Green growth? Evidence from energy taxes in Europe

WASHINGTON — The transit network in the nation’s capital remained hobbled Tuesday morning following an electrical malfunction that filled a busy subway station with smoke, killing one woman and sending dozens of people to hospitals. The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the accident, which happened at the beginning of the Monday afternoon rush hour and led to the first fatality on Washington’s Metro system since a 2009 crash that killed eight passengers and a train operator.

One woman has died and at least two critically injured after smoke filled a subway car in downtown Washington on Monday afternoon, Richard Sarles, the general manager of the city's Metro system said. 84 people have been taken to the hospital, according to ABC News and the Associated Press.

Dozens of New York City subway riders were trapped on a 7 train Monday night as smoke filled the cars, NBC New York reports. The subway conductor reportedly heard a "pop" right before the train went into a tunnel near Grand Central Station, and then smoke started filling the train. The train's power was cut and it reversed course back to Grand Central, where passengers were able to get off.

Tim Besley, John Van Reenen, 31 January 2013The latest GDP figures confirm that the UK economy has been more or less flat-lining since the financial crisis began. This column presents the LSE Growth Commission’s integrated recommendations for reigniting UK growth, arguing that an inability to achieve sustainable growth is rooted in longer-term problems arising from a failure to invest, notably in skills, infrastructure and innovation.

Today, the NY Times provides a geography lesson for its U.S readers as it takes us to Sao Paulo, Brazil and introduces us to Jose Leonidio Rosendo dos Santos (JLRDS).  JLRDS has the nasty habit of diving into the polluted Tiete and Pinheiros Rivers to look for stuff and thus is an expert on river water quality dynamics.  An interested Environmental Kuznets Curve arises.

From the second quarter the government has unleashed a lot of projects, and that has started to be felt in the economy, but it’s not a very healthy recovery yet BEIJING — China’s economy picked up in November, but a broader global recovery remains fragile and patchy, a clutch of factory surveys suggested on Monday, with activity elsewhere in Asia remaining subdued amid depressed demand from the developed world.