“It is ironic that many environmentalists who would herald similar growth in population of some of the endangered species as a very good indicator of the environmental health of the planet, see the success of man as a harbinger of environmental doom. Even many economists usually consider an increase in production of steel or birth of an additional calf, as positive addition to the national output or Gross Domestic Product, but view the birth of a human child to have a negative impact on GDP.“
The twentieth Century has witnessed unprecedented demographic changes. For the first time in history, the world population almost quadrupled from about one and a half billion in 1900 to six billion in the span of just hundred years. Likewise, Indian population too crossed the one billion level in May 2000, from about 238 million at the beginning of the Twentieth century.…
Continue Reading“While we think that policies and institutions compatible with freedom and openness are important factors in promoting human progress, we let the evidence speak for itself. We hope that this website leads to a greater appreciation of the improving state of the world and stimulates an intelligent debate on the drivers of human progress.”
– HumanProgress.org (Cato Institute)
Kudos to Cato for their new website portal, HumanProgress.org, which brings into one place the statistics of human welfare with reference to the socio-economic conditions responsible for it. The mission and status of this new website is discussed below.
A Julian Simon Institute?
I often lamented the absence of a Julian Simon Institute to tackle the area of ‘sustainability’ or “sustainable development,’ which covers so many things relating to population and progress. …
Continue Reading“FERC Commissioner Tony Clark seems to be about the only person currently on record to see what’s coming…. In Commissioner Clark’s words, each state with an approved plan ‘will have entered a comprehensive “mother-may-I?” relationship with EPA that has never before existed’.”
If you’re an impressionable economist, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s powerplant carbon abatement proposal looks like a winner. Different people have different costs of reducing emissions, and the draft rule proposes several alternative paths that a state might take in formulating its implementation plan. Flexibility allows a state (or possibly a group of them) to choose among direct limits on generator emissions, to implement policies that substitute renewables for coal, or to use a “portfolio” approach that includes increased end-use efficiency. Just get EPA to sign off on your compliance plan, adhere to it, and you’ll be part of America’s low-carbon future.…
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