Today's Business Section of the NY Times had some wild stuff.  There was a large advertisement from the Stanford University Medical School announcing its new search for a Dean of the Medical School.

Google just directed someone to my blog who searched for "who is more likely to have a sex change a liberal or conservative" .

This article  sketches an interesting election decision this Tuesday.

If the wind blows at night but nobody is consuming electricity then, what is the value of wind farms?  Batteries are the answer.  Such batteries create a storage technology that breaks the link between when power is produced and when it is consumed.

This article claims that Prof. Kevin Murphy is a key "player" as he works with the NBA union in forming their bargaining strategy with the owners.

The Economics of new goods literature has tried to estimate how much our well being is improved by when for profit companies design and sell new cereals or new mini-vans or new drugs.  An analogous question can be asked about "new regulations".

People are well aware of the Thailand floods.  The WSJ is reporting  that a consequence of such floods is that global supply chains are being disrupted.

Both the National  Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health must be deeply concerned about cuts to their future budgets.

The editorial writers at the Harvard Crimson offer some thoughts about how to improve the educational experience there.  Their piece raises some mildly interesting issues.

As Tom Friedman and other wise people ponder what jobs will remain in the U.S, the New York Times offers a new industrial category for the NAICS to incorporate.  They introduce the "eco-concierge".

In addition to reading Greg Mankiw's column today on hyperinflation, I suggest that you read this Shaq O'Neal interview on the NBA's principal-agent problem in the ongoing strike negotiations.

"Q: What do you think about agents’ planning strategy for players?

A.  It’s a touchy situation.

1. The New York Times covers the hearing where the California Air Resources Board "green lights" the state's carbon cap and trade program.   Mary Nichols hired me at UCLA before she left to become the Chair of the Air Resources Board.  You can see a photo of her in that article.

How many "serious" economists would join 22 UCLA freshmen on a Saturday five hour field trip to tour various parts of the Los Angeles River?  Zero?  Our tour guide was "Joe" and he is an interesting dude.

It takes serious money to build urban infrastructure such as new highways, water treatment plants and sewer systems.  In China, until recently, if a city had wanted to invest in such local infrastructure it had to sell land to developers to raise revenue.

This October 27th event will be shown on Cable TV in Los Angeles.  We will be talking about California's economy, "green issues" and jobs.  To prepare for my 15 minutes, I will go get a haircut and put on a clean jacket.

Paul Krugman discusses the University of Minnesota's econometrics sequence.

Mark Zuckerberg's sister tries to figure out what to do with her life.

What NYC moms wear when they drop their children off to school.

What Occupy Wall Street teaches us about public private spaces.

Due to drought in the Southwest, a new "Dust Bowl" is now playing. For some dramatic video, watch this.

This NY Times piece shocked me.  Canada's Trans-Canada is threatening U.S property owners with lawsuits if these owners do not sell their access rights to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to run through their property.

Seattle's Bullitt Center will be quite a green building.

Imagine an economy where everybody has identical tastes.  We like consuming pizza and we like riding public transit.  Pizza is produced by private firms who sell it at the market price.  People use all of their income minus what they pay in taxes to buy pizza.

After the March 2011 nuclear meltdown, did the Japanese government have the right incentives to identify and announce the location of radiation hot spots?  This article presents evidence of individuals conducting their own radiation tests in Tokyo and discovering elevated radiation levels far from t

The newspapers are filled with stories about Chinese entrepreneurs facing capital constraints.  Since these people are not politically connected, they can only borrow money at very high interest rates.

Solyndra isn't the only company the DOE placed a bet on.  Here is the full list.  You will see that California is over-represented on the list and it appears that Republican areas appear to be under-represented.

In this article, researchers go to Arizona and count the types and quantities of creatures in different geographical areas before and after there is "complete water loss".

This story  highlights the power of "Google Maps".  This family wandered into a maze field and got lost and panicked when they were just 25 feet from the street.    They called "911" and were rescued for free.

This will be a petty (but insightful) blog post about another author thinking about how will adapt to climate change.

Harvard has at least one smart undergrad there right now.  A young guy named Dylan R. Matthews offers this wise quote about Steve "Odd" Jobs, "That’s why Jobs was important. He was a model of wealth acquired not due to highly leveraged, socially prestigious gambling, but due to actual inventiveness.

Everyone knows that Texas has been hot and dry.  Cattlemen are responding to this new news.  Given that they expect that this drought will continue, they are seeking out new "verdant" areas to raise their cattle.

My son turns 10 on Tuesday.  I am in deep thought about what this means. He is happy kid.  I have stimulated the economy by purchasing more Lego for him.

1. For those of you eager to relive some of your teenage years, I offer you this.

2.

This talk by Alberto Alesina is worth listening to.   For another honest and stimulating talk, watch Lars Hansen in action.

Is your basic instinct to purchase a $9 million dollar Beverly Hills house that Sharon Stone bought for $11 million in 2006? If yes, then click here.  So, if you put 10% down for her crib, and find a fixed rate 5% 30 year loan --- your monthly mortgage payments will be $43,500.

This article about U.S farmers being unable to recruit Americans to work as farmers appears to support Casey Mulligan's labor supply explanation for recent labor market facts.

The new Nobel Laureates in Physics include a 41 year old and a 44 year old. You can read about them here.  Dr. Riess looks about 20 years old in the photo.

How did farmers adapt to climate change in the past?   Here is the abstract from a new research proposal produced by a  "Dream Team" including my UCLA colleagues; Willeke Wendrich  (Near Eastern Languages & Cultures), Glen MacDonald, (Environment/Geography, UCLA) , Edward Rhodes , (Earth & Space Sci

This report is worth reading for two reasons.  It provides some best estimates of how climate change is likely to affect the geography of where cocoa can be grown in West Africa and what might happen to farmers in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.

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