Environmental and Urban Economics

Go to Google Scholar and search under economics starting from the most cited economist (Karl Marx) and descend down the food chain.   The point of this blog post is that I saw a lot of dudes.  I had to go 310 deep into the pool to reach the 10th woman.  To be this 10th woman in this list, you have to be a woman, have a very good citation trail and you have to register on Google.  Many women are well cited but why do so few women take the relatively low cost step of signing up for Google Scholar?     Is your explanation that dudes likes sports and Google citation counting is another baseball statistic?    If academic economists (regardless of gender) are equally likely to sign up for Google Scholar, then I would guess that women should be 15% of the top cited academics.

Enrico Moretti highlights the beneficial role that the newly rich play in enhancing civic institutions in the cities where they live.   Johns Hopkins University must be grateful to Michael Bloomberg.

Most kids and adults want a new environmental economics book for Christmas. This is why Amazon will give away for free ($0) my new book Fundamentals of Environmental Economics: Solving Urban Pollution Problems.    This deal is only for December 25th and 26th 2013.

Given the comments I received from my UCLA students this fall, I have rewritten the entire book and it is starting to look quite strong.

My proof proceeds in two step.  Step #1: is this profile of Paul Oyer.  Until now, Paul was known for his work on the scarring effect of recessions on long run career prospects for investment bankers and for academic economists.  He has also made a number of other contributions in labor and personnel economics.   His new work on Internet dating will interest many.

I am with Julian Simon with regard to how our ingenuity will allow us to stay one step ahead of Mother Nature and "limits to growth".  Read this article  about "smart snowplows".

The San Francisco Chronicle has a chess puzzle that I'm able to solve.  This is why I buy the Chronicle when I live in Berkeley.  Today's edition also has several relevant urban pieces.

1.  The Cost of Municipal Services in San Fran ---  The "rules of the game" are changing so that municipal unions can no longer threaten to strike in order to get a better deal.

2.  The Culture Clash  --- between young, rich techies and "old school" San Francisco residents --- Exhibit #1  and Exhibit #2.

I have taken the many comments I received from my students on my environmental economics textbook and have done a complete re-write of the book.  You can now buy the revised book on Amazon Kindle for $6.

The NY Times reports that agricultural land can be used for its highest value! Comparative advantage can shift as climate conditions change. Yes, there are adjustment costs and new contingencies but this example shows you free markets adapt to changing "fundamental conditions". What is the future of wheat production?  Should you be buying land in Canada?   This is free market climate change adaptation.

I will be in Berkeley next week.  After a tough teaching quarter where I taught one 116 person environmental economics class and one 18 person freshman seminar class on China's Pollution Challenges, it is time for me to do some writing.   One of my goals for next week is to finish a full revision of my Amazon e-book on environmental economics.    The book now has two Amazon reviews (neither written by my son!) and both tell the truth.