Environmental and Urban Economics

For all students who have ever slept through an econometrics lecture, have you ever wondered what your professor is really like as a guy? Chant (X'X)^-1(X'Y). This set of interviews offers the "inside scoop". I'd suggest reading the Dhrymes Interview.

Politicians must know that they are not good at picking winners but the urge to use such power must be irresistible. Los Angeles has a 20 acre "green field" site and it would love to offer incentives to build something like Silicon Valley but focused on green tech.

In print, my quote in this Los Angeles Times Article on the "green" military" doesn't look too smart. I apologize. The scale of the U.S Military is such that it creates a "big push" for any activity that the Pentagon focuses on.

The decline of U.S manufacturing has lowered low skilled worker wages and greened cities that in the past specialized in such activities.

I am the proud son of an ex-Scarsdale female lawyer, so this story of abandonment and forcing a two girls of ages 10 and 12 to walk 3 miles home makes me think.

I do not know Ms. Primoff or her charming daughters. A couple of thoughts. The kids are not 3 and 5.

Joe Tierney better be ready to debate his ideas. You will know why I like this Salon Piece on the Carbon Kuznets Curve Revisited . Today Josh Angrist is at UCLA. "Harmless Econometrics" is selling quite well. I was thinking of buy a few copies for friends at Midwestern schools.

On the day before Earth Day, the NY Times Joe Tienery gets politically incorrect and argues that economic development is a "friend" of fighting climate change. He throws a healthy punch at the I = P*A*T formula. But, as someone who has written an entire book on this issue, permit me to comment.

NY Times on Social Networks and Survival

I have actually written a paper on this subject. You can consult the 2007 AER to find it, or you can click here. Costa and I do a better job on the econometrics and the identification strategy than the New York Times but the facts are the facts.

Matthew Kahn on Green Jobs . My editor at Foreign Policy (Blake H.) is a terrific writer and editor. If my piece is well written, don't give me the credit for that! You will see that I act tough in tackling the conventional wisdom.

The LA Times Festival of Books will take place next weekend at UCLA. I will take my son to hear Alonzo Mourning speak and my wife may go hear Brooke Shields or Marsha Brady (I don't know her real name) speak about their respective new books. I believe that Harvard Press published the last two.

Similar to the Case-Schiller home price index --- suppose that there exists a mutual fund based on the bundle of Academic Economists' ideas. In this Animal Spirits book Review , Lou Uchitelle argues that this pricing index is worth $0 right now except for the work of a couple of maverick scholars.

Where is a benevolent planner when we need one? Larry Summers should devote a few minutes to this issue and offer an optimal allocation of land and water to maximize our western social welfare function.

Al Harberger is setting a good example for his UCLA colleagues. He just collected the big bucks in recognition of his important contributions. To my friends who are still at the University of Chicago, keep him in mind. If you move West, you can simultaneously get a better tan and get more work done.

There are more and more empirical papers coming out investigating whether neighbors learn from each other.

Today's New York Times reports that scientists have surprised themselves and learned that an unintended consequence of cooking and heating with low quality, dirty fuels such as wood and dung in the developing world is to increase the production of "black carbon" and increase greenhouse gas emissions

Los Angeles has reinvented itself many times. Whether it is Hollywood or producing military hardware, the economy continues to search for a growth engine.

Is discrimination treating different people the same or treating similar people differently?

AP Wire

United Air to charge obese double on full flights

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp, will require obese passengers bumped from full flights to purchase two seats on a sub

I do not endorse what I report below but it is interesting to hear non-neo-classical economists talk about why the financial crisis exists. These guys have an authoritative tone and the UCLA main newspaper gives them ample coverage.

So, it turns out that I haven't retired from active research. I was notified that I recently wrote this; Zheng/Kahn on China's "Green Cities" . At the bottom of the article, you can find links to our 2 research papers. This is ongoing research.

We wondered what was going on at this department store next to the Beverly Hills Hilton. Now we know and it called Thriller . Michael Jackson should take up economics.

Why are there so many single people in center cities? The lure of Seinfeld? Singles need little room so are well matched with small, old apartments offered in these amenity filled areas relative to living in boring, big McMansion Suburbia? Another answer is option value.

So economists, what should be done with homeowners who are "under water" (i.e current home price - outstanding mortgage<0)? A reasonable thinker might say; "My answer depends on what is the underlying fundamentals of the economy." So here are some scenarios to think about;

Case #1: Matt's home pric

Radio Interview on Costa/Kahn book

Our reporter in Beijing knows how to meet a deadline.

Hi Matt and Dora:

Arrived in Beijing today. The flight was perfect. I went through the security area so fast (leave your shoes on) that I lost my usual rhythm and nearly left by back pack behind.

I once had access to a California micro data set that included each vehicle's license plate.

The embedded reporters are still in Shanghai and they offer more insights on growth and concrete in one of China's major cities. I plan to take their diary entries and write a travel book around them. I'm hoping that Harvard Press will publish this. I am willing to write the preface.

This will be a boring blog entry so don't read it. Universities face tradeoffs. They want faculty to have nice offices (and this takes place in new buildings) but they want faculty to be close to each other and the main campus.

As you know, I've recently been writing some papers on the optimistic hypothesis that the demand for local amenities (i.e green) is rising in China's cities. Read this and this .

A close friend of mine is in China right now and here is his report from Shanghai.

Hi Matt

Hope all is well.

Today's New York Times has a good economics article in the Arts Section (I thought it might appear in the business or sports section) on skeptical economists who question whether FDR's well meaning actions ended or exacerbated the Great Depression.

Declining asset prices create new opportunities for asset buyers. This NYT article highlights how declining home prices in Florida have led patient renters to enter the market to buy their first house for a bargain.

The folks at Google are creative. If I'm reading this correctly, they are claiming that they have a new service where they will reply to your email by impersonating you and do a better job of being "you" than you do as you.

Dr. Woody Allen stated a long time ago that red meat consumption is the key to good health. Yahoo News has a headline today appearing to confirm this. Teenage vegetarians have some health problems. This is a nice case of selection versus treatment --- see the The Dark Side of Vegetarianism .