ATTENTION: REPORTERS COVERING THE ENERGY CRISIS

01.25.01
Contacts:
Kathleen Maclay
(510)643-3651

Ute Frey, Haas School of Business
(510) 642-0342

A press conference to unveil a manifesto - endorsed by an ad hoc group of professors from the University of California, Berkeley, and other universities, along with former public officials and consultants - on the California energy crisis. The 10-page document recommends public policy solutions to two crises: California's unprecedented electricity crisis and the resulting financial crisis.

The document was generated by experts in regulatory and energy economics who organized under the auspices of the Institute of Management, Innovation & Organization (IMIO) at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

Currently, there are 19 names on the manifesto's list of endorsees, and that number is expected to rise. Those listed include Nobel Laureate Daniel McFadden, a UC Berkeley professor of economics; Robert Solow, a Nobel Laureate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); UC Berkeley professor Janet Yellen, who chaired former President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers; and Stanford University law professor and former Congressman Tom Campbell.

Among those scheduled to speak at the press conference are David Teece, UC Berkeley professor of business and director of IMIO; UC Berkeley professor Pablo Spiller, chair of the Haas School's Business and Public Policy Group; and Mitch Wilk, former president and commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission.

BACKGROUND: Alarmed by the energy crisis, this ad hoc group formed quickly to share ideas about how the state can solve its current energy woes and develop a well-performing electricity sector. The manifesto's preamble states that the crisis "does not appear to be well understood" and is "very serious and endangers the livelihoods of many citizens in and out of state."

"If not managed astutely," it says, "the collateral damage to other industries and states could well be quantitatively more significant than the direct damages to California electricity consumers and distributors."

NOTE: The manifesto will be available to reporters at the press conference. After the press conference, it can be viewed on the Haas School of Business Web site at www.haas.berkeley.edu