Energy policy: an economist's confessions
Dr. Schlesinger, former Secretary of Energy, feels that energy policy will determine how the industrial economies perform and whether the western political institutions survive. He says that energy policy does not, however, respond to traditional economic analysis in that there is no economic theory to adequately cover depleting resources. Economists gain strength by approaching energy problems in the context of supply and the price mechanism, with attention to arithmetic rather than emotion. Dr. Schlesinger believes, however, that there are weaknesses in the economists' view in the curative powers granted to the marketplace, which are better at making small adjustments over a long period of time than large adjustments in a short time. He notes that tendency to use inappropriate syllogisms obscures the problem of a rapidly diminishing lead time to solving the energy problem. He observes that total reliance on the marketplace will have to give way to government subsidies to research, develop, and commercialize fuels. (DCK)
- OSTI ID:
- 5352370
- Journal Information:
- Energy J.; (United States), Vol. 1:1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
POLICY AND ECONOMY
02 PETROLEUM
ENERGY POLICY
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SUPPLIES
ECONOMIC POLICY
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
MARKET
PRICES
RESOURCE DEPLETION
SUBSIDIES
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
290200* - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics & Sociology
020700 - Petroleum- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects
292000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Supply
Demand & Forecasting