Author Archives: Gail Tverberg

About Gail Tverberg

My name is Gail Tverberg. I am an actuary interested in finite world issues - oil depletion, natural gas depletion, water shortages, and climate change. Oil limits look very different from what most expect, with high prices leading to recession, and low prices leading to financial problems for oil producers and for oil exporting countries. We are really dealing with a physics problem that affects many parts of the economy at once, including wages and the financial system. I try to look at the overall problem.

Understanding Our Pandemic – Economy Predicament

Posted on May 13, 2020

The world’s number one problem today is that the world’s population is too large for its resource base. Some people have called this situation overshoot. The world economy is ripe for a major change, such as the current pandemic, to … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , | 2,316 Comments

COVID-19 and oil at $1: Is there a way forward?

Posted on April 21, 2020

Many people are concerned today with the low price of oil. Others are concerned about slowing or stopping COVID-19. Is there any way forward? I gave a few hints regarding what is ahead in my last post, Economies won’t be … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , | 4,539 Comments

Economies won’t be able to recover after shutdowns

Posted on March 31, 2020

Citizens seem to be clamoring for shutdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19. There is one major difficulty, however. Once an economy has been shut down, it is extremely difficult for the economy to recover back to the level it … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy policy, Financial Implications, News Related Post | Tagged , , , | 4,744 Comments

It is easy to overdo COVID-19 quarantines

Posted on March 11, 2020

We have learned historically that if we can isolate sick people, we can often keep a communicable disease from spreading. Unfortunately, the situation with the new coronavirus causing COVID-19 is different: We can’t reliability determine which people are spreading the … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , | 4,403 Comments

Easily overlooked issues regarding COVID-19

Posted on February 18, 2020

We read a lot in the news about the new Wuhan coronavirus and the illness it causes (COVID-19), but some important points often get left out. [1] COVID-19 is incredibly contagious. COVID-19 transmits extremely easily from person to person. Interpersonal … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , | 2,589 Comments