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Member Since: 05/13/05 Author Rating: Gold
Article Count: 54
Background
1960-61: Assistant lecturer, Institute of Economics, University of Stockholm (Sweden).
1961-64: Lecturer in economics, the International Graduate School, University of Stockholm;
Lecturer, Institute of Economics, University of Stockholm, Sweden
Consultant, United Nations Development Program (Egypt, Ethiopia, Senegal).
1964-66: Senior lecturer in mathematics, statistics, and economics – The United Nations
Institute for Economic and Development Planning (IDEP), Dakar, Senegal.
1966-68: Senior Lecturer (economics), Stockholm University, Sweden; Consultant, United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vienna, Austria.
1968-71: Econometrician and Commodity Economist, UNCTAD, Geneva ,Switzerland
.
1971-78: Research Fellow, The Institute of Economics (Nationalekonomiska Institutionen), Uppsala
University; Lecturer in econometrics and natural resources, Stockholm University;
OECD lecturer in input-output analysis and macroeconomics, Technical University of
Lisbon (Portugal); consultant on natural resources, the Hudson Institute, Paris, France.
1978-79: Professorial Fellow, The Reserve Bank of Australia; Visiting Professor, the
department of econometrics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
1978-79: Research Fellow, Nationalekonomiska Institution, Uppsala University, Sweden.
1980: Visiting Professor,The Centre of Policy Studies,Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
1982: Social Sciences Faculty Research Fellow, Uppsala University., Uppsala, Sweden.
1983: Visiting Research Fellow, Melbourne University; Visiting Lecturer, The Australian
School of the Environment, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
1984: Visiting Professor, The International Graduate School, Stockholm University.
1985: Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Resources and the Environment (CRES),
The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
1987: Fellow of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Povoa do Vardim, Portugal.
1989: Visiting Professor, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.
1990: Visiting Professor of Energy Economics, Université de Grenoble, Grenoble France;
Visiting Professor of International Economics, Ecole Superieure de Commerce de
de Grenoble (Graduate School of Business), Grenoble, France.
1991-92: Visiting Professor of Finance and Economics, Nanyang Technical University, Singapore.
1993: Visiting Professor of International Finance, The Center for Economic Research and
Graduate Education, Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia.
1994: Visiting Professor, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.
1995- Technical consultant, AP Energy Business Group, Singapore.
2000: Lecturer in Industrial Organization, Nationalekonomiska Inst., Uppsala University
2001: Visiting Professor and University Fellow, Hong Kong Energy Studies Centre.
Hong Kong Baptist University. Hong Kong
2004 Visiting Professor (on natural gas), ENI Corporate University, Milan Italy.
1. Eleven Books Published Internationally:
The World Copper market; The Economics of Natural Resources; Scarcity, Energy, and Economic Progress; Bauxite and Aluminum; The International Economy; The Political Economy of Oil; Resources and Energy; The Political Economy of Coal; The Political Economy of Natural Gas; Energy Economics: A Modern Introduction (Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, Jan. 2000. This is the first book from Uppsala University in the New Millenium!!); An Introduction to Global Finance and Financial Markets. (World Scientific Publishing Co., London-New York-Singapore. This is an elementary textbook in international finance!)
2. At least 200 articles, notes, conference papers, reviews, and other documents published or ’distributed’ internationally.
3. Research in progress: Electric/gas deregulation; gas and oil markets; climate change and economics
4. Military: 5 years, US Army (infantry/artillery); 1 year, US Navy (civilian engineer)
Articles
9.1.10
Completely Wrong About Nuclear Energy
Topic: Nuclear Article Viewed 14 Times;
Comment on this article When the subject was oil, my students at the Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok) were politely asked to study the situation in the United States. It told me everything I needed to know about the peaking of oil production,
8.17.10
Some Economics of the Great Coal Game
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 2085 Times;
64 comments Several years ago I politely asked every student in my course on oil and gas economics at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) to master some important materials dealing with the availability of oil. By "master" I meant learn perfectly, assuming that they preferred a passing to a failing grade.
6.1.10
Some Unfriendly Economic Comments On Another Green Fantasy: Roadmap 2050
Topic: Risk & Operations Article Viewed 3079 Times;
114 comments According to Hughes Belin (2010), "Tout Brussels" gathered on Tuesday (April 13) for the presentation of 'Roadmap 2050', by which he meant the flamboyant occasion on which the European Climate Foundation (ECF) -- a so-called think tank -- unveiled still another green fantasy about how Europe could be decarbonised for little more than lunch money.
