As of Today, Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment is Published!
Permit me to announce that my new book has been published today! If you spend $45 on the hardcover or $19 on the paperback, you can now buy Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment from the Brookings Institution Press.
California Manufacturing Battles Back against new CO2 regulation
The San Francisco Chronicle today reports an opinion piece making some points about the full cost of adopting a California only cap on carbon emissions.
Is the Berkeley Daily Planet a Better Newspaper than the New York Times?
In Berkeley, the esteemed Daily Planet newspaper is available for a low price. I picked it up the other day and actually read parts of it. The article I report below is thought provoking.
Is Los Angeles a Green City?
These are exciting days. Classes begin at Tufts next week. This week my new book titled "Green Cities" will be published by the Brookings Press. This weekend I was in Los Angeles studying its rental real estate market and observing its day to day quality of life.
A few observations.
1.
A Small Sample Field Experiment in Real Estate Search
Knowing that field experiments are a powerful methodology in applied economics, I've decided to conduct one. Tomorrow, I will fly to Los Angeles and search for housing near UCLA. We will be renting there starting in January 2007.
Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment --- Chapter One as a .pdf file
Intellectual property usually is sold at a positive price. My new book seems to offer a counter-example. Posted to the Brookings Institution Press is Chapter One of my new book www.brookings.edu/press/books/chapter_1/greencities.pdf .
Superstar Cities and the Middle Class Housing Squeeze
Several urban economists are writing papers with the following theme.
Information Technology Solves Government Asymmetric Information Problems
The New York Times today reports how some cities have used aerial photos to mitigate asymmetries of information with regard to which home owners have improved their properties.
The Merits of High Density Development in Brooklyn, NY
If people don't like sprawl, do they like high density? A recent New York magazine piece by Chris Smith does a great job tracing out the anxiety that incumbent Brooklyn residents are experiencing as a new large Atlantic Yards is planned.
Majoring in Economics ==> Fame? Here is The Right Tail of the Distribution
How do students choose their undergraduate major? In my case, I switched to economics after being bored in a political science class. Back in 1984 at Hamilton College, the political science teacher chose me and another student to sit in front of the class.
Incentives to Purchase Hybrid Vehicles
High gas prices and social esteem gained from driving a hybrid around Berkeley are two reasons for driving a Prius or other hybrid vehicles.
When Do Corporations Take "Green" Actions?
High energy prices encourage conservation as Wal-Mart demonstrates below. Under what other circumstances do corporations "green" themselves? Lyon, Thomas and John Maxwell.
Pigeons as Information Technology: A New Method for Monitoring Air Pollution
Environmental activists are well aware that information is power. The Toxic Release Inventory has empowered communities and gains wide media coverage when the "dirty dozen" companies are revealed.
Inside the Economist's Mind
When an academic economist finishes a project, he/she has published a paper in a refereed journal.
Diary of a Mediocre Day
It was a sunny gorgeous day here in Berkeley, CA but now it is early August and I'm realizing that I'm way behind my ambitious summer research schedule.
As I was walking back from Starbucks, I realized that I hadn't ordered any microeconomics textbooks for my September Fletcher class.
Cross-Country Environmental Comparisons
Internet news junkies love stories that show that one nation ranks poorly relative to other nations with respect to some measure of environmental sustainability (see www.yale.edu/esi/).
Answering my Blog Mail
Every week I receive some very reasonable e-mail from blog readers. I'd like to try to answer two questions I've received. One is on Jim Heckman's work on "Essential heterogeneity" and its impact on estimating treatment effects.
Environmental and Urban Economics Blog is One Year Old!
I now no longer remember my feeling of excitement when I posted my first blog entry. If you had told me in August 2005 that in August 2006 that I would still be blogging away, I would have been surprised.
Blogs are like new products from small firms.
