2 Apr 2008

Academic Success and the Final Four

by Richard Belzer

in Amusements

College basketball programs are not known for producing college graduates. Now that the Final Four tournaments are set, how do the competing teams perform academically? More...

6 Feb 2008

The Perils of Regulatory Policymaking by Opinion Poll:
Consumer Reports on "health care reform"

by Richard Belzer

in Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy

Consumer Reports has sponsored a poll on health care that yielded results characterized as "revealing a significant disconnect." But there is no disconnect at all if elementary economic analysis is applied. More...

5 Dec 2007

Why Is Blood In Short Supply?
Anecdotal evidence of highly precautionary (but discretionary) donation policies

by Richard Belzer

in Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy, Regulatory Science

Recently Neutral Source managing editor Richard Belzer attempted to donate blood, but was declined. Although the story is anecdotal and not empirical, it suggests good reasons why this particular blood bank seems to always be in short supply. More...

16 Aug 2007

The Continuing Battle Between CO2 Puritans and Pragmatists, Part 2:
Carbon offsets come under increasing scrutiny

by Richard Belzer

in Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy

The battle between CO2 Puritans and CO2 Pragmatists continues. More...

26 Jan 2007

NAS Opens Up (a Bit) to Public Participation
Finally, the public can effectively comment on provisional committee appointments

by Richard Belzer

in Peer Review

The National Research Council, the operating arm of the Academy of Sciences, routinely conducts peer review of scientific issues. The experts it provisionally appoints to these review panels are subject to a 20 calendar day public comment period.

Historically, the public's actual ability to comment has been severely limited and in violation of the spirit (if not the letter) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. NRC would post notice of a provisional committee appointment, but not alert the public that it had done so. Members of the public would have to know that a review was about to begin; the name of the board, committee or other unit under whose auspices the review was taking place; and possibly the name of the ad hoc committee. Then they would have to check the NAS web site every day.

For an organization that claims to be the premier scientific and technical body in the United States, this scheme is remarkably archaic. Today, one NRC division finally made it easy for the public to monitor its activities.

Information Quality, Peer Review, and Consumer Reports
Misleading child safety seat tests withdrawn

by Richard Belzer

in Information Quality, Peer Review, Regulatory Science

A recent story involving an erroneous test report about child safety seats published by Consumer Reports shows how information quality is not just a concern related to information disseminated by the federal government.

It also illustrates the value of genuinely independent peer review. Consumer Reports is published by Consumers Union, a nonprofit organization that does much more than product testing. It is an activist organization that routinely takes strong positions on a wide range of public policy issues, including child safety seats.

CU's activism creates an inherent conflict of interest with its product testing functions. Credibility as a product safety tester requires, at a minimum, an extraordinarily rigorous program of independent peer review. Currently, CU relies solely on internal peer review.

20 Dec 2006

"The Blog Mob"

by Richard Belzer

in People & Institutions

Wall Street Journal assistant editorial features editor Joseph Rago today publishes a dissent on blogs. He says blogs display many of the same faults of newspaper reporting plus a few new ones. Rago's opinion column is worth reading, and may be somewhat ironic because the Journal hosts one of the most widely read daily contributions to the blogosphere.

We use the occasion of Rago's column to reiterate what Neutral Source is about, and suggest how we are different from most blogs.

15 Sep 2006

DDT:
Back from the dead in the battle against malaria

by Richard Belzer

in Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy, Regulatory Science

The Wall Street Journal's Betsy McKay yesterday, followed by dozens of other news outlets today, are reporting that the World Health Organization is abandoning its long-standing aversion to the use of DDT to prevent malaria infection. The story provides unique insights about the contest between science and benefit-cost analysis on the one hand, and implacable opposition to pesticides nominally based on the Precautionary Principle on the other.

16 Aug 2006

Is Al Gore Really "Carbon Neutral"?
The contest between CO2 Puritans and CO2 Pragmatists

by Richard Belzer

in Information Quality, Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy, Regulatory Science

In a recent news article about his book and movie An Inconvenient Truth, Al and Tipper Gore are said to have adopted a "carbon neutral" lifestyle. We wondered what that meant and performed some research before posting a discussion on the subject. We learned that there are two schools of environmentalist thought on this. One camp (call it the "CO2 Puritans") advise people to maximize their personal reductions in CO2 emissions. Another camp (call it the "CO2 Pragmatists") advise people to purchase carbon offsets, which are investments in projects that reduce carbon emissions elsewhere. CO2 Puritans say purchasing offsets is like buying a "right to pollute," whereas CO2 Pragmatists say buying offsets will achieve reduced- and no-carbon technologies more quickly.

In this case, both camps are right. Purchasing offsets is very nearly the same thing as buying a "right to emit CO2." But purchasing carbon offsets clearly offers a faster path toward reduced-carbon energy technologies by subsidizing the development and use of new technology. One thing is sure: It may be hard to avoid emitting carbon from your daily activities, but it's easy to purchase carbon offsets marketed by various NGOs. We've found NGOs willing to sell carbon offsets to consumers for as little as $10 per ton of CO2.

Now comes Peter Schweizer in USA Today who takes the former vice president to task for hypocrisy — advising others to behave as CO2 Puritans while behaving himself as a CO2 Pragmatist. A Technorati search today yields 99 blog postings that pick apart various threads of Schweizer's op-ed and Gore's behavior.

What useful knowledge can be gleaned from this controversy?

26 Jul 2006

"Carbon-Neutral" Lifestyles

by Richard Belzer

in Information Quality, People & Institutions, Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy

Former Vice President Al Gore's recent movie An Inconvenient Truth is in the news, along with the numerous lectures he has delivered about global warming. July 25 the Associated Press distributed a story concerning his speech at the Chautauqua Institution in which he said that he and his wife, Tipper, had adopted a "carbon neutral lifestyle."

What makes a lifestyle "carbon neutral"?

19 Jul 2006

Should Industry Representatives Be Excluded from Federal Advisory Committees?

by Richard Belzer

in Peer Review, Regulatory Science

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is sponsoring a "Forum on Corporate Influence on Federal Advisory Committees," July 24 at the National Press Club in Washington. At the event, CSPI promises to release a report on whether National Academy of Sciences panels are "fair and balanced."

Although agency-directed peer review panels are federal advisory committees, most advisory committees are not peer review panels. They are comprised of representatives from a broad range of stakeholder groups, whose function is to provide policy advice based on the interests they represent. In short, advisory committee members are expected to have financial and other interests coincident with the interests they represent.

Why would it make sense to exclude industry stakeholders from federal advisory committees charged with giving policy advice?

More...

8 May 2006

The Ban on Soda in Schools

by Richard Belzer

in Regulatory Economics

On May 3, former president Bill Clinton announced an agreement with the American Heart Association and representatives of several beverage makers and their trade association the that will remove some sugared soft drinks from schools. Why would the beverage industry agree to these restrictions?

More...

15 Mar 2006

Welcome to the Neutral Source Blog

by Richard Belzer

in Corrections, Events, Glossary, Information Quality, Legislation, Litigation, Peer Review, People & Institutions, Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy, Regulatory Science, Welcome

Neutral Source opened for business on the Ides of March 2006. More...