International Law

Government's green paper on emissions trading out today

Posted on July 15, 2008
It's being launched by Climate Change Minister Penny Wong at the Press Club at 12.30.I'll put up a link when I have one and hopefully some analysis tonight.

Garnaut Review out today

Posted on July 03, 2008
The draft report of Professor Ross Garnaut's Climate Change Review will be released at 12.30 today here.For overseas readers, this review has been described as the Australian version of the Stern Review. The report will look at the economic impact on Australia of climate change and the design of a domestic emissions trading scheme (ETS), as well as suggestions for Australia's role in international negotiations...

Responses to higher fuel prices

Posted on June 17, 2008
Observing how people are responding now to higher fuel prices gives us some idea about how people will respond to a price on carbon under an emissions trading scheme.In the short term, we can expect pain on households and businesses as their usual ways of doing things become more expensive...

Drivers with bumper stickers are road ragers

Posted on June 16, 2008
My favourite subject at uni was social psychology. The experiments we studied were brilliant and most seemed to have a sense of humour. I love this one reported in Monday's Washington Post:[Social psychologist William] Szlemko said that, in an as-yet-unpublished experiment, he conducted tests of road rage in actual traffic...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Socially defective economists

Posted on May 28, 2008
From time to time economists like to analyse human relationships through whatever economic model is occupying them at the time, thinking they're offering some insights. Like this from the EconLog ("insights in economics") blog:One of the examples [of the idea that a lot of human behaviour can be explained as an attempt to signal something about onesself to others] concerns dating...

Liveblogging the budget

Posted on May 12, 2008
Can't wait until tonight's budget? No worries, Zoe at CrazyBrave has already blogged the best bits, in advance:7.37... We?re going to investigate the tax system - root and branch. We?re going to get the head of Treasury to tell us what bits are rooted and then we?ll get the maths whizzes who organised our branch stacking in NSW and Victoria to fix it all up...

Lessons from Europe's emissions trading scheme

Posted on May 08, 2008
The Pew Center on Climate Change has released a new report examining what went wrong and what has been going right with the EU emissions trading scheme.The report finds that the scheme has achieved much of what was intended: establishing a European-wide carbon price; causing businesses to incorporate the price into their decision-making; and creating the infrastructure for a multi-national trading program...

Taxing 'Alcopops'

Posted on April 27, 2008
News over the weekend that the federal government has raised the excise on pre-mixed drinks ('alcopops') from $39 to $67 per litre of pure alcohol caught my eye, given my interest in using economic instruments for public policy.These drinks are sweet and taste less alcoholic than they are and have therefore been a drink of choice for young people, women in particular, and the move is designed to help arrest the increase in dangerous drinking among teens and young adults...

We need some clear thinking on plastic bags - Part 2

Posted on April 17, 2008
What planet are our politicians inhabiting?Here's Queensland Premier Anna Bligh on plastic bags, as reported by the Brisbane Times:Queensland will oppose a levy on plastic bags at tomorrow's meeting of federal and state environment ministers. Premier Anna Bligh today told state parliament the levy would be another impost on families already struggling to meet rising household costs...

We need some clear thinking on plastic bags - Part 1

Posted on April 15, 2008
I've been observing the debate about plastic bags for years but haven't posted anything on it.I'm agnostic about whether something really needs to be done about plastic bags in particular.Good environmental policy, it seems to me, looks at the best ways of fixing identified problems - rather than targeting certain products...

Earth Hour this Saturday night - is it all just a waste of time?

Posted on March 27, 2008
It's the second annual Earth Hour this Saturday night and the wise cynics are once again gleefully reminding us how stupid we are to turn out our lights for one hour in the deluded belief that we're doing something about climate change.Their triumphant, but I think misguided, crowing about how naive we all are kind of reminds me of a scene from the Simpsons:Homer takes Lisa to the Springfield Museum and sees the sign, `Suggested donation: $4...

Why don't TV networks advertise their competitors' shows?

Posted on March 26, 2008
Here's my random thought for today: why don't TV networks ever promote their competitor's shows?Now I'm sure you're thinking that's one of the most stupid ideas you've heard lately. And it probably is, but it's not quite as stupid as it sounds.The potential audience for any particular show is people who would otherwise watch another free or pay TV channel and people who otherwise wouldn't watch TV at that time at all...

Garnaut review - emissions trading scheme discussion paper

Posted on March 25, 2008
Professor Ross Garnaut's blueprint for an Australian emissions trading scheme was released last Thursday (pdf). I haven't got past the exec summary yet, but Robert Merkel has an excellent discussion at Larvatus Prodeo today, and econobloggers Harry Clarke, Peter Martin and Joshua Gans had some thoughtful comments over the weekend...

EPA: US can halve greenhouse emissions for the cost of a cup of coffee a day

Posted on March 17, 2008
Alright, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but a report very quietly released by the US EPA (there's remarkably little mainstream coverage of it) has found that if emissions were cut by 56% by 2050, US GDP would grow by 80% between now and then, compared to 81% if emissions were allowed to increase on a business-as-usual basis...

Rudd's tax cuts - inflationary or illusory?

