Environmental and Urban Economics

At the age of 47, I'm still sending about 6 different papers a year to journals for publication.  Yesterday, I had a paper rejected based on a truly silly referee report.  So, today I take some pride that the Quarterly Journal of Economics thinks that I'm a good referee.  Here is the list of the 2012 QJE Excellence in Refereeing team.

I spent several happy and productive years on the faculty at the Fletcher School at Tufts University.  As I understand it, the School is searching for a new dean.  This NY Times article about Dennis Rodman's visit to North Korea suggests that he could be a good candidate.

Traffic congestion in LA is nasty.  In West LA, many people have nice homes that they have configured into their own pleasure palaces.   The road traffic and the nice homes have nudged many people to work at home.   Many LA workers have their own firms and the firm is based in their house.

This NY Times profile of NYU Dean Peter Henry nudged me to track down his 2009 AER P&P paper that contrasts the economic performance of Barbados vs. Jamaica.

First, I want to plug my new Ziman Center short piece on commercial electricity consumption.  Now, I'd like to turn to a quick case study of why amenities and conferences are complements.  Over the last two days, the Federal Reserve Board of San Francisco and UCLA have partnered to throw a very successful conference focused on "Housing and the Macroeconomy".    For the last two days it has been 70 degrees, sunny and blue skies in Westwood.

The Journal of Economic Perspectives has published a fascinating piece about a high stakes competition that took place in the early 1950s in academic economics.  The author concludes that Lionel McKenzie merits much more credit for his research on general equilibrium than he has received.  The good news is that in this age of Google and "thick international markets" in economics that this "inside baseball" couldn't happen again.

Matt Turner and Giles Duranton wrote a nice AER paper arguing that in the absence of road pricing that new urban infrastructure (such as highways and bridges) does not reduce traffic congestion.  In today's NY Times,  Turner has a smart quote focused on his pessimism that a billion dollar investment linking Kentucky and Indiana will have a key quality of life impact. This is a nice example of "trickle down" economics.  Turner's nerdy AER paper has real world policy implications.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor wants to offer the social scientists a NSF budget of $0.  He is a smart man who argues that there is an opportunity cost to giving the "wacky" social scientists $250 million a year.  He argues that the scarce $ could be handed to "real scientists".   He writes:

Republicans and ScienceTo the Editor:Paul Krugman paints Republicans as anti-science (“The Ignorance Caucus,” column, Feb. 11). Unfortunately for Mr. Krugman, facts don’t support the allegations.

Who can oppose a public policy that causes economic growth and reduces income inequality?  In this NBC clip, Jim Heckman concisely makes his case for early interventions.   The only problem with Dr. Heckman's solution is that the investment's effects will only be observed in the medium term and policy makers want instant results.   I would suggest sharply raising the gas tax and using this revenue to finance Heckman's field experiment.