<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>We are pleased to announce the final speaker of the 2008-2009 MITEI Seminar Series. We hope you will join us<b> <b>Tuesday, May 5th</b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">as we welcome </span>Severin Borenstein<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">, the E.T</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">. Grether Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy at the Hass School of Business, UC Berkeley and Director of the University of California Energy Institute.</span></span><div><br></div><div><b>Meeting US Energy and Climate Challenges with Rational Policy</b></div><div><br></div><div><b>Tuesday, May 5th</b></div><div><b>4:15 PM - </b>Reception to follow</div><div><b>66-110 </b>(Landau Building, 25 Ames Street)</div><div><br></div><div><b>Abstract</b></div><div><b><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">As US energy challenges mount, the public and political debate continues to demonstrate disturbing misunderstandings of both the problems and potential solutions. The US faces three distinct energy challenges: maintaining moderate energy costs in order to benefit the economy, controlling greenhouse gases and other environmental damage from energy use, and reducing the geopolitical consequences of dependence on crude oil. Though some policies help to address all three challenges, often tackling one of these problems exacerbates the others. Borenstein will discuss the logic and fallacies behind government energy policies, from taxes (implicit or explicit) on greenhouse gas emissions, to tax incentives for domestic oil exploration, to support for energy efficiency improvements or basic energy science research. The energy challenges that the US faces are serious, but by adhering to a few basic economic principles, the cost of meeting these challenges can be kept manageable.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">About the Speaker</p><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Severin Borenstein is E.T. Grether Professor of Business</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Administration and Public Policy at the Haas School of</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Business and Director of the University of California</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Energy Institute, where he is also co-Director of the</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Institute's Center for the Study of Energy Markets. He</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">received his A.B. from U.C. Berkeley in 1978 and Ph.D. in</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">Economics from M.I.T. in 1983. His research focuses on</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">business competition, strategy, and regulation. He has</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">published extensively on the airline industry, the oil and</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">gasoline industries, and electricity markets. His current r<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">esearch projects include empirical and theoretical work on</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">competition in gasoline markets; market power and pricing</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">issues in restructured electricity markets; strategic</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">pricing and financial distress in the airline industry; and</font><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">the incentives of firms to cut costs and improve <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">efficiency.</font></span></font></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></font></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Courier New'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><b>We thank CERA</b> <b>for its ongoing sponsorship of the Series.</b></font></div><div><br></div></b></div></b></div><b></b></div></body></html>