Rethinking the Economy

This is what happens when you don’t read those pesky messaging memos. From Center for American Progress’ Wonk Room:
In his interview with the Wonk Room, [American Petroleum Institute Chief Economist] Felmy recognized that the [Center for American Progress] report concluded that you would get four times as many clean energy jobs as oil jobs [...]

[Read more →]

Grist writer and North Carolina farmer Tom Philpott, commenting on an American Prospect article, explains why consumer choice isn’t enough to bring about an organic, locally grown, sustainable food system:
the example of a New York State farmer named Morse Pitts. He sells the bounty of his 15-acre Windfall Farm in the Hudson [...]

[Read more →]

When I lived in the Bay Area, I did what Mark Mykleby said we should do: I biked to work. I don’t in DC, and it isn’t just the awful summer weather. It’s simple — I don’t want to die.
In DC, I have friends here who bike to work every day. They tell [...]

[Read more →]

Mark Mykleby, a friend of Thomas Friedman who works for the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Office of the Chairman, published a letter in “his hometown paper, the Beaufort Gazette in South Carolina,” about the BP oil disaster. Friedman liked the letter so much he republished it in his column.
This isn’t BP’s or Transocean’s [...]

[Read more →]

Portland Mayor Sam Adams has an ambitious goal:
We’re also working to make every section of Portland a complete 20-minute neighborhood to strengthen our local economy. Two-thirds of all trips in Portland and in most American cities are not about getting to and from work. So if I can offer quality, affordable goods and services, [...]

[Read more →]

The International City/County Management Association just came out with an report, Getting Smart About Climate Change, that’s a nice example of Principle #2, Place Your Bets. It uses case studies to illustrate nine strategies cities and counties are using to combat global warming:
1. Create more sustainable and resilient communities
2. Green the local economy
3. Engage [...]

[Read more →]

[Part 7 of Values-based vs. Market-based Approaches to the Economy]
The case I’ve laid out over the last six posts is not an argument against using markets as a tool. As I’ve said, for example, despite all the problems with cap and trade it’s certainly possible that this usage of markets could be [...]

[Read more →]

[Part 6 of Values-based vs. Market-based Approaches to the Economy]
One of the fundamental principles underlying a market-based framework is that through consumer choice, everyone gets a say. Some bureaucrat doesn’t decide what shoes you get to wear, you do. If you decide hot pink ballerina slippers or combat boots — or hot pink [...]

[Read more →]

[Part 5 of Values-based vs. Market-based Approaches to the Economy]
It’s easy to understand why economists love market-based frameworks: they’re elegantly simple. Set the right prices and everything follows. Or as Krugman wrote about solving the climate crisis:
Econ 101 tells us — probably correctly — that the only way to get people to [...]

[Read more →]

[Part 4 of Values-based vs. Market-based Approaches to the Economy]
If you’ve ever heard someone preach the joys of a market-based solution, odds are at some point they’ve said, government regulations/bureaucrats can’t be smarter than the market — the economy’s just too complicated. But as we saw last week, creating a market-based solution runs [...]

[Read more →]