Two days ago, I criticized the corn ethanol program for
increasing food prices (I also dislike it because it subsidizes
one crop with a heavy environmental footprint to produce fuel
that's probably doesn't even reduce overall carbon emissions.)
In response to the points in that post and a conversation we had
last weekend, Ben Ho, an assistant professor at Cornell and
former economist (2006-2007) at the Council of Economic
Advisers, wrote this post. Ethanol is an immensely complicated
issue that requires a detailed institutional background to fully
appreciate, and those with a little bit of knowledge often jump
to wrong conclusions. On the Benefits of Ethanol. The
environmental benefit of ethanol has been hotly disputed over
the years. Various studies have found various things over the
years as is typical in science (a recent study finds that 1/3 of
the most cited publications in a top medical journal are refuted
in just a few years). A meta-analysis of all of these papers
shows a clear time trend. Newer studi