Environmental and Urban Economics

Starbucks has taken its business model (expensive good coffee) and exported this concept to every major city around the world.  I was just in London and didn't have to walk far to find a Starbucks (namely 300 feet).   There are other Seattle businesses such as Glassybaby that  have not enjoyed equal success in "exporting" to other cities.  This article  offers some insights about the challenges of trying to play in the "big leagues". 

This article interested me because of its relevance to the broad topic of urban real estate. It is important to ask who might demand such real estate and what profits can they earn from leasing it.

Below, I supply a photo of Moshe (not Buchinsky) Cavalin. He is a 13 year old UCLA student who has just published a best selling autobiography.   At age 13, my autobiography would have been a pinch thin.

While his book may raise the hopes of billions, I find this a pinch silly and I urge Moshe to get back to work.

Economists should have something smart to say about the consequences of making our tax code more progressive. Yes, this will make Warren Buffet happy but will it make Jacob Mincer happy?  Will our future society have less human capital and skill because of such a policy change?

A useful debate is now playing out concerning the consequences of changing the tax code. This smart Harvard undergraduate argues in today's Crimson that increases in the marginal tax rate will not discourage work effort.

Are the people of Los Angeles tough on their San Francisco nude associates?

"I brought my out-of-town guests here to show them an ‘only in San Francisco’ experience,” said Maggie Cahill, 53, a technology manager at a bank who stood scrunching her nose at the scene with friends from Los Angeles. “Where are the supermodel types?” she asked. “We want to know why it’s always the people who should not be naked who get naked.”

I respect self confidence.

Everybody now knows that the DOE blew it when it guaranteed roughly $530 million dollars of loans to the "green" solar firm Solyndra.  But, we do not know what criteria the DOE used to judge whether this was (ex-ante) a good use of public funds.   Read this letter sent to Secretary Chu in 2010.  Many people have wondered how the DOE evaluates potentially promising proposals.  A for profit bank will use statistical models to try to predict the probability of default.

Some things do not change. Back in October 1988, I wasn't the best macro student in Prof. Lucas' class.  This morning I tried to raise my game and read through his interview in today's WSJ.    I didn't think it was a very informative interview.  Here are the questions I would like to ask him.

1.  Your work has highlighted the dynamic game that is played between optimizing consumers, firms and the government.

The NY Times has published a politically incorrect piece  about immigrant purchase and use of poisons in big cities.  Typically living at high density and facing a rodent problem, some immigrants turn to purchasing powerful poisons to solve their problem.  These products (made in China) promise to leave the "cat unemployed".   (This quote made me wonder whether cats are counted in the BLS unemployment statistics?).

This news was not good news.   California is phasing out a surcharge on electric utility customers that was earmarked to subsidizing purchases of energy efficient appliances and for paying for basic research.

There may be a serious lesson here.  Proponents of this charge never convincingly demonstrated that this money was being spent on "good things".

2011 has been a terrible year for natural disasters but for those of you who need some optimism, read this report about long run trends in deaths from  natural disasters.  I was happy to see that the author has read my 2005 RESTAT paper the "Death Toll from Natural Disasters".

PERC's Terry Anderson has a smart OP-ED in today's WSJ.  Here is a line from his last paragraph; "

It is not enough to strut your stuff in clothes made of recycled materials while driving your hybrid to an environmental protest. And environmental quality cannot be bought simply by throwing more tax dollars and regulations at problems."

He advocates for a "Green Tea Party (GTP)" .