Full Title: Crisis Legislating in Energy: Lessons for the Future
Author(s): Robert L. Bradley, Jr
Publisher(s): Institute for Energy Research
Publication Date: March 1, 2021
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Description (excerpt):
This paper reviews this history of crisis legislating in energy policy and finds common themes that should lead policymakers to question the efficacy of central economic planning during real or perceived emergencies. What we find is that the symptoms of an energy crisis are often caused by government interventions themselves. Additionally, the heavy-handed intervention of bureaucrats actually impedes private market actors from undertaking needed adjustments. This suggests that allowing market forces to direct adjustments should be the front-line response to an energy crisis, but it is only in rare circumstances that such a hands-off approach is tried.