5.13.10
Oil and the Best Brain of the 20th Century
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 2832 Times;
103 comments Until about 2008 it was the oil optimists who gave most of the parties -- or at least supplied the music. It is highly significant -- and enjoyable -- that we only encounter a few of those people at the present time, although it continues to be annoying when we suddenly find ourselves confronted with humourless pundits who reject mainstream economics, geology, and statistics, and denounce the oil market realism that is occasionally showcased by our sterling media.
4.6.10
More About Oil: A Preview of the New Decade
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 2963 Times;
28 comments I never contemplate the 'details' of energy wars, and that means the kind predicted for the future by Len Gould, as well as the one that Alan Greenspan -- the former director of the United States central bank (or Federal Reserve System) -- believes began in 2003, and to a limited extent is still taking place.
2.18.10
Economic Theory and the End of the Day in Copenhagen
Topic: Environmental, Emissions & Carbon Management Article Viewed 3959 Times;
81 comments About a month ago, toward the conclusion of an important workshop at the Scuola di Dottorato in Scienza Ambientali of the University of Siena (Italy), Professor Riccardo Basosi or Professor Robert U. Ayres - or both - raised the question of the possible outcome of the forthcoming Copenhagen Climate Summit. Under normal circumstances, they might have expected a variety of opinions on the part of workshop participants, but in this case there seemed to be almost total unanimity: Copenhagen would not succeed, and in words that helped to make the late Humphrey Bogart famous, we had no choice but to 'take it and like it'.
1.20.10
Dubai: Simply too Rich to Fail
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 3459 Times;
27 comments A few days ago, while listening to the worst Nobel Prize lecture that I ever heard, I found myself thinking of those persons who should have received a Nobel Prize in Economics -- which of course is not a genuine Nobel Prize, since it was established by the Swedish central bank (Riksbanken), and not Alfred Nobel.
12.29.09
Speakable and Unspeakable About the Copenhagen Climate Summit
Topic: Environmental, Emissions & Carbon Management Article Viewed 4514 Times;
49 comments Several years ago I gave a number of energy economics lectures which included an insistence that the Kyoto conference on the environment was badly flawed. My reasoning turned on the neglect of nuclear energy, as well as the decision taken at that meeting to promote cap-and-trade (or emissions trading) as the main device for offsetting a too rapid accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the upper (or perhaps lower) atmosphere.
10.29.09
Energy Economics and Some Energy Myths for the 21st Century
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 4554 Times;
28 comments The title of this contribution is almost identical to the one I used for a paper that I published in the OPEC Bulletin ten years ago. During those wonderful days I eventually came to believe that -- where energy economics was concerned -- I was OPEC's fair-haired boy, since they published everything I sent them, regardless of its content or quality.
10.12.09
The American (Energy) Patient
Topic: Business & Corporate Article Viewed 3354 Times;
24 comments I would like to begin by stating that while the subject of energy economics has still not attained its 'critical mass' where book-length literature is concerned, there are an increasing number of short, non-technical papers that everyone should attempt to read and understand. Where my energy economics students are concerned, I mean read and understand perfectly, especially if they prefer a passing to a failing grade.
9.14.09
A Short Introduction to Oil Prices and Oil Inventories
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 4249 Times;
35 comments Oil prices can be described as long-term, medium (or intermediate) term, or short term. The most recently quoted price is usually called a spot price, and this can be thought of as the price at which oil is being sold for delivery in the very near future. Using an elementary difference equation, I have suggested in my paper 'Economic theory and some aspects of the new world oil market' (2009) that if we look at a plot of oil prices over time, we should expect to see a trend -- going up, or down -- over weeks, months, or years, as well as fluctuations around trends that display price peaks and troughs.
8.17.09
Oil: A Final Note on Speculation vs. Fundamentals
Topic: Risk & Operations Article Viewed 4263 Times;
16 comments Some controversy remains as to whether speculation or fundamentals were behind the spectacular rise in the oil price in 2008, or for that matter the rise in the oil price during the last 6 months. The dissention can partially be traced to academics like myself, who have been careless in our explanations of this issue.
8.7.09
Deeper Thoughts Than Usual About Nuclear Energy
Topic: Nuclear Article Viewed 5195 Times;
95 comments Perhaps the most straightforward reasoning in favour of nuclear-based electricity is in the non-technical article of Rhodes and Beller (2000). They say that "Because diversity and redundancy are important for safety and security, renewable energy sources ought to retain a place in the energy economy of the century to come."
