Regional Transmission Organizations as Market Platforms II
Article
Knowledge Problem

Regional Transmission Organizations as Market Platforms II

Whether it’s rising electricity bills, reliability concerns, an impetus for decarbonization, or the related importance of grid modernization, power systems in the U.S. and around the world are struggling with…

California’s Insurance Crisis
Article
The Honest Broker

California’s Insurance Crisis

Dave Jones, California’s insurance commissioner from 2011 to 2018, explained California’s growing insurance crisis in 2023: Due to the failure to substantially reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the U.S. and globally, we…

Climate Science Whiplash
Article
The Honest Broker

Climate Science Whiplash

Did you know that climate change is making the San Francisco region more foggy? The Bay Area just had its foggiest May in 50 years. And thanks to global warming, it’s…

Goodbye and Good Riddance to Meta Fact-Checking
Op-Ed
Boston Globe

Goodbye and Good Riddance to Meta Fact-Checking

The decision last week by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, to immediately stop using “fact checkers” — groups hired by Meta to determine what information is true and…

Meta’s Content Moderation Turnabout
Article
The Honest Broker

Meta’s Content Moderation Turnabout

Today, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced that it would immediately stop using “fact checkers” to police the content on its platforms, which also include Instagram and Threads. Meta explained:…

Article
The Honest Broker

Fixing Universities

In my courses on policy analysis I teach my students to focus on problem definition before even thinking about policy options. The problem facing major American research universities, as characterized…

Economics of Grid Defection III
Book
Knowledge Problem

Economics of Grid Defection III

The discussion of grid defection has reemerged with the changes in the technical capabilities of distributed resources, the growth of data center demand, and questions about whether utilities are up…

Economics of Grid Defection II
Article
Knowledge Problem

Economics of Grid Defection II

Last week I wrote about the grid defection discussion circa 2014, motivated by Elisa Wood’s webinar with Seyyed Ali Sadat and Joshua Pearce of Western Ontario University on their new paper in…

How to Get Rid of a Tenured Professor
Article
The Honest Broker

How to Get Rid of a Tenured Professor

I am the answer to a trivia question. Who is the only person to appear in the leaked 2009 Climategate emails and in the 2016 Hillary Clinton Wikileaks emails? That’d…

Economics of Grid Defection I
Article
Knowledge Problem

Economics of Grid Defection I

Yesterday Elisa Wood hosted a webinar with Seyyed Ali Sadat and Joshua Pearce of Western Ontario University, who have a new paper: The threat of economic grid defection in the US with solar…

Recombinant Modularity and Technological Change
Article
Knowledge Problem

Recombinant Modularity and Technological Change

In the past couple of weeks I’ve read two things I want to recommend that are actually deeply related. The first is Brian Potter’s excellent history of technology analysis of…

U.S. Hurricane Overview 2024
Article
The Honest Broker

U.S. Hurricane Overview 2024

Yesterday, The Washington Post published what can only be described as a hit piece on the nominee for Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright. The Post took issue with Wright’s claim that: “[R]eports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate…

Article
The Honest Broker

Partisan Professors

Faculty in U.S. universities overwhelmingly hold views on the political left. That probably won’t be news to most THB readers. Today’s post documents just how extreme today’s left-leaning ideological uniformity…

Intellectual Hospitality and Genuine Debate
Article
The Honest Broker

Intellectual Hospitality and Genuine Debate

Of the American holidays, Thanksgiving is by far my favorite. Over my academic career, Thanksgiving provided a much-needed respite in the final weeks of the fall semester before the home…

Politicization of the American University
Article
The Honest Broker

Politicization of the American University

Roger Federer spent 24 years as a professional tennis player. Roger Clemens played 24 years in the major leagues. And at the end of next month, I’ll leave my position as tenured, full…