A Silver Lining of the BP Oil Spill?
Keynesian stimulus is in vogue. The Obama Team is quite smart. I wonder if the BP Oil Spill was an intentional action taken to increase the demand for environmental economists to help raise our salary (and thus our aggregate Consumption "C") during these tough recession days. Huh? This is all about increasing aggregate demand and an oil spill can achieve this goal!
Recall that the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill created great consulting opportunities and research opportunities for environmental economists and skilled micro economists. If you don't believe me, take a look at paper #1 or paper #2 or paper #3 .
There are many environmental lawyers hungry for work these days. They will have a productive time teaming with economists to launch lawsuits focused on "existence value" damage caused by the spill, damage suffered by coastal property owners close to the spill, lost earnings by fishermen, and coastal governments suing over lost tourism.
Who will be the economists who work for BP in arguing that the spill has caused little damage? This brave economist will have to argue that there are close substitutes for the water that has been damaged; that little pollution made it to shore; that the beaches and birds on shore actually like an oil bath, that tourists enjoy seeing environmental damage because they have a taste for diversity and you don't often see this on the beach. Since home owners spend all their time inside watching their plasma tv, they suffer little from outdoor aromas and an ugly beach.
I await your phone call.
Recall that the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill created great consulting opportunities and research opportunities for environmental economists and skilled micro economists. If you don't believe me, take a look at paper #1 or paper #2 or paper #3 .
There are many environmental lawyers hungry for work these days. They will have a productive time teaming with economists to launch lawsuits focused on "existence value" damage caused by the spill, damage suffered by coastal property owners close to the spill, lost earnings by fishermen, and coastal governments suing over lost tourism.
Who will be the economists who work for BP in arguing that the spill has caused little damage? This brave economist will have to argue that there are close substitutes for the water that has been damaged; that little pollution made it to shore; that the beaches and birds on shore actually like an oil bath, that tourists enjoy seeing environmental damage because they have a taste for diversity and you don't often see this on the beach. Since home owners spend all their time inside watching their plasma tv, they suffer little from outdoor aromas and an ugly beach.
I await your phone call.
posted by Matthew Kahn at 7:34 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home