Don't Quit Your Day Job…

Our article “Jevon’s Paradox, and More Ado About Gas Taxes” was featured in the OneMint Economy and Your Finances Carnival. Go check out the carnival, and the OneMint blog.

“Debt: Invest in Yours” was a featured article at LivingAlmostLarge, which is hosting the 201st Carnival of Debt Reduction. The site’s host, LAL, poses an excellent question, however: “…if you pay off debt with a windfall, how do you know you won’t do it again?” If you know the answer, post a comment over there.

“Putting a Mortgage in Reverse” is included in the 74th edition of the Money Hacks Carnival, over at Suburban Dollar. Check it out!

If I told you that increased fuel efficiency leads to more fuel consumption, what would you think?

Jevon’s paradox states that increases in the efficiency of the use of a resource lead to the increased usage of that resource. Throughout history, examples of this effect in action can be found. This brings me back to the topic of the gas tax. If you are of the belief that we need to reduce our consumption of gasoline, increased efficiency (and attempted legislation to increase efficiency) alone will only lead to more gasoline usage. If less gasoline usage is the goal, only a tax on gasoline will make it happen.

Assuming reducing the United State’s usage of oil is a worthy task, the method used to go about it is all wrong. CAFE standards mandate the production of a certain class of vehicles… generally smaller and more efficient. However, there is no disincentive to convince consumers to stop buying the larger, more inefficient vehicles. Read on for a look at some of the myths and solutions to this interesting problem…