7.20.09
Kyoto and the Stern Review of Climate Change
Topic: Business & Corporate Article Viewed 5152 Times;
140 comments In preparing the new printing of my energy economics textbook, several widely publicized topics were deliberately omitted. One of these was the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. On several occasions I heard this document mentioned when I was visiting professor at the Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok), which caused me to immediately make it clear that it was not to be discussed in my classroom in the course of what might be described as normal business.
6.12.09
The Final Problem: Speculation and the Price of Oil Again
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 5293 Times;
63 comments The speculation versus fundamentals controversy is in some respect what Sherlock Holmes might have called 'The Final Problem'. It is final because the peak-oil quandary has, to a considerable extent, been settled: a majority of observers now accept that a global peaking of the oil output is quite conceivable, and could -- not will-- happen in the near as opposed to the distant future.
3.27.09
Nuclear: News Sounds From Sweden
Topic: Nuclear Article Viewed 4718 Times;
66 comments Vladimir Lenin ostensibly believed that Soviet power plus electricity would create a heaven on earth. Analogously, the implicit assumption in Sweden after the Social Democrats assumed power was that something called the 'Swedish welfare state' would feature social democracy plus electricity.
2.2.09
Emissions Trading: A Brief Negative Resume
Topic: Carbon Markets Article Viewed 6784 Times;
61 comments Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil (XOM) -- the energy firm that is often Number One on the Fortune 500 List -- has now come to the conclusion that emissions trading (or cap-and-trade) is doomed to fail. Instead, in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center, he declared that he was in favour of a carbon tax, which he called "...a more direct and transparent approach."
1.22.09
Utilities Deploy Virtual Mutual Assistance for Customer Care
Topic: Billing & Customer Care Article Viewed 4356 Times;
Comment on this article Mutual assistance is practiced by all utilities in times of trouble. It is the cornerstone of an industry that truly values safety and service. Until now, mutual assistance has meant line crews, trucks and equipment, or other resources directly related to the actual restoration efforts. However, there is a recognized need for support on the customer care side of the business as well
12.31.08
Nuclear and the New American President
Topic: Nuclear Article Viewed 8505 Times;
75 comments We do not know if global warming is the real deal, or just part of a cycle, but we have discovered that gas and oil can become extremely expensive in a very short time. In these circumstances the optimal behaviour is to get friendlier with the friendly atom, and do what former Prime Minister Blair and the founder of Greenpeace suggest, which is to increase the use of nuclear energy.
Speculation and the Price Of Oil
Topic: Risk & Operations Article Viewed 11045 Times;
67 comments Some observers think that speculation is the cause of the escalating oil price -- an escalation that, as I have pointed out in many lectures and publications (e.g. 2007), is capable of cutting the ground out from under the international macroeconomy
The Sum of Many Hopes and Fears About the Energy Resources of the Middle East
Topic: International Article Viewed 7984 Times;
79 comments In the American Navy there was once a saying that ‘On every ship there is someone who doesn’t get the message’, however on this ship everyone has finally gotten the message, where everyone includes a former head of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation in New York, who once claimed that OPEC is “on its way into a stagnant volume environment at best”. This misleading statement can be translated as ‘OPEC’s oil is increasingly unimportant’.
4.23.08
Natural Gas and Its Realities
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 5679 Times;
37 comments Since the publication of my natural gas book (1987), many changes have taken place in this market. Globally, the growth in the demand for gas may still exceed that of all energy media except renewables, and until recently gas was often highly recommended as an input for electric power generation.
3.26.08
Some Friendly Economics for the Nuclear Energy Booster Club
Topic: Nuclear Article Viewed 6738 Times;
172 comments I would like to begin this brief exposition with a bizarre fairy tale that was confected by two well known energy experts, Amory Lovins and Joseph Romm, and published in Foreign Affairs (1992-93), which is the prestigious journal of the (United States) Council on Foreign Relations. It goes like this...
3.11.08
Still Another Look at Global Warming
Topic: Environmental, Emissions & Carbon Management Article Viewed 6885 Times;
50 comments David Stipp of Fortune has referred to climate change as "the mother of all national security issues (2004)." I see no reason to disagree, since as explained in my new textbook (2007), a peaking of global oil production in the near future could be labeled the father.
2.13.08
Some Aspects of the Future Supply of Oil
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 5548 Times;
49 comments In a recent edition of his 'blog', one of the authors of Freakonomics (2005) - Stephen Levitt - made a few comments about his short stay in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) state of Dubai. As most viewers of CNN are aware, luxury is the order of the day in that lucky nation, however in mulling over the details of this condition, Professor Levitt failed to emphasize the key economic element behind Dubai's rise from a fishing village to a middle eastern version of Monaco.
