University Tradeoffs Part II: Lessons from Yale
In this age of austerity, ambitious universities are now confronted with some serious tradeoffs. Even the very best universities are wrestling with these challenges. For evidence, read this about Yale. To an economist, the obvious solution here is more price discrimination.
Is There an Excellence vs. Affordability Tradeoff at the University of California?
My Governor is getting ready to launch a high stakes field experiment. While this could yield a QJE publication for him, it could seriously injure the quality of education at UCLA and UC Berkeley.
IZA's New Environment and Employment Group
I've joined the IZA as a Research Fellow in its new Environment and Employment program. Over the years, I have written several papers examining how environmental regulation affects the location of industrial activity in the United States.
Krugman on Duration Dependence and Unemployment Probabilities
Ph.D. economists could distinguish themselves from other bloggers if we could concisely explain (using plain language) how academic economists test hard "real world" relevant policy questions.
Watertown, MA and House Price Appreciation Caused by the Terrorist Manhunt?
I used to live in Belmont, MA. Belmont is adjacent to Watertown. Watertown now has some new notoriety for being "ground zero" in the recent manhunt.
Useful Stata Programs for Answering Kids' Tough Math Questions
My son convinced me that I have forgotten the quadratic formula. I guess such knowledge isn't needed to be a Professor? For parents who are facing tough questions from their kids, here is a Stata program for approximating the solution to any non-linear function.
The New York Times Highlights The Role of Structural Econometrics
This NY Times piece provides insights and a photo of Larry Katz with his dog at NBER. The piece builds on a long running agenda at the NY Times to highlight that consumers often make "mistakes".
UCLA Bans Smoking on Campus
Who says that the "natural experiments" era is over? For those looking to research another topic besides for the correlation between debt ratios and growth, I would like to suggest that you consider working on the consequences of UCLA's new smoking ban.
Robert Fogel's New Book
As I walk around UCLA's campus on another sunny blue sky 75 degree day, I spot my colleagues from a variety of subfields and I ask myself; "Is that guy still working? What has he done recently?" For the University of Chicago's Robert Fogel, I already know the answer.
Cochrane vs. Krugman
John Cochrane's WSJ piece is a must read. If Cochrane and Krugman sat down together in a civil setting, here are the questions I would like to ask each of them.
For Krugman;
1.
AAG 2013
I have left West LA and I'm now sitting in the Westin Hotel near the LA city center. Why am I here? I am participating in the 2013 Association of American Geographers' Annual Conference. It slightly resembles the scene at the ASSA Annual Meetings. I see lots of happy young people running around.
Congressional Influence as a Determinant of Subprime Lending
Stuart Gabriel, Ryan Vaughn and I have written a new paper that uses some funky data to take a look at how a leading subprime bank priced its credit and sized its loans during the 2003 to 2006 period (the bank died in February 2007).
The Upper Hand and Political Leadership: The Role of Reagan and Thatcher as Causal Macro Effects
Paul Krugman examines whether Margaret Thatcher deserves credit for England's strong years during the 1990s. Here is a quote:
"Well, there’s a bit of a problem: Thatcher came to power in 1979, and imposed a radical change in policy almost immediately.
My Harvard Business Review Blog Piece on China's Bullet Trains and a History of My Economic Thought About China
Rob Stavins recently provided a popular overview of his research initiatives over the last 25 years. In this blog post, I will present a mini-version of my own overview of my China research over the last 7 years.
Water Prices in Texas
The NY Times published a pretty good piece today by Kate Galbraith on drought adaptation in Texas. She points out some pro-active actions by the state to bring supply and demand into balance.
Hidden Subsidies
The Sacramento Bee offers a case study of an under-studied topic. In Davis, California, a new lawsuit contends that residents have been paying a price premium for sewer use and this collected money has been silently used to cross-subsidize the disposal of waste water from government buildings.
Human Capital and Insurance Markets as Tools for Adapting to Climate Change
In drought struck Texas, ranchers differ with respect to their ability to handle the tough climate conditions. The NY Times documents the heterogeneity and celebrates human ingenuity.
Time to Build: The Case of Chinese Airports
The New York Times has some nice things to say about Chinese public sector efficiency. The piece hints that you have to break some eggs to make an omelette but it acknowledges that China is building a high quality public capital stock at low average cost and a low time cost.
Want to Be a Manly Man? UCLA Research Says; "Eat Walnuts"
While I prefer to document correlations, there is a whole crew seeking to measure "causal effects". Reading most of these papers, I would describe them as recovering "casual effects". But, today I found an exception. This blurb highlights some exciting UCLA research.
Industrial Organization and Minimizing Industry Wide Environmental Externalities
Industrial organization is an exciting field of economics that studies how firms compete against each other to attract business and make $. Zillions of Econ 101 students have fallen asleep contrasting industries featuring monopoly, duopoly, versus perfect competition.
