Environmental and Urban Economics

At the Fletcher School at Tufts, my students argued that the transportation of goods such as roses from one continent to final consumers in the USA helped to exacerbate greenhouse gas externalities. They were arguing that "local produce" and goods may impose fewer negative externalities.

I was born in Chicago on day that my mom claims that the temperature was minus 15. I've lived in 3 cold places (Boston, Chicago and New York City) for 39 of my 41 years on this planet. But, after 11 months in Los Angeles --- I'm worried that I can't take the cold anymore.

Purifying sewer water will increase Orange County's available water supply.

This article has several interesting pieces to it. It is almost like a Simpsons episode as it wanders from subject to subject.

The Coase Theorem will not go away. Today's New York Times has a nice case study of the rising costs of air and noise pollution generated by a local airport in West Los Angeles.

Now that I've become an Uncle for the first time, I feel a responsibility to blog about important topics rather than trivia. So, I'd like to talk about ambient particulate levels at Cigar Bars.

I went to a new dentist today in Westwood. We should all read Alan Blinder's Journal of Political Economy paper on the economics of tooth brushing (Volume 82, issue 4, 1974). Near the dentist's office in the hallway there was a box, the sign on the box said "This box does not contain drugs or money.

Have you ever wanted to know more about suburban New Jersey? The New York Times celebrates a small town there called Hopewell Borough. The commute to New York City looks a little bit too long for my taste. You couldn't walk to Columbia or NYU from there.

Is Free Trade good for your environmental exposure? This is an interesting case study. It claims that U.S electronic waste is heading to China because it is cheaper to dispose of it over there. It also claims that this would be less of an issue if nations ratified the Basel Convention.

As a renter in West L.A, I continue to think about the supply and demand for real estate near UCLA. I understand why demand is high. This is paradise. I have lived in Chicago, Boston, New York City, and London and there is no comparison.

There are some supply side barriers.

Alfred E. Mann is my kind of guy. He graduated from UCLA. He lives in a tiny 23,000 square foot house in Beverly Hills and he is betting a large share of his fortune on a new insulin medication that could help millions of people.

Truckers haven't been able to shirk to the same degree due to GPS technology tracking their movements. Now government employees can shirk less. I'm hoping they don't start following academic economists.

The Monkees, as a rock band, weren't quite in the same league as the Rolling Stones but now in 2007 as a bunch of creatures they are touring in New Delhi.

I have a vague memory of a Bob Lucas paper that had a section stating that pigeons have downward sloping demand curves.

I am starting a new empirical project on energy consumption by various cities. Buildings are major energy consumer. I realize that most bloggers do not post econometrics output in their blog outputs but so be it. The unit of analysis is a commercial building so a Starbucks or a post office.

In recent years, you can directly buy computers from the maker (Dell), buy your own plane ticket without a travel agency ---- now the Eagles will sell you their album at Walmart without any record company getting involved.

A 98 year old named Harold Hay would disagree with Milton Friedman. Professor Friedman didn't believe that there were "$20 bills lying on the ground". Dr. Hay disagrees. He claims that his solar ideas fleshed out 40 years ago work in practice and are better than other solar approaches.

I just received the following letter from Columbia University's Office of the Controller , Unclaimed Property Office.

Check Date 11/25/1996

Matthew Kahn

Littaver Ctr.

Cities are an interesting mix of private and public property. This article

discusses the uneasy sharing of Athens' roads and walkers, bike riders and cars share the roads. I sometimes play "rock,paper, scissors" with my son and it is clear to me that in Athens that walkers face a challenge.

What does blogging crowd out? It varies on a case by case basis. In my case, I think that I would write out the referee reports I owe to various journals faster if I wasn't doodling around blogging.

Several of my blog posts have focused on "salient events" such as a Chernobyl or an Exxon Valdez Oil Spill causing new environmental regulations to be adopted. Popular culture sometimes offers another source of such events.

Urban mayors are "placed based". Their jurisdictions have physical boundaries and they are more powerful if more people, tax base, and more assets (human capital and physical capital) are located within these boundaries.

The Mayor of Los Angeles wants more affordable housing.