Recent Posts

Energy security and the meaning of technology

This past week, I gave a lecture to a Georgetown University graduate seminar. The instructor’s challenge to me was to talk about technology as integral to energy security. Here is the argument I laid out for these students. In wind and solar energy—which only significantly depend on hydrocarbons during manufacturing and transport—technology is a relatively simple lens on energy. For ...

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Japan has to spend a little less on well-off elderly

When discussing Japan’s debt, most people get caught up in the issue of fiscal solvency. As everyone by now knows, Japan has a very high level of debt versus gross domestic product: This attention-grabbing number—about twice the level of the US—often gets people asking whether Japan will default. Some believe a default is likely when the country runs out of ...

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Stocks mixed, dollar falls as tax reform hits bump

Bloomberg US equities fluctuated near records, while the dollar’s rally stalled near a two-month high as investors assessed the prospects for tax reform after a Republican senator raised concern it could inflate the deficit. The S&P 500 Index traded in a tight range close to all-time highs along with other US gauges. The dollar retreated after touching the highest level ...

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