Environmental and Urban Economics

Michael Greenstone and I have a friendly disagreement discussed here about whether economic growth and recessions are "friend" or "foe" of "Green Cities".

Matt Kotchen and I have written a new NBER Working Paper that we hope will interest you.

Environmental Concern and the Business Cycle: The Chilling Effect of Recession

Matthew E. Kahn, Matthew J. Kotchen

NBER Working Paper No.

An abbreviated version of our discussion is posted here . You will see that I'm not an eloquent speaker. In the future, I will practice my english speaking.

This would appear to be a very exciting time to be a macro economist. Watch this Lars Hansen video and you will see what I mean.

This talk by Princeton's Markus B. is also worth watching .

The New York Times claims that China's air pollution is growing worse due to increased motorization, construction, coal burning and general economic growth. But, their article didn't report any data trends. One way to measure air pollution is to use the API = air pollution index.

Who knew? Now, I'm hoping that William Shatner might take one of my classes and then maybe we could record a Beatles song together. Perhaps, Norwegian Wood?

Yesterday was my last day of teaching summer school. I'm not sure if this experiment was a success or not.

Wind turbines generate electricity when the wind is blowing but we often demand electricity for air conditioning on hot days when the wind isn't blowing! If we could store electricity using batteries, then we could effectively separate production activity (i.e generating power) from when we consume

Today, David Leonhardt reports on some exciting new research done by some photogenic leading economists (check out their photo at the Royal Sonesta staircase here ). Imagine if Matthew Kahn had been randomly assigned to a good Kindergarten class, the Chetty et. al.

Starting with Hausman's 1979 paper , empirical economists have been interested in the fact that most consumers prefer to purchase durable products whose costs are "backloaded".

I don't like to leave West Los Angeles but for this event at Stanford on 9/7/2010 -- I am willing to participate.

Will Al Gore's Nobel Prize end up causing climate change? Huh? As climate change mitigation efforts and "Ivy League Democrats" became synonyms, opposing such legislation has become a political litmus test for being a "true" Republican.

Civic engagement --- what do you owe your nation? Are you able and willing to fill out a census form? This implicit volunteer work was studied in a paper by Jake Vigdor a couple of years ago (see this) .

This isn't good news. I'd like to see a stock market event study that looks at the recent share price time trends for renewable energy companies.

"This city, which has been at the vanguard of medical marijuana legalization on everything from taxation to trade schools to the unionization of marijuana workers, voted Tuesday to permit industrial-size marijuana farms." Oakland is taking the pot plunge .

Darwin would get a kick out of the "natural experiment" that climate change offers for testing theories of evolution.

Nepotism in the NYC Bloomberg Administration --- This article got me thinking about whether social connections help to increase inequality during a recession (and act as an implicit insurance policy for the connected). For recent graduates of universities, this is a tough time to find a job.

Forget boring economists talking about left shoes and right shoes or peanut butter and jelly, the new examples of complements in future Mankiw digital texts will focus on Google data centers co-locating next to windfarms.

Demand curves slope down but we'd still like to know how steeply they do slope down. Reading this article about Senior Citizen quality of life in New York City got me thinking.

For 4 straight days, it has been pretty hot here in LA. This article highlights the diversity of climate experiences within this big metro area. Near the beach in Santa Monica and Malibu the temperature hasn't been above the 70s but far inland it has been over 110 degrees.

Will the U.S Senate agree to place electric utilities in a carbon cap & trade system? I hope so but the Obama Administration may have to recycle a lot of revenue back to the utilities to nudge certain Senators to sign on. Take a look at Table One of the 2nd paper from the top posted here .

Do you remember the good old days in the 1980s when leading labor economists were debating whether wage premiums represented efficiency wages or compensating differentials for unobserved skills? Here is a good example. I had more hair back then and now it appears that we have returned to the past.

A Review of Heroes and Cowards: The Social Face of War . By Dora L. Costa and Matthew E. Kahn. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. xxviii, 315 pp.

Linda E. McMahon is running for a Seat in the U.S Senate. Her main claim to fame is the Professional Wrestling empire she helped to build up. This article hints at the old Marxian "exploitation" of workers (i.e wrestlers).

"In a study with implications for the advertising industry and public health organizations, UCLA neuroscientists have shown they can use brain scanning to predict whether people will use sunscreen during a one-week period even better than the people themselves can.

The Environmental Protection Agency isn't in the news much. To find out what is going on there, I went to their webpage and found one interesting item.

Labor economists study the microeconomics of skill acquisition. Do you attend UCLA or not? What do you major in? Macro growth theorists examine how a nation's cumulative human capital maps into "good economic" outcomes such as GNP growth and a high per-capita income level.

In a globalized economy, we can import cheap products from China. We can also sell our assets to foreigners. U.S real estate is bought on the international market .

Earlier this year, I thought that I would be moving to Hancock Park in Los Angeles. There are some very nice homes for sale in this area. I have wondered what really goes on inside these homes. Now, I know. This article describes the hip parties that I'm not being invited to.

In Econ 101, we teach that labor supply curves slope up and thus we must be paid a higher wage in order to induce us to work more. But, this article discusses the case of Stanford Univ.

If anonymous reviewers can offer their deep thoughts, then so can I! The University of Chicago Alumni Magazine offers this opportunity and I have seized it.

In Their Own Words

Matthew E.

LeBron James' decision offers labor economists a very nice test of compensating differentials theory. Sherwin Rosen would predict that the Heat will not have much trouble finding 9 players to sign on for the league minimum.

We are supposed to find this article ironic. The Department of Energy doesn't practice what it preaches.

Some tenured economists write fewer papers and spend more time in public consulting (i.e Washington DC) or in private consulting (i.e anti-trust litigation). Some start their own businesses. Paul Romer's success with Aplia is well documented but there are other cases.

I read today in the newspaper that it is roughly 100 degrees in large parts of the Northeast and Midwest. I am sorry to report that it has been 75 degrees and mostly blue skies here in Los Angeles. Easy access to Northeast elites has pretty serious amenity costs.