Here’s why we should be worried about running out of fresh water—in most places around the world it’s free—priced at zero. Any resource priced at zero will be wasted. Environmental and social problems follow. Here’s one example. The Ogallala Aquifer underlies 225,000 square miles in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska. Use of […]

Unless deliberately randomized, as in drawings for moose permits or draft lottery numbers in the 1970s, decisions are based on information and incentives. It follows that to change behavior, people’s information and the incentives to act on that information must change. Little else, surely not professed concern, will suffice. Well-intentioned people who ignore or discount […]

The faculty of Montana State University, by far the most visible and significant employer in our area, is considering a vote to unionize. I’ve been asked two probing questions. First, why would professors, generally “liberals” and among the most fortunate individuals in Montana, organize to extract more money from citizens of one of the poorest […]

This column flows from Elliot Spitzer’s crash landing. The important lesson is not inappropriate sex, but rather Spitzer’s abuse and exploitation of political power for career advancement. It took a sex scandal to awaken citizens to the harm and misery he illegally and unethically produced. Surprise lies only in his sexual stupidity. Spitzer’s abuse of […]

I’m evermore skeptical of the policy prescriptions demanded by those convinced climate change threatens civilization. Al Gore, the leader of this pack, asserts that if we do not act “within 10 years” (to reduce CO2 emissions) we are likely to reach a “tipping point” making it impossible “to avoid irretrievable damage to the planet’s habitability.” […]

Many small towns throughout our region peaked in 1917 and most have declined ever since. Such economic factors as resource depletion, mines played out, and the worldwide agricultural depression of 1919 drove these declines. Further, economies of scale encouraged larger farms and ranches as mechanical replaced muscle power. Concurrently, with superior cars and trucks running […]

The admonition “don’t burn your bridges” warns against rash behavior that makes retreat impossible. Nobel economist Tom Schelling argues that to the Roman army burning bridges, or boats, was actually an effective military strategy. By making retreat impossible, the generals signaled their choice to conquer or be killed. This concentrates the minds of friends and […]

Here’s some good news worth sharing. It’s from a paper by Harvard economist Andrei Shleifer. “The last quarter century has witnessed remarkable progress of mankind. The world’s per capita inflation-adjusted income rose from $5,400 in 1980 to $8,500 in 2005. Schooling and life expectancy grew rapidly, while infant mortality and poverty fell just as fast. […]

A friend recently passed on a chain letter urging independence from Middle Eastern oil. It’s a seductive idea. Here’s the gist: “Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don’t import their oil from the Saudis. Nothing is […]

“Stimulus: something that incites or rouses to action; an incentive.” Last week Congress approved a $168 billion economic stimulus package to help our slowing economy. One hundred and sixty-eight BILLION dollars—a staggering amount to most of us, but only a drop in the bucket of our $14 trillion dollar economy. At first glance, the bill […]