Topic: Environmentalism

Degrowth Kills People – Yes, Literally

– December 19, 2023

“The primary obstacle to continuous improvement in the human condition is human (political or ideological) interference with the liberty of others.” ~Emile Phaneuf III & Christopher Lingle

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A Short Guide to ESG: Finance

– December 13, 2023

“ESG considerations represent a mainstreaming of impact investing while giving ‘fiduciary’ cover to large institutional investors who invest trillions of dollars of other people’s money in ways that advance mostly political priorities.” ~Paul Mueller

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Fake Meat: More Entrée or Agenda?  

– December 5, 2023

“The plant-based alternatives industry appears to be facing its first true market test and doing poorly. It is a much smaller market than producers perceived, due to the noisy signals and political distortions of Conspicuous Production.” ~Phillip W. Magness and Peter C. Earle

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A Short Guide to ESG: Goals

– December 4, 2023

“ESG goals are not primarily about shareholder value and enterprise value. The goals are often counter to the interests of shareholders and large segments of society.” ~Paul Mueller

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Let the Market, Not Government, Decide the Fate of EVs

– December 3, 2023

“Both for equity and economic efficiency, government inducements to hasten the number of EVs or charging stations are a bad idea. Governments can better spend taxpayers’ monies. EVs have a promising future.” ~Kenneth W. Costello

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Politicians Talk; Entrepreneurs and Scientists Do

– November 30, 2023

“The worse the inability to get universal political agreement becomes, the better and more cost-efficient become the small-scale, positive-externality, science-based attempts at just doing the work.” ~Joakim Book

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A Short Guide to ESG: Advocates

– November 29, 2023

“I have categorized organizations by their function and highlighted a few organizations worth knowing in each category, from high-level, broad advocacy to nitty-gritty implementation.” ~Paul Mueller

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Thinking About the Regulation of Industrial Emissions Differently, Part II

– November 27, 2023

“All we know here is that humans are innovative and have a great capacity to creatively meet challenges without being prodded by politicians or mandarins. But no one can predict in detail how this creativity will manifest itself.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux

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Thinking About the Regulation of Industrial Emissions Differently, Part I

– November 20, 2023

“Production of the likes of tires, furniture, steel, speedy transportation, and air conditioning and home heating is surely good for humanity. But such production requires energy and it produces harmful by-products.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux

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ESG as an Artifact of Zero Interest Rate Policy

– November 19, 2023

“The reasons attributed to billions of dollars leaving the ESG sector include concerns about greenwashing and political backlash. That the flight of funds coincides almost perfectly with the start of inflation and turned negative shortly after the Fed began its contractionary policy bias is either not noticed or considered.” ~Peter C. Earle

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A Short Guide to ESG: History

– November 19, 2023

“Browsing the websites of ESG-advocating organizations gives the sense that ESG is cutting edge, technologically sophisticated, a wise investment strategy, and the road to increasing profitability.” ~Paul Mueller

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A Short ESG Guide: Terms

– November 12, 2023

“While I have attempted to clarify the ESG advocates’ terms, the devil is in the details. One of the weakest parts of ESG is the ambiguity and disagreement, even among its advocates, as to how to define and measure many of their objectives.” ~Paul Mueller

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