- The Economist favors markets over bureaucrats:
One way to figure out the optimal suite of [climate change] mitigation measures is to have bureaucrats do cost-benefit analyses, construct models and tell us all what to do. In some sense, that is what is happening with the official endorsement of unproven technologies such as carbon capture and tidal power.
The alternative is to let markets to find the way forward, through a carbon-trading scheme or a carbon tax. At least in theory, the profit motive should help entrepreneurs figure out the cheapest ways of cutting emissions, and thus save us all money.
- Negative feedback loops
Poor countries produced fewer scientific papers in hot years — a rise of one degree Celsius was associated with a nine per cent drop in the number of papers published. This suggests that higher temperatures impede innovation and that over time this could widen the gap between rich and poor countries.
- Water in Taiwan:
One of the major impediments to Taiwan’s efforts to conserve and recycle water is the low price of tap water. The cost of water has remained unchanged for the last 14 years, with the average household devoting only 0.5 percent to 0.6 percent of total monthly expenditures for their water bills. In contrast, households in arid Israel devote about 10 percent of total monthly household expenditures to paying water bills, according to figures compiled by that country’s Central Bureau of Statistics. Not surprisingly, Israel has one of the highest rates of water conservation in the world. In Taiwan, however, the artificially low price of water effectively discourages conservation and recycling efforts.
- Are dictatorships better than democracies on tough decisions?
Using new data on climate change cooperation we study a cross-section of 185 countries in 1990-2004. The results show that the effect of democracy on levels of political commitment to climate change mitigation (policy output) is positive. In contrast, the effect on policy outcomes, measured in terms of emission levels and trends, is ambiguous. These results demonstrate that up until now the democracy effect has not been able to override countervailing forces that emanate from the free-rider problem…
- Central Valley farmers would rather drain their aquifers than cut back on operations:
“Everybody is going to pump all the water they can,” Stone, who farms as Stone Land Co., cultivates 10,000 acres of cotton and other field and row crops. “That means more and deeper wells.”
Stone estimated crops need about 30 inches of water per year to be successful, which costs about $250 per acre [or acre foot?]. He said most farmers are working on irrigation efficiency, including the use of drip-irrigation systems.
[snip]
Stone and Mills are also concerned the state will try and tack on additional fees for the use of surface and ground water, just making it that much more expensive.
Oh noes! Expensive water? In a drought?!?
