I find it interesting that green activists and their political allies uniformly favor dramatic and draconian action to avert climate change. Serious policy analysts are different; they generally favor less dramatic action applied over the long term. What explains this difference? Perhaps it’s because the analysts understand long-term adjustments are much cheaper and easier than […]

Bozeman should thank Rick Stroup, a longtime resident and retiring head of the Ag-Econ & Econ Department at MSU. Rick has contributed much to our community. With his forthcoming move to North Carolina State University, an era ends. In the 1970s a small group of scholars at MSU developed the principles and policies that became […]

Here’s a fundamental rule of political economy: Wealth buys safety, not merely comfort and convenience. This is a true, empirical, universal, testable, statistical generalization, a helpful one when formulating public policy. While we can find exceptions — rich folks do climb Everest and fly their own planes — such exceptions probe the rule. Generally, the […]

I have just returned from a meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society (MPS) in Guatemala. Prof. Friedrich Hayek, winner of the 1974 Nobel Prize in economics, established MPS in 1947, in the alpine setting of Mont Pèlerin, Switzerland. Milton Friedman was a cofounder. The totalitarianism surrounding World War II motivated the creation of MPS. It […]

I’ve recently returned from the RAND Corporation’s Graduate School in Santa Monica. RAND was created after WWII to help the U.S. analyze Cold War policy. It is surely the world’s premier think tank. (See their web site, www.rand.org, for the full breadth of their research.) Among applicants to their Ph.D. program, the most common score […]

I’ve been with FREE for nearly five years, first as its research associate and lately as its publications and program coordinator. In the time I’ve been here, a lot of people have moved to Bozeman; unfortunately, it’s time for me to move on. I came here in February of 2002 from the other end of […]

The Bozeman Business and Professional Women recently invited me to speak at a luncheon on ballot initiative I-151. This seeks an increase in Montana’s minimum wage to $6.15 from $5.15 per hour. I-151 includes an annual cost of living adjustment and exemptions for small businesses with gross sales of $110,000 or less. I was delighted […]

Why are economists the last sane optimists and what can they teach church leaders about environmental stewardship? These questions grow in importance as religious organizations dedicate themselves to issues such as climate change and energy use. Last summer gas hit over $3.00 per gallon, cities anticipated electrical blackouts, and the country faced serious prospects of […]

Those of us committed to Green causes often respond more strongly to symbolic values than to careful analysis. Recycling offers a clear example. The environmental value of recycling depends on time- and place-specific circumstances. It almost always makes both ecological and economic sense to recycle aluminum and other metals. Often this holds for paper, only […]

MSU has recently made significant progress in advancing its research and reputation. In 1970, it had few nationally recognized programs and subsequently missed many opportunities to promote or retain excellence. A generation ago political intrusions on academic quality afflicted Montana Hall, but leadership, entrepreneurship, location, and technology now trump. Today MSU is far more alert […]