Posted on March 16, 2008
Mark Davis has a nice piece in the Herald today questioning the angst expressed by so many people about Rudd's election promise to cut taxes in an inflationary environment.Davis points out that these announced tax 'cuts' (and the Howard government's cuts of the past few years) are not necessarily cuts at all: the stated amount of the cut is the predicted reduction in the amount of tax collected because of the change to tax rates, compared to what would have been collected if the change hadn't been made (not compared to what was collected last year)...

Can biofuels help reduce greenhouse emissions?

Posted on March 07, 2008
The answer, from a recent CSIRO study (pdf), appears to be yes - unless it's from a plantation that was established by clearing forest.The study compared total life-cycle emissions from biofuels from various sources with diesel. Fuel from canola has 49% lower emissions over its life cycle than diesel and, for a waste product such as used cooking oil, emissions can be 87% lower than diesel...

Economic analyses of intergalactic trade

Posted on March 06, 2008
A new paper on the potential pitfalls of interstellar trade prompts economist bloggers Tyler Cowen and Joshua Gans to look at some of the recent and not so recent economic treatises on the subject.I love this quote from a Paul Krugman paper on the topic:It should be noted that, while the subject of this paper is silly, the analysis actually does make sense...

An important day for climate change action?

Posted on March 04, 2008
With Mike Huckabee withdrawing from the Republican party nomination race, all three remaining US presidential contenders favour strong action on climate change (albeit to varying degrees).That means - whatever happens in November - we will see a significant shift in US climate change policy in January 2009...

Garnaut Review - interim report now out

Posted on February 21, 2008
The interim report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review is now out and is required reading if you're interested in what an Australian emissions trading scheme will look like. The review was commissioned last year by Australia's State and Territory Governments (and the then federal opposition - now federal Government) to examine the impacts and opportunities of climate change...

Does car sharing have a place in Australia?s transport mix?

Posted on February 12, 2008
The Wall St Journal had an article last week on the emerging car sharing industry in the US.Car sharing is designed for people who want access to a car for short trips occasionally without the expense of owning a car. You pay a membership fee and then hourly or daily usage rates that include petrol, insurance, etc...

Economic communicators contest

Posted on January 31, 2008
Are you an effective communicator of economic ideas?The US Association of Private Enterprise Education is running a contest with a first prize of US$10,000. You need to submit a video and a written piece explaining an economic idea. (Oh, and it's not open to tenured academics)...

Moral hazard in emissions trading

Posted on January 30, 2008
Moral hazard is an interesting concept in economics. It?s the problem that someone protected from risk may behave differently from how they?d behave if they were fully exposed to the risk.It?s a big issue in finance and insurance. Moral hazard has been blamed in part for the sub-prime mortgage debacle gripping the US and elsewhere...

How much should we spend to reward pollution?

Posted on January 29, 2008
New Treasury figures estimate that by next year we'll be spending over $2 billion per year subsidising the use of company cars ? nearly twice as much as was previously predicted.I've talked before about this environmentally destructive tax rort that encourages drivers to drive and drive and drive - the more you drive, the less tax you pay...

Will fuel efficiency laws save motorists money?

Posted on January 03, 2008
With petrol prices in Australia nudging $1.50 a litre, the clamour to 'do something' is growing and even the Australian Conservation Foundation is jumping on the bandwagon. Its solution: mandatory fuel efficiency standards for new cars sold in Australia:ACF?s Sustainable Australia program manager Alison Cleary...

Who should you vote for in the US Presidential elections?

Posted on January 02, 2008
A site that should be of interest to all US readers (and many others) is glassbooth.org. A non-partisan site, it aims to give you an insight into how the views of the Presidential contenders align with your own views.First it asks you to assign points to issues that you're most concerned about, then it asks you a series of questions about those issues...

Happy new year!

Posted on January 02, 2008
I hope you've all had (or, better still, are having) a refreshing break and I wish everyone a healthy and happy 2008.It's a good time to reflect and to look forward to a great year and, in that vein, the Sydney Morning Herald has a great article on eco-friendly New Year's resolutions - most of which are pretty cheap and easy to implement.

Blogroll update

Posted on December 18, 2007
I need to update my list of links: some blogs I link to have ceased to be updated or even to exist and there are new blogs on the scene I haven't yet included.If you think there are any glaring omissions, please leave a comment. Given Oikos' theme, I try to link to really good blogs about environmental economics, Australian economics or Australian environment - or truly outstanding blogs about the environment or economics more generally.

Bali wrap up

Posted on December 16, 2007
I think this cartoon by Alan Moir pretty much sums it up!I'll post some more thoughts soon...

Will the US be rewarded for failing to ratify Kyoto?

Posted on December 09, 2007
The Sydney Morning Herald reports today:Three options in the draft Bali deal will be put to international environment ministers who will meet on Wednesday... and the hope is that a deal will be signed by Friday.The most favoured option is a two-track process...

New-ish environmental economics blog

Posted on December 05, 2007
While I've been galavanting around Europe with its surprising lack of wireless internet, I've missed the appearance of a new addition to the healthy and growing stable of blogs around the world with an environmental economics focus.Common Tragedies is a play on the 'tragedy of the commons' concept, the tendency for overexploitation of common resources...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.