FREE’s seminar series for federal judges and law professors is in its 12th year. I’ve heard many excellent presentations from some of the nation’s leading scholars and last week I heard two of the best. Bob Thompson is the former Dean of Agriculture at Purdue University and recently retired as Director of Agriculture and Rural […]
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Snow is still deep on the Spanish Peaks just south of town, but summer is coming to the Gallatin Valley. The emergence of kayaks and mountain bikes on roof-top car racks signals Bozemanites are shifting gears after a long ski season. As summer arrives, our community has much to celebrate. One is the creative ways […]
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No prominent member of the Bush administration has convincingly made the case for an environmentalism based on property rights, incentives, and sensible, sustainable regulations. This alternative would be far more effective, efficient, and ecologically sensitive than the command-and-control approach favored by many Greens. The resignation of EPA administrator Christie Todd Whitman offers the administration a […]
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Every society faces the important challenge of meeting its desires without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. Since we care about the well-being of future generations, the question is, How do we best allocate scarce resources over the long term? Here I consider four categories of resources. The first is renewables, such […]
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My colleague John Baden has long argued that economics is best understood as a branch of evolutionary biology. Like biological systems, economic life evolves as people and organizations learn, respond, and innovate. Markets, like DNA-driven organisms, are highly efficient information-processing systems. The realization that prices transmit and process information was a great insight of the […]
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Many of those opposed to our military action in Iraq shout, “No blood for oil!” They believe our desire for Iraqi oil, not security, motivates our actions. Do these people think in terms of slogans, or causal relationships? If they don’t understand the driving force of allied military policy, they may be correct, but not […]
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In 1989, 60 Minutes produced a panicky story alleging the chemical Alar (used to retard the rotting of apples) greatly increased the risk of childhood cancers. Across America, parents poured apple juice down the drain and stores pulled apple products from shelves. The Washington Post described the event as “one of several food scares that […]
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Montana’s economic prosperity is no longer tied to extracting natural resources. It is simply not our strong suit. The best strategy for our prosperity lies in policy innovations that retain and attract human capital, the ultimate key to progress. In part this requires protecting the environment and reducing the state’s income taxes while simultaneously stressing […]
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Poverty is the worst form of violence; this is from the pacifist philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. The U.N. estimates that to avoid famine some 13 million of the poorest of the poor in countries across southern Africa will soon need 1.2 million tons of food aid. Drought, corruption, dysfunctional political institutions, and war are contributing […]
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Environmental issues are vexing for three reasons: they carry heavy emotional baggage, they are scientifically and technically complex, and often they are important to our health and well-being. No other policy arena is so burdened. These attributes foster disingenuous arguments and even dishonesty. Consider Stephen Schneider, a Stanford biologist and global warming alarmist, who argued […]
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