[E&E seminars] MITEI Seminar Series: Severin Borenstein - May 5

[Jameson Twomey]

We are pleased to announce the final speaker of the 2008-2009 MITEI  
Seminar Series. We hope you will join us Tuesday, May 5th as we  
welcome Severin Borenstein, the E.T. 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.

Meeting US Energy and Climate Challenges with Rational Policy

Tuesday, May 5th
4:15 PM - Reception to follow
66-110 (Landau Building, 25 Ames Street)

Abstract
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.

About the Speaker


Severin Borenstein is E.T. Grether Professor of Business  
Administration and Public Policy at the Haas School of Business and  
Director of the University of California Energy Institute, where he is  
also co-Director of the Institute's Center for the Study of Energy  
Markets.  He received his A.B. from U.C. Berkeley in 1978 and Ph.D. in  
Economics from M.I.T. in 1983.  His research focuses on business  
competition, strategy, and regulation.  He has published extensively  
on the airline industry, the oil and gasoline industries, and  
electricity markets.  His current research projects include empirical  
and theoretical work on competition in gasoline markets; market power  
and pricing issues in restructured electricity markets; strategic  
pricing and financial distress in the airline industry; and the  
incentives of firms to cut costs and improve efficiency.

We thank CERA for its ongoing sponsorship of the Series.

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