I skim Joe Romm's blog because it offers some substance and it provides a sense of how "climate hawks" are attempting to attract attention for their cause. His team blogged about a recent paper of mine without mentioning me or Nils Kok.
This recent blog post caught my eye.
This recent blog post caught my eye.
For reasons I can't explain, I will teaching Summer School starting next week. This 6 week course will meet 4 hours a week and will cover most of the basics of environmental economics. So, what does that mean? This blog post will sketch out my vision.
In an early May 2012 post, I instructed the readers of this newsletter to short Facebook. I hope you followed my advice. I did and now John Paulson and I are both gurus. How can Facebook monetize its assets?
What does it own? On some level it is like Central Park in NYC.
What does it own? On some level it is like Central Park in NYC.
Ronald Coase must have enjoyed this article in today's NY Times business section. My 10 year old son restated the Coase Conjecture to me after reading the article.
I am in Cambridge MA in a hotel filled with economists. There are hundreds of economists who are all talking, talking, talking. In earlier years, I was one of the young guys but that is no longer true. Now, I'm one of the older guys.
Krugman's blog piece on climate change adaptation is worth reading. Here is a key quote:
"My first-pass answer is that we have a global economy that is adapted to historically normal climate — not just in terms of what is grown where, but in terms of where we locate our cities.
"My first-pass answer is that we have a global economy that is adapted to historically normal climate — not just in terms of what is grown where, but in terms of where we locate our cities.
Some background. Back in 1993, Chris Acito and I attended a Public Enemy concert. Fast forward to July 19th 2012 and on my Amazon Kindle, I watched Flavor Flav's Roast on Comedy Central. I enjoyed it very much. I was unaware that I'm an important blogger.
This article claims that Canada's wine makers are innovating and experimenting and planning to adapt to changing climate conditions. Some will succeed and some will fail. Wine drinkers won't buy the products of those who fail to adapt.
The Chronicle of Higher Education asks the right question. The CEO of the company admits that he hasn't figured this out and he is a Stanford Engineering Professor! Perhaps, he should walk over to Stanford GSB's new building and find an economist.
Nils Kok and I have finished a new paper measuring the price premium for "green homes. You can download a copy here.
The NY Times is worried. It reports that the Secretary of Agriculture (a Hamilton graduate) is praying for rain. “I get on my knees every day, and I’m saying an extra prayer now,” Mr. Vilsack told reporters at the White House after his discussions with Mr. Obama.
California seeks to sharply increase the fuel economy of the next generation of vehicles. There are social benefits of this policy (ignoring the rebound effect), GHG emissions will decline from driving.
Several University of Chicago economists are running high quality field experiments.
This article claims that the Atlanta Braves baseball team supports a new sales tax of an extra penny per transaction for 10 years in Atlanta. The Braves believe that with the revenue earmarked for public transit projects that road traffic will become better and more people will attend their games.
We are thinking about investing in a nearby piece of real estate. Ownership does not convey unlimited property rights. The local Home owner's association has some real power. All of the details are described here.
The NY Times reports that climbing major mountains has become even more challenging in recent years due to increasingly volatile weather patterns.
International trade and industrial organization are two fields that are merging. This new NBER paper now brings some labor economics into this new "big tent".
Has some economist who works on corruption studied spatial patterns in electricity access in developing country cities? This NY Times piece about Iraq was funny and interesting.
This long NY Times sports piece takes you on a tour of outdoor b-ball in NYC.
RFF's Carolyn Kousky has written an excellent paper on what we know about the economics of climate change adaptation.
During the recent heat wave in Washington D.C. there was a powerful set of thunderstorms that knocked down trees and they knocked down power lines leaving more than a million people without power. The Economist reports that the culprit are suburbanites who oppose tree pruning.
Have you ever written a paper and a few years later the world figures out that you were making a very important point? While my own answer to this is "no", my colleague Connan Snider can say "yes".
Singapore to LA on Singapore Airlines is an easy 16 hour trip. I had never been on an airplane with only Business Class seats. Classy! I slept three hours on the plane and arrived in LA at 6pm. Stayed up until 9pm and then slept until morning and now I am fine.
My old friend and co-author Pat Bajari is building an economics research shop at Amazon. This looks like its a very good job and I'm thinking of applying for this junior position. I bet it pays well and Pat would be a great boss (take it from me!).
I return to the U.S today after a one month absence. I have been to 5 major cities in Europe and Singapore over the last 30 days. We started in Budapest where I made several new friends with economists at the Central European University.
You have to respect the courage of California's state leaders to make a major long term investment in high speed rail during a time of deep and ongoing fiscal deficits at the local, state and national level. The NY Times reports here. I must admit that I side with the Republicans on this issue.
I am having a great time in Singapore and plan to return soon. I will have more to blog about on this topic soon but here I link to my Reason TV video of my talk about capitalism and climate change adaptation. The talk was filmed in my living room a few months ago.
Anticipating that fireworks on July 4th could cause a severe fire in dry places where it hasn't rained, many cities are canceling July 4th fireworks celebrations. While that may be "unamerican", it is smart.
Here is a two year old piece that Paul Krugman wrote about the "green economy". I really like 99% of the piece but it is revealing that such a skilled micro economist devotes little attention to the micro economics of climate change adaptation.
Here is his quote.
Here is his quote.
I am on the 54th floor of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore. This place is like a small city. My 11 hour plane ride from Munich to Singapore was very pleasant.
As the son of a NYU Professor and as an economist who is interested in land use in center cities, I have been avidly following the NY Times stories about NYU's expansion plans. A leading Wagner School Professor named Mitchell Moss is quoted in this NY Times article.
A former student of mine has taken a sales job at the new Tesla Store in Santa Monica. The LA Times reports about the new store located on theThird Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Many "green products" are new and risk averse consumers do not have much experience with them.