12.19.07
The Architecture of World Oil: Realities and Delusions
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 7671 Times;
91 comments When I walked into the faculty of economics at the University of Uppsala one day in October, 1973, I knew immediately that something was drastically wrong. I didn't know whether the King had abdicated, the Third World War had started, or the national curling team had lost a crucial match, but without talking to anyone, I was sure that somehow, somewhere a calamity had taken place.
10.24.07
A New Lecture on Electric Deregulation Failure
Topic: Business & Corporate Article Viewed 8596 Times;
69 comments Several years ago the president of the Stockholm School of Economics and a colleague published an article with the provocative title "Why has the Nordic Electricity Market Worked so Well" (2005) - although in reality almost every newspaper in this country has expressed on its front or editorial page the opposite point of view.
Economic Theory and an Unsociable Review of Some Aspects of the Global Warming Discussion - Part 1
Topic: Environmental, Emissions & Carbon Management Article Viewed 6433 Times;
90 comments This article provides a brief and essentially non-technical evaluation of some aspects of the global warming discussion, mainly concentrating on the inadequacy of the Kyoto Protocol as a result of two oversights. The first is the failure of the Kyoto conference on the environment to encourage a larger deployment of nuclear energy in the main industrial nations, while the second is the bizarre promotion by that gathering of global emissions trading.
7.20.07
Economic Theory and OPEC - Part 2
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 6462 Times;
25 comments Genius Speaks: A note for the conference 'Oil and Money'. An unsolicited and perhaps undesired note is perhaps the correct term here. Every year a distinguished conference is held with the title 'Oil and Money', and for well over a decade, when I saw a notice of this conference, I immediately begin writing and circulating articles and notes in the hope that my work would be detected by the sponsors.
7.19.07
Economic Theory and OPEC
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 6235 Times;
24 comments Having been referred to on several occasions as a propagandist for nuclear energy, I hesitated to begin this paper. The dilemma for me is that unlike many students and observers of OPEC, I have always been positive to that organization.
6.1.07
An Applicable Update on the World Oil Market
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 8132 Times;
54 comments Applicable how? Applicable in the sense that one of the cardinal rules of physics has traditionally been that the introduction of new concepts was not more important than abandoning some of the mistaken notions that often find their way into widespread circulation. This is why I offer the present update.
11.1.06
More Facts and Fictions About the World Oil Scene
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 7705 Times;
88 comments A publication that I occasionally refer to as a compendium of London wine bar gossip recently offered a few choice observations about oil that deserve elaboration and a wider circulation. I place these observations in the category of facts, and use them to present a few comments on associated fictions.
9.1.06
Sweden and Oil
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 7709 Times;
8 comments "Sweden surprised the world by announcing its intention to get off oil," Tam Hunt informed the readers of EnergyPulse in a May 2006 article. The world doesn’t include me though, because I have learned to expect all sorts of moonshine from Swedish governments.
7.10.06
It's Called Bad/Good News About Oil
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 6879 Times;
8 comments These days I make it my business to take for granted that just about everyone understands the situation with oil. I assume that with the oil price occasionally exceeding seventy dollars a barrel, the more vulgar forms of optimism will be discarded. Amazingly enough however, there are still persons with a passable background in energy matters who are unable to deal with the new oil realities.
5.18.06
The Russian Oil Economy: What Does the Future Hold? Part 2
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 7034 Times;
Comment on this article If Vladimir Milov is a mite hazy on the mechanics of capitalistic business mechanics, he apparently knows enough about oil production to suggest that Russia should not be producing more than 7.8 mb/d of this commodity instead of the 9.5 mb/d that was recently announced. The latter figure implies that in order to maintain this production, serious long-term damage is being inflicted on reservoirs.
5.17.06
The Russian Oil Economy: What Does the Future Hold? Part 1
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 6074 Times;
2 comments In a decade, Russia, together with the adjacent former members of the Soviet Union, will probably be the only region outside the Middle East with a reasonably large exportable surplus of oil. I say 'Probably' for two reasons. First, some surprises may eventually turn up in the interior or offshore districts of Africa and South America, although a question must be raised as to whether they are the kind of surprises that we might be desperately in need of at that time.
4.18.06
Some Economic Aspects of the Russian Gas Puzzle
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 7072 Times;
6 comments The story of Russian gas is to a certain extent beautiful. Somewhat like the soap opera about the perennially rejected suitor who ends up as the object of everyone's affection. And that wasn't the only rejection I had in mind while preparing this article. Professor Jonathan Stern took issue with my book on natural gas because I insisted that the more Soviet gas purchased, the better for everyone on the buy side of the market.
