreal for a family event, which was a little funny, since Canadian Thanksgiving went by about six weeks ago. But it did give me an opportunity to see a strange tick in one part of America’s self-conception. Take a look at your US passport. In the section for visas, you …
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