Everyday Abundance
I just finished reading Charles Mann’s The Wizard and the Prophet , which has to be a top-ten abundance and growth book for its description of the Green Revolution’s effect on crop yields and recounting of the failed apo…
Geothermal package, construction costs as macro drag, and Loudoun's flip side
2026-06-10
Geothermal policy
Geothermal power station in Iceland. Source: Wikipedia The House passed a bipartisan geothermal package (plus a freestanding bill) last week – big hits are statutory formalization of a NEPA categorical exclusion, expandi…
The cost of building and the cost of insuring
A new VoxEU column argues that declining construction productivity has fueled an 80% increase in the relative price of US structures since 1970, offsetting the benefits of continued declines in the cost of equipment. “Co…
Clinical trial innovation barriers
Have you ever wondered why some innovative approaches only get used once or twice? It’s something I’ve often thought about with clinical trials. Take platform trials, which test multiple treatments within a single trial,…
Data center power lines in Loudoun County
Potential routes for transmission lines in Loudon. Source: Dominion Energy, via Bay Journal Last month, Dylan wrote about Loudoun County, Virginia , home of the largest concentration of data centers in the world, and whe…