The John Quigley Special Issue of RSUE
Back in October 2012, the Lincoln Institute hosted a great conference celebrating the work of UC Berkeley's John Quigley.
Elite Slots
When is supply elastic? What technologies feature roughly constant returns to scale? At a top restaurant in NYC, the lead Chef faces a scope and control issue. If the restaurant tried to sharply scale up its number of seats, the Chef wouldn't be able to maintain the quality of the meals.
Casey Mulligan's New Book "Side Effects" is Published
The University of Chicago's Professor Casey Mulligan has published a new $3 e-book titled "Side Effects". He provides an in depth examination of the future of health care in the United States.
The Future of the Coast
Anthony Flint appreciates the beauty of the Rhode Island coast but worries about its future. With sea level rise, there certainly will be specific parcels of land and structures there that will vanish. The owners of such parcels will lose.
What Can Humanities Professors Teach Us About Drought and Climate Change Adaptation?
The NY Times doesn't offer much of its space to economists not named Krugman. Yes, I read the Business Section on Sunday but those pieces are short and often lack punch.
Will Cheaper Drones "Solve" the Principal/Agent Problem?
While Eric Snowden and friends worry about the costs of spying, new monitoring technologies also offer benefits. This piece discusses how drones are being introduced to patrol over nature parks to see if poachers are actively invading parts of a park.
Carpinteria, California
From time to time, I live in Carpinteria, California. Located close to Santa Barbara and UCSB, this beach town is a special place offering a combination of ocean access, hiking, scenic views, temperate weather and a small town sensibility (and two Starbucks).
USC Invests in the Social Sciences
UCLA is heavily investing in building a hotel/conference center, dorms, a music building, an engineering building, and many new medical campus buildings. At the same time, the faculty's size is shrinking and the faculty are aging (see pages 15 and 16).
The Coase Theorem Fails on a United Flight to Denver
My fellow University of Chicago economists, stop reading Krugman's latest and explain this puzzle to me. A United Flight to Denver was diverted to Chicago because of a fight between two 48 year olds over whether the person sitting in front in Economy Plus has the right to recline her chair.
The NY Times Reports on the New IPCC Report
The IPCC appears to have served up its same points again in a new set of reports related to the challenge of climate change. Here is the report from Justin Gillis from the NY Times. Here is the IPCC webpage so you can read up on what's new here.
A Whale Visits NYC or "Why Do Whales Now Swim Near Big Cities"?
You have to admit that this is an inspiring photo. I grabbed it from this news article discussing the 35 foot humpback whale who has been swimming very close to NYC.
Field Experiments Recover the Revealed Preference of Bureaucracy
Social scientists continue to launch randomized field experiments to learn about human behavior. In one well known field experiment, Bertrand and Mullainathan mailed out randomized resumes to potential employers where the resume sender hoped for a job interview.
An Unconventional Economics Textbook
While some leading economists are selling their textbook for $103 and other stars are selling theirs for $209, you can purchase my "Fundamental of Environmental and Urban Economics" book for $1.
Coastal Real Estate and Emerging Flood Risk: The Case of "Old Greenwich" CT
The NY Times offers some suburban sociology as it profiles the NYC suburban town of "Old Greenwich".
Olive Oil Production as a Test of Our Ability to Adapt to Climate Change
Joe Romm's blog reports some doom and gloom about olive oil production. This tasty (and healthy) oil is mainly grown in Spain, Italy and Greece with these three nations producing 97% of the European Union's total production and the EU produces 73% of the world's olive oil output. (Source).
Who Plans for the Future?
A fundamental question in social science focuses on whether individuals are consistent in how they make choices over time and in different settings. If we are consistent in how we prioritize then we are less likely to regret our choices.
Summing Up the Entire Climate Change Adaptation Debate in Two Anonymous Comments
Read this ABC News story about heavy rain and then read the comments. You will see a large number of "climate change deniers" saying that rainfall is cyclical and cracking some funny jokes but then read these two separate comments.
The Consequences of Ideology
Chilton and Posner have released a new working paper analyzing documenting that among law professors at elite law schools that the faculty's scholarship is shaped by their personal ideology. Scholars who donate $ to Democrats are more likely to write liberal scholarship.
Human Ingenuity and Farmer Adaptation to Climate Change
Somewhere Julian Simon is smiling. Even NPR is reporting how proactive farmers are making investments to reduce the output risk they face from climate change.
Is a Hard Life Inherited? An Economist's Perspective
Nicholas Kristof has written a very good piece in the NY Times.
Does Inequality Lower Economic Growth?
Both Paul Krugman and John Cochrane have recently demonstrated that they continue to be among our top .1% economists.
Some Foreshadowing Regarding How We Will Adapt to "6 Hideous Realities We Must Face"
Larry Schwartz offers a teachable moment. In his Salon piece, he lists six challenges that climate change will pose for us and he is pessimistic about our ability to continue to thrive in the face of these challenges. Here is list of his big six;
1. Summer heat
2. drought
3.
A Western Coastal Liberal State Blockade Limiting Exports of Coal to China?
This article suggests that a coalition of liberal Vancouver, Washington, Oregon and California may all limit the ability of Montana and Wyoming of shipping their coal to China.
How Will Climate Change Impact Transportation Logistics?
The global economy relies on shipping things from origin to destination. Think of Amazon's core business. Amazon doesn't produce anything. Instead, it takes orders from urban households and ships them stuff that it buys from wholesalers and sells it to you for a retail price.
Intellectual Growth
From 1993 to 2000, I served as a junior faculty member at Columbia University. Today, I received an email from Columbia's Academic Commons informing me that there have been 6580 downloads of papers I posted there in the 1990s. Re-reading some of the papers makes me cringe.
