A Free-Market Energy Blog

A Free Market Mission Statement (draft principles)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 1, 2017

“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.

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Milton Friedman on Mineral Resource Theory (remembering a giant of social thought)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 31, 2017

“I think [Julian Simon] probably should have been considered for a Nobel Prize.  He took a very independent position with little backing, dug deep and provided very good evidence for his predictions and expectations.”

“I do not believe there is a natural resource economics.  I believe there is good economics and bad economics.”

  • Milton Friedman (below)

Editor note: Milton Friedman would be 105 this day. Born July 31, 1912, in New York City, he died on November 16, 2006, in San Francisco, age 94.

Reprinted below is an exchange between Robert Bradley Jr. and the Milton Friedman when the Nobel Laureate was 91 years old–a testament to the patience, scholarship, and longevity of one of the greatest social thinkers of modern time.

Friedman had not met Bradley but was in the habit of actively communicating with scholars until his final illness.

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EV Subsidies vs. Results: Reality Check in Norway

By -- July 27, 2017

“The China study highlights that the government’s push to promote EVs may actually create a greater hurdle for it achieving its goal of restricting CO2 growth.”

Yesterday’s post noted That Tesla’s federal tax subsidies, which apply to the first 200,000 vehicles produced, could be reached and exceeded next year. In such an event, what happens to Tesla’s Model 3 backlog when price-sensitive EV buyers, who have ordered the car, realize it may be delivered without the tax subsidy?

The answer might be seen in the EU, where EV tax subsidies have been cut, leading to a sharp fall in sales. This recently occurred in Hong Kong, as I described last week. But other countries have put EV subsidies, and thus EV sales, on the bubble.

Norway’s EV Effort–But Oil Rises

Critics of EV studies such as that of Bloomberg New Energy Finance (NEF) point to the recent history of oil consumption in Norway, one of the leading EV success stories.…

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Tesla Stumbles: Bad EV Economics or Something Else?

By -- July 26, 2017
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California Needs a “Spec” Water Market, Not Contrived Markets

By -- July 25, 2017
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Energy & Environmental Newsletter: July 24, 2017

By -- July 24, 2017
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Wind News Update: Falmouth Says Enough—But at a High Price!

By -- July 20, 2017
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FERC’s ‘Workable Competition’ Standard: A 1992 Note for Today

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 19, 2017
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Rethinking Energy Efficiency: Reason Foundation Comments to DOE

By Julian Morris -- July 18, 2017
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WSJ Blows It on Australia’s Power Crisis (intermittent resources, not fossil fuels, at fault)

By Donn Dears -- July 17, 2017
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