I wish President Bush well, but environmentally, his administration remains astonishingly shortsighted. They inexplicably ignore an increasingly important political fact: as individuals’ wealth and education increase, so does their sensitivity to environmental quality. Economist Don Coursey of the University of Chicago recently demonstrated that the demand for environmental quality resembles that for BMWs and foreign […]

After a series on monumental errors, our legislators are debating Montana’s energy future. They want to avoid a crisis of California proportions. They’re wrestling with forces and prices distorted by decades of regulation and flawed deregulation. California adopted policies that worsened problems. Basic economics can help us avoid mistakes by predicting likely consequences of alternative […]