Bryan Cutsinger has been doing a superb job of presenting financial issues to unravel.
Typically, to do fundamental economics, you want to know fundamental math.
Right here’s an announcement from analysis scientist Carey King in “Why Energy Efficiency Might Not Cut Emissions As Much as You Think,” Wall Avenue Journal, November 11, 2024 (print version):
The concept extra effectivity can spur extra consumption reasonably than much less is named the Jevons Paradox. Named after the British economist William Stanley Jevons, who first described it in his 1865 e-book “The Coal Question,” the paradox challenges the intuitive perception that effectivity positive factors mechanically result in power financial savings.
Critics who dismiss Jevons’s concept usually give attention to client habits. For instance, it’s arduous to think about {that a} driver would drive 50% extra miles if buying a automobile that makes use of 50% much less gas per mile. They could drive a bit of extra, however it wouldn’t be sufficient to make a distinction.
Implicit in King’s assertion, given the context, is the concept that if mileage had been to rise by 50%, gas consumption wouldn’t change. Is that true?
Present your work.
Word: King, the Journal tells us, is a analysis scientist and assistant director on the Power Institute on the College of Texas at Austin.
