• The war on coal?

    Is banning coal an objective in and of itself or just one of many measures to address climate change and local and regional pollution problems? Is a war on coal a proxy for a war on climate change and, if … Continued

  • Week 6: Spectrum auctions

    The starting point for this week’s discussion is the report Maximizing the Success of the Incentive Auction by Fred B Campbell, who, we are are told is the former Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau for the US Federal Communications Commission. Who is … Continued

  • Week 5: Millennium Development Goals 2015 and beyond

    Building on our discussion of goals last class, I thought we might focus this week on one of the better known sets of goals, namely the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.  These 8 goals were set in 1990 with a time … Continued

  • Week 4: Scenarios: good, bad and ugly?

    One can (and should!) debate the utility and popularity of scenarios, but I wanted to start the discussion this week by focusing on one particular set of scenarios, namely that of the International Energy Agency (IEA).  The new 2013 World … Continued

  • Week 3: The promise and perils of research assessment and implications for Mode 2 knowledge

    As noted in my tweet yesterday, this week’s topic is the efforts by the UK to assess the quality of its academic research base.  Paul Jump’s article in the Times Higher offers a wonderful introduction to the history and evolution … Continued

  • New topic for Week 2

    Time to switch over to #techpolicyw2 !! The subject this week is the wonderful piece in The Economist entitled: ‘Unreliable research: Trouble in the Lab’ http://econ.st/19QXzFe The Economist starts with a great hook to Danny Kahneman’s concern that many efforts … Continued