The summaries of studies I've seen on ethanol indicate that there is no
environmental impact due to ethanol. Sure, if you burn a bucket of ethanol
vs. a bucket of gasoline, you get less pollution, but if you run ethanol and
gasoline through a modern car engine, what comes out the tailpipe is
virtually identical vis-a-vis pollution.
Further, the production of ethanol requires gasoline -- 1.2 gallons of gas
for every gallon of ethanol produced.
Antony Davies
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Tamada [mailto:tamada@oxy.edu]
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 7:50 PM
To: Brian Peterson; Kouliavtsev, Mikhail; Steven Greenlaw; tch-econ@elon.edu
Subject: RE: Photos to Illustrate Economic Concepts
Ah, of course, ethanol.
Speaking of government intervention, to reduce pollution in smoggy Los
Angeles, refiners and stations are required to produce and sell gasoline
that has anti-pollution additives, and that is "oxygenated". One of the
ways to oxygenate gasoline is to put a bunch of ethanol in it, so much of
the time, Angelenos are in fact driving "gasohol", to use the 1970s term.
However in addition to cutting gas mileage (I get better mileage everytime I
leave California and drive in Arizona, Nevada, etc.), this also raises the
cost of producing gasoline, which is more expensive in Los Angeles than in
just about any other US city I've seen, except for San Francisco.
On the other hand, Los Angeles's air has gotten measurably cleaner year by
year, both as measured by air sampling stations, and by subjective
experience.
Some of this transition to reformulated gasoline happened in the early
1990s, when I discovered that the gas mileage in my car was falling by 10%.
I went crazy trying everything from re-inflating my tires to changing my air
filter to having an engine tune-up, until years later I read about southern
California's special gasoline formulations.
These special requirements also make California's gasoline market separate
from the rest of the countries. This can cause higher prices in southern
Calif, if the submarket happens to have a high demand/low supply confluence.
It never seems to cause lower prices though -- possibly because surplus
gasoline in California can be exported to other states, whereas the reverse
is not legal?
--MKT
-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Peterson [mailto:petersonbj@central.edu]
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 4:22 PM
To: Kouliavtsev, Mikhail; Michael Tamada; Steven Greenlaw; tch-econ@elon.edu
Subject: RE: Photos to Illustrate Economic Concepts
In some ways, it's a trick question. We can talk all we want about excess
supplies and excess demands, but ultimately someone in class gets it. In
Iowa, it's all about ethanol. There's 10% ethanol in 89-octane gas in Iowa,
and ethanol is heavily subsidized by the state. It makes it about cheaper
than 87-octane, in some places up to 10 cents per gallon. This can then
launch us into government intervention, externalities, etc.
Kind of fun, actually. But people looked at me weird when I took this - it
was somewhere along Interstate 80, near Council Bluffs, I think...
I've attached the picture for your viewing pleasure.
Cheers,
Brian
Brian Peterson
Department of Economics
Central College
-----Original Message-----
From: Kouliavtsev, Mikhail [mailto:KouliavtsevM@philau.edu]
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 5:03 PM
To: Michael Tamada; Brian Peterson; Steven Greenlaw; tch-econ@elon.edu
Subject: RE: Photos to Illustrate Economic Concepts
Phew :) I was sitting here thinking I am the only one who doesn't get it...
So, what is the answer?
________________________________
From: Michael Tamada [mailto:tamada@oxy.edu]
Sent: Fri 7/15/2005 5:46 PM
To: Brian Peterson; Steven Greenlaw; tch-econ@elon.edu
Subject: RE: Photos to Illustrate Economic Concepts
I'm still trying to figure this one out: why would a gas station (or a
market) set a lower price for octane 89 gas? I've never seen it happen
myself.
--MKT
-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Peterson [mailto:petersonbj@central.edu]
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 11:38 AM
I usually use them as ways of getting discussion going. When we
talk about market equilibria, for example, I spend a lot of time talking
about markets as disseminators of information. Then I show them a picture
of an Amoco (it's dated, back to 2001; pre-BP merger) sign with 89-octane
gas cheaper than 87-octane gas. We spend time talking about why that could
be the case, what kind of information the seller (the store owner) is trying
to send potential buyers, and how buyers could respond to that information.
It starts them thinking about what's happening around them; at least, that's
what I hear - or naively hope.
My 0.016615 EUR ($0.02, but let's be honest...)
Brian Peterson
Department of Economics
Central College
________________________________
From: Steven Greenlaw [mailto:sgreenla@umw.edu]
Sent: Fri 15-Jul-05 1:26 PM
To: tch-econ@elon.edu
Subject: Photos to Illustrate Economic Concepts
Does anyone have experience using photos to illustrate economic
concepts? If so, what can you say about it?
- Steve
------------------------------------------------------
Steven A. Greenlaw
Professor of Economics
University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
(540) 654-1483
------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jul 15 2005 - 19:11:16 CDT