Environmental and Urban Economics

The LA Times today has some fascinating stories and maps looking back at the events of 20 years ago and asking some big questions.  What are the lessons of the riots?  Has quality of life for African-Americans in Los Angeles improved since then?  Have race relations improved?  Who was to blame for the riots?  Did government fail to step up at that point in time?

As an eternal optimist, permit me to state some facts.  Crime is down in center city Los Angeles.  More people are walking and using public transit.  The City is investing in public transit and this will stimulate "new urbanism" along these transit corridors.  While Wendal Cox and and Joel Kotkin may not use these commute modes, there will be other people who will benefit from them.

The LA Times has published a long obituary for my UCLA colleague Professor Rick Brown from the School of Public Health.  He was a national leader in creating new data sets such as the California Health Interview Survey.    For a taste of what types of questions were asked to individual respondents click here.

This NY Times OP-ED reminds us that we can't forget about "time to build" when contemplating models of investment and long run economic growth.   Both NYU and Columbia are land locked.  Columbia has a plan to build in parts of the city (north of 130th street to the west) that used to be nasty.  In the Columbia case, few are concerned that "historic" areas will suffer because of its expansion.   NYU has a plan to knock down parts of Greenwich Village to vastly scale up its operations.

I have been on jury duty all week.  This has caused me some anxiety because I am teaching this quarter and I have many responsibilities related to research, advising and teaching.  Peter Gordon told me that information technology (IT) has greatly reduced the inefficiency caused by our democracy.  In the "bad old days", those on jury duty had to go to City Hall (10 miles away and plenty of traffic congestion to get downtown) and sit and wait to be called.

As a fan and reader of "Why Nations Fail", I have a question for Daron and Jim.   I know that "inclusive institutions" are good.   Given this point, where do the authors stand on California's direct democracy and its initiative process?   Do the Cambridge guys believe in "people power"?

Here is the current California voting slate of initiatives for 2012.

Gary Becker has posted a blog entry on U.S manufacturing trends.  Harvard's William Julius Wilson has long argued that manufacturing offered "good jobs" for low skill workers.  Labor economists such as Derek Neal have quantified the losses to workers who transition from the manufacturing industry to the service sector.

To quote Becker; "Still, if past trends continue, the share of American jobs in manufacturing will probably be lower in the future than it was even as late as 2007.

Allsyia Finley provides Joel Kotkin plenty of space to give California greens a beat down.   The WSJ also offers a sequel as Arthur Laffer breaks out his napkin to provide another round of "Laffer Curve" advice for California with its proposed 13.3% state tax rate.   It is sunny, blue skies and 72 degrees today and I'm going to the beach.  I hope to see Kotkin and Laffer there.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day at UCLA Econ.  Leah Boustan and Dora Costa have organized an impressive economic history conference  that will bring Ed Glaeser, Dave Donaldson, and Jean-Laurent Rosenthal to campus.  UCLA's own Chris Dipple will also present.   Now that I have retired from active research, I can sit and listen and think about what these scholars are up to.  I plant to light a pipe and put on my Sherlock Holmes hat and sit there and think about what is being said.