3.28.06
Oil and Money Again
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 7351 Times;
Comment on this article Five energy experts - to include Adam Sieminski of Deutsche Bank - were recently asked for their opinion of the future of oil prices. Four of them - of which one was anonymous - were not particularly optimistic.
2.14.06
A Few Uninvited Comments on the Work of Some Prominent Oil Optimists
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 10381 Times;
3 comments Spring seems to be arriving a little early in my humble research world. After being summarily informed by Mr Eric Christensen in EnergyPulse (www.energypulse.net) that my analysis of the coal markets (2005) was seriously defective, another Christensen sent me a notice dealing with recent studies which implied that oil sceptics like myself have completely lost touch with reality.
12.29.05
Some Further Aspects of the World Coal Market - Part 2
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 10740 Times;
8 comments Oil and gas are much scarcer than commonly thought, and rather than reduce their consumption of energy, and particularly motor fuel, Mr and Ms Consumer will insist on - and by one means or another obtain - the continued use of coal at the present intensity, or even higher.
12.28.05
Some Further Aspects of the World Coal Market - Part 1
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 10543 Times;
3 comments In the last fifteen years coal has tended to become a minor topic, with the possible exception of the attention that is paid to its environmental shortcomings; but even so the consumption of that resource continues to grow at a rapid pace, and for a good reason: there is an enormous amount of coal in the crust of the earth, and for a long time it has been comparatively inexpensive.
12.23.05
A Few More Unfriendly Comments on Electric Deregulation
Topic: Business & Corporate Article Viewed 14163 Times;
47 comments The main driving forces behind electric deregulation are ideology and carelessness. The first of these involves a comparatively small number of movers and shakers, and their foot soldiers, who - consciously or otherwise - have come to believe that high deregulated electricity prices are preferable to low regulated prices.
10.25.05
Oil and Saudi Arabia - Part 2
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 8165 Times;
2 comments Just before I began to study energy economics, which was around the time of the first oil price 'shock', the Saudi Arabian oil economy was being programmed by its foreign 'owners' (which included Exxon, Texaco, Standard Oil of California, and Mobil) to produce 20 Mb/d of oil.
10.24.05
Oil and Saudi Arabia - Part 1
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 6814 Times;
Comment on this article Everything that you need to know about the future of Saudi Arabian oil production can be found in a staff report to the subcommittee on international economic policy of the committee on foreign relations of the United States Senate (1979).
10.4.05
Electric and Gas Deregulation: Not-So-Cold Cases
Topic: Business & Corporate Article Viewed 8056 Times;
5 comments A few months ago I received a message informing me that my theories about electricity trading and risk management were - like the "retrograde" contents of my international finance textbook (2001) - completely worthless. In this brief and to a certain extent non-technical exposition, I present a few old and new remarks about electricity deregulation.
9.2.05
Swedish Nuclear Energy: A Disobliging Review
Topic: Nuclear Article Viewed 9260 Times;
10 comments Winston Churchill occasionally used the expression "an enigma within an enigma" when attempting to evaluate the former Soviet Union. I have employed similar terminology when discussing the attitude of Swedish politicians toward nuclear-based electricity (since, on the whole, their position differs markedly from that of their constituents).
8.11.05
Economic Theories and Some Oil Market Realities
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 9018 Times;
19 comments Not too long ago I had the great pleasure of giving a long lecture on oil at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, where I once studied mathematics in a building that is still known as 'Sing-Sing' (after the US prison of the same name.)
7.28.05
Natural Gas and Some Natural Gas Myths for the 21st Century
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 7094 Times;
11 comments The intention of this short paper is to present some up-to-date comments about the economics of natural gas. I can begin by emphasizing that I am taking a position on this topic that is similar to the one presented in an authoritative publication like the 'Oil and Gas Journal', which on many occasions has indicated (directly or otherwise) that natural gas is not as abundant as often believed.
Economic Theory and the Way Nuclear and 'Kyoto' Are Now
Topic: Nuclear Article Viewed 7693 Times;
11 comments Several years ago I published a paper in Geopolitics of Energy with the title 'Some aspects of Nuclear Energy and the Kyoto Protocol' (2000). On the first page of that issue, the editor of the journal, Vincent Lauerman, asked the following important question: "Is 'Kyoto' a lost cause without the mass deployment of nuclear power plants?"
6.3.05
Very Wrong About Oil
Topic: Fossil & Biomass Article Viewed 7248 Times;
3 comments Steadily increased demand for oil, and stagnating or decreasing oil reserves, will ensure that higher oil prices are here to say, although the term "higher" cannot be made more precise at the present time.
