As a social science, economics studies social interactions. What distinguishes it from other social science disciplines is, firstly, its focus on interactions involving the management of scarce resources and, secondly, its conception of itself as generating traceable, verifiable findings that...

German state subsidies for photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation now amount to over 200 million euros per month. Yet PV in Germany is only 30% as economically efficient as wind power, while up to 19 times as much energy would be saved if the same funds were used to thermally renovate homes....