“History shows that private property rights, market exchange, and the rule of law have resulted in affordable energy, improved living standards, and a healthier environment.”
“Government policies should be transparent, predictable, simple, and impartial toward all citizens and businesses. Such an approach will spur capital formation in the energy industry and promote optimal technological innovation.”
Some of us have been working on updating the existing mission statement of the Institute for Energy Research (IER).
Here is the latest draft. Thoughts and comments are welcome!
The Institute for Energy Research (IER) is a not-for-profit organization that studies and evaluates the function, operation, and government regulation of energy markets. IER maintains that freely functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s energy and environmental challenges and, as such, are critical to the well-being of individuals and society.
Founded in 1989 out of a predecessor organization, IER is a tax-exempt public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Its funding comes entirely from the tax-deductible contributions of individuals, foundations, and corporations. No financial support is sought or even accepted from government sources.
Our Principles
IER has earned a solid reputation for its scholarly approach to energy analysis and free-market energy and environmental policy. The institute’s perspective reflects the following tenets:
Free markets: History shows that private property rights, market exchange, and the rule of law have resulted in affordable energy, improved living standards, and a healthier environment.
Objective science: Public policy, particularly in the environmental arena, should be based on objective science, not on emotion and improbable scenarios that invite wealth-reducing government activism and impair society’s resilience in the face of inevitable change.
Public-policy realism: Policies seeking to correct “market failure” in energy markets must be tempered by the likelihood of “government failure.” It is misleading to compare idealized government proposals with real-world market outcomes. Government policies are implemented by politicians and bureaucracies, not by unbiased and informed theoreticians.
Equitable treatment: The welfare of energy consumers, energy producers, and taxpayers should be weighed without favoritism.
Constrained government: Government policies should be transparent, predictable, simple, and impartial toward all citizens and businesses. Such an approach will spur capital formation in the energy industry and promote optimal technological innovation.