I'm not sure why the NY Times requested a review of Jeff Madrick's new book but Dr. Krugman wrote an interesting review. Mr. Madrick charges mainstream economists with damaging America. That's a tough thing to say about a group of Ph.D. doctors. Didn't we take the Hippocratic Oath? Dr.
The New York Times is angry that its reporters have been banished from China and that people in China cannot access the NY Times website. Fortunately, the NY Post can fill this void (I am kidding). In today's NY Times there is a long piece about the Hong Kong democracy protesters.
Back in 1986, I was a student at the LSE. Each day I read the Guardian and the Telegraph newspapers and learned an early lesson in media slant. The correlation between the news and headlines on these respective left and right wing newspapers was about .1.
The University of Chicago's Harris School has a strong set of researchers who are actively involved in local and national policy making. This announcement offers one example.
Here is a new report highlighting some climate change induced water challenges that California is likely to face over the next 80 years.
Time is our scarcest asset. If you seek to waste 4 minutes contemplating the future of the Midwest then I encourage you to listen to my short radio interview. For decades, millions of people have been moving away from the Midwest to the South and West.
The NY Times reminds us that the California Dream is expensive. Early in the article, an interesting fact is presented and Richard Green of USC makes a key point:
"In much of the state, a two-bedroom apartment or home is virtually impossible to acquire with anything less than a six-figure salary.
"In much of the state, a two-bedroom apartment or home is virtually impossible to acquire with anything less than a six-figure salary.
I am listening to Aerosmith's song "Rag Doll" and Duran Duran's "Girls on Film" while I write this B- blog post. A number of news articles are picking up my "quote" about the rise of environmental refugees. I'd like to set the record slightly straight.
While I am pleased to be quoted in this NY Times article, I'm a pinch surprised by the quote. I am a home owner in LA. I would not have made this big bet of all my life's savings if I thought that LA is doomed in the face of climate change.
Randy Walsh and I have released a NBER Working Paper that surveys research at the intersection of environmental and urban economics.
Harvard's Rob Stavins has published an opinion piece in the NY Times titled "Climate Realities".
In my last post, I discussed the Lucas Critique and the challenge of predicting the future based on past economic activity. Here I want to apply these ideas to the economics of climate change impacts. I have grabbed the figure below from this blog post by Brad Plumer.
This is not a post about a good Neil Young song. Instead, I want to sketch Gary Becker's contribution to structural micro economics and focus on the implications of John Rust's important paper published in the September 2014 JEL.
Every quarter, students fill out teaching evaluations. The Chronicle just ran a piece about how to evaluate these evaluations. I know that my evaluations are good but I rarely take a close look at what the students write.
Here is a photo taken of King James today at UCLA. To my surprise, his people didn't call my people to arrange a meeting. I just sent him a tweet telling him to stick around Westwood for 2 weeks so he can attend my environmental economics class. I have not heard back from him.
When people fear a flood they buy sand bags and create a type of "sand wall", these entrepreneurs claim that they have created a substitute for such sand bags.
The NY Times acts as Paul Revere citing a report that Washington DC will face increased flood risk in 2050.
In my recent public lectures on climate change adaptation, I have argued that we need a less durable building capital stock. Today, Columbia University's student newspaper offers a funny example.
There is a long article reported here that California sushi prices could rise because of lasting drought. The causal claim is that drought will reduce the supply of "sushi rice" that is traditionally grown in California.
Here is a MP3 file of my recent Cal State Long Beach University Lecture (from 9/9/14) titled "How Will Los Angeles Adapt to Climate Change? An Economist's Perspective". The podcast starts about 2 minutes into my talk and you will need to click Music Player for Google Drive to listen to it.
LA's heatwave continues. The climate modelers predict it will be over on Wednesday. My family responded by staying inside today. My son didn't even bother to get dressed.
For the last five years I have argued that coastal areas all around the world should be required to pay for their own defense.
Many college campuses feature large number of environmentally conscious students. What should these optimistic young people focus their efforts on? One active branch of activism is nudging their campus leaders to divest from carbon intensive companies. Here is the discussion at Yale.
The LA Times is reporting that it will be over 100 F degrees this weekend in LA. How much will we suffer from this shock? My optimistic prediction is that very few (and perhaps nobody) will suffer fatal heat stroke.
In today's WSJ, Prof. Mulligan makes a series of predictions about the medium term consequences of Obama Care. This piece gives an overview of his new book Side Effects.
Tomorrow, I will give a lecture at Cal State Long Beach focused on the future of quality of life in Los Angeles which will touch on how cities all over the world will adapt to the challenges posed by climate change. My slides are posted here.
The NY Times has published a long data informed piece "naming names" and claiming that Washington's leading Think Tanks are taking too much international money and that a consequence of this is a type of self-censorship such that these Think Tanks supply slanted research that says nice things about
Does supply create demand? Google has introduced ultra fast download capability to the people of Kansas City. Will this transform this city into the next San Francisco? The NY Times hints at an interesting scale issue.
In preparation for the new school year, I have updated my $1 Amazon book titled Fundamentals of Environmental and Urban Economics. This book can be used by undergraduates, Masters students and even as a quick read for Ph.D. Econ students.
The NY Times published an obituary today of Prof. Michael Katz of UPenn. The Times celebrates his work on the causes of poverty. It appears that the Times likes his overarching thesis that larger social forces (not individual choices) are responsible for causing poverty.
I have read that Tesla's new battery factory will open in the Greater Reno Nevada area. As discussed by Tim Bartik more than 20 years ago, when a new factory opens up jobs (in this case 6000) are created.
Joe Romm reminds us that drought affects places. He does not mention that allowing water prices to rise is a straightforward adaptation strategy.
The NY Times has published a good case study of how Los Angeles home owners are adapting to climate change and drought conditions. With water use restrictions (rather than water pricing), some lawns are turning brown.
LA boomed in the 1950s and 1960s and much of this infrastructure is now old and depreciating. Durable capital depreciates over time. Walk around my Little Holmby neighborhood in Westwood and you will see some ugly 1950s homes whose current owners are investing in upgrading.
