Coastal City Resilience in the Face of Climate Change: The Case of NYU's Langone Medical Center
There is a full page ad on the back page of the B-Section of the NY Times today celebrating that NYU's Langone Medical Center is back in business after suffering bad damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012. Note that only 3 months have past. Hurricane Sandy didn't destroy NYC.
My New "Sustainable Real Estate Course" at UCLA's Anderson School of Management
In Spring 2013, I will be teaching a new course at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. The thousands of students who have taken my classes at Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Tufts, Stanford and UCLA all know that I'm a distinctive teacher. If you want a free taste of the goods, go here.
Updating Urban Risk Maps in a Changing World
One of the many urban adaptation themes I stressed in my 2010 Climatopolis book was the importance of updating risk maps in coastal cities.
Climate Change Adaptation by Income Group: The Cartoon Version
The NY Times has some talented people on payroll. Brian McFadden creates great cartoons. Below, I reproduce one from today and critique the substance of his cartoon. Similar to others at the NY Times, he needs to consult his econ 101 notes.
Twenty Years Ago Today
Twenty years ago today Sgt. Pepper wasn't teaching the band how to play. Back in January 1993, I was on the job market giving talks at Cornell and Duke. On February 6th 1993, I gave my Columbia talk and quickly accepted their offer and cancelled my other talks.
A Superstar in a Superstar City on a Sunday
If you read the NY Times, you can learn about what Jeff Sachs does on a typical Sunday in Manhattan.
The Economics of Boycotts Revisited: The Case of Mayor Rahm and Guns
Chicago's Mayor is leading a divestment movement. He is using his clout to nudge banks not to lend to gun makers and he is nudging institutional investors such as public pension funds to not invest in gun company stocks (for details see this).
Two Steps Ahead?
I was just sent an email announcing that my UCLA colleagues will be talking about urban adaptation to climate change in a public discussion titled "Should We Just Adapt to Climate Change?" A leading NY Times blogger (Revkin) will be there but I haven't been invited.
32 Environmental Lectures are Now Posted
Will we all be replaced by machines? MIT's economists are writing about Luddites and MSNBC is identifying more jobs where robots will replace humans. I'm trying to reduce the demand for the real me by recording everything I know for posterity in these YouTube Videos.
Economists vs. Philosophers: A Debate About What is Manly
I'm listening to Guns N' Roses pondering gender roles. My wife told me about this new paper by Bertrand, Kamenica, and Pan . I report their abstract below:
"We examine causes and consequences of relative income within households.
Rain!
When it rains in Los Angeles, I'm always surprised. I'm used to perfection here. If it isn't 75 degrees and blue skies, I wonder what in the heck is going on. I cancelled a lunch with a colleague of mine today because I don't want to sit inside.
Justin Gillis of the NY Times on Rising Sea Level and the Coastal Population
Read this piece in the NY Times by Justin Gillis. The piece is really strong in terms of its discussion of climate science but amazingly weak in terms of its discussion of social science. He returns to the theme of rising sea levels and what this means for coastal areas.
Outdoor January Leisure in LA
Today it was 78 degrees and blue skies, so I took 3 eleven year olds to the Santa Monica Beach today to play Nerf football. Here is a photo I took. You can see the Malibu coast and the blue ocean and blue sky.
Endogenous Effort and Rising Taxes: The Case of Golf's Phil Mickelson
According to the NY Times, Golf's Phil Mickelson represents a "Laffer Curve" data point. Anticipating that his marginal tax rate is about to rise, he claims he will play less golf and substitute to leisure.
Free Stuff for Aspiring Environmental and Urban Economists
For those who want to get a sense of what the field of "environmental and urban economics" is about, here are a series of short videos about the subject and here are all of my Winter 2013 Course Materials.
UPDATE: I just posted my 30th YouTube video. So, I'm posting roughly 10 a month.
UCLA Tom Smith's New Central Africa Project
The National Science Foundation has made a wise investment in UCLA Professor Tom Smith's project focused on promoting natural resource conservation in Central Africa. I'm a member of this research team and will work hard on this.
Eric Garcetti for Mayor of Los Angeles
Last night I had the opportunity to listen to Eric Garcetti speak about his vision for Los Angeles and why he seeks to be the city's next Mayor. He is a very impressive man. I've lived 12 years of my life in Manhattan and 7 years in Los Angeles. I view LA and NYC as equally great cities.
Crop Insurance and Moral Hazard and Climate Adaptation
The U.S Federal Crop Insurance program will be making huge payouts to farmers due to the 2012 drought. Permit me to say something nasty.
Facebook's New Search Engine and the Law of Small Numbers
Facebook has announced its new search engine and it will seek to garner a large share of Google's market and advertising revenue. Will Facebook succeed? The Zuck is making a big deal about "personalized searches" based on your friends' collective wisdom.
Air Pollution in Beijing the 2013 Version
Before I talk about Beijing, here is a link to a NY Post article about "sugar daddies" helping undergraduates finance their high tuition bills.
New Real Estate Research by Kahn, Kok and Quigley
My UCLA colleagues have asked me to give a research seminar on Monday. While I don't like to function on Mondays, I do have a new paper that I'm excited about talking about. This December 2012 draft is slightly out of date but it will show you what we are trying to do.
Outsourcing Through Open Source
All of my Winter 2013 UCLA environmental economics course material can be freely accessed here. I don't use a textbook.
Some New Economics Books
Some old friends of mine have just published new books. Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan have just published The Org.
Endless Chatter
The 2013 AEA San Diego meetings are now over.
A Productive 2013?
Today, the economists travel to San Diego for the annual convention. For those who are interested in what economists actually work on (versus blog about) click here for details.
Who is the King of the Airport Book Store Rack?
I just flew from Oakland to LA and this provided me with the opportunity to study the Airport's book rack. While Dubner and Levitt have been the Kings for a long time, there is a new "kid" on the block and he is UCLA's Jared Diamond.