Why Did Republicans Become Anti-Environmentalists? (or Are they "Private Greens"?)
Mark Thoma and Paul Krugman ask a great question. In this post, I will sketch an answer. You won't be shocked that the answer relates to public goods versus private goods. Republicans are not "anti-environment". They breathe air and many play golf on pretty courses.
Red State Farmers Adapt to Climate Change and General Lessons About Knowledge Diffusion
A UC Berkeley Ph.D. student named Liz Carlisle has written a smart NY Times piece providing some examples of how farmers in rural places such as Conrad, Montana and Valier, Montana are making "greener" choices in production in order to cope with the new conditions they face.
The Toaster's Price in 1950 versus 2014: The 99%'s Rising Standard of Living
In 1951, a "High Pop Automatic Toaster" was priced at $21 dollars (nominal $). In 2014, Kohl's is selling a better $5 (nominal $) toaster. I realize that this is a simplified consumer price index but this 76% reduction in price is the tip of the iceberg.
The Benefits of California Coastal Development: The Case of Morro Bay
The NY Times reports that a defunct power plant's ugly structure remains on Morro Bay. You don't have to be Don Trump to recognize that a real estate developer would pay the costs of dismantling it and removing it if he/she could then develop on the vacated land.
Two Photos Explain Why Coastal California Continues to Be #1
I will spend Thanksgiving in Carpinteria, California. It is home to some of the world's most pleasant beaches. Below I present two photos of our own "private beach". We walk for about a mile along this beach and only occasionally see other people and horses.
Climate Change Adaptation: Lessons from Urban Economics
Paul Romer serves as the Director of NYU's Marron Institute of Urban Management. I am a Visiting Scholar at this Institute and try to show up there twice a year. The Institute has just posted my new Working Paper titled: Climate Change Adaptation: Lessons from Urban Economics.
My Brief Talk at Thom Mayne's Morphosis Office
I was given the chance to speak for 5 minutes yesterday at a public event. Unlike the other speakers, I stuck to my time limit and tried to give a punchy talk about the Future of Los Angeles. The event took at place at Prof. Thom Mayne's studio called Morphosis Office in Culver City.
Work Disruption and Continued Productivity in the Urban Economy
Suppose that upstate New York has a snow blizzard.
Ingenuity in Protecting Wild Salmon: All Hail the Salmon Cannon
Professor Jeff Reimer was kind enough to send me a great example of ingenuity at work to protect natural capital in the Pacific Northwest. Julian Simon would respect the salmon cannon. This video from Last Week from John Oliver tells the story.
Will Paris Build More Tall Buildings?
An honest discussion is now taking place concerning the unintended consequences of limiting new construction. Paris hasn't allowed many high rise buildings to be built.
Adapting to Extreme Cold Weather
I have read that it is quite cold in Chicago right now. Cold winters can kill. How do we protect the urban poor against such climate shocks? Cook County Chicago has opened up Warming Centers. Many shut by 5pm and I'm not sure where people are supposed to go then.
Strangely Quoted in the Wall Street Journal Tomorrow
Tomorrow, the WSJ will publish an editorial called "China's Environmental Whitewash". Here is a quote from their piece that mentions me:
"This is the context for Supreme Leader Xi Jinping ’s pledge last week “to achieve the peaking of CO2 emissions around 2030,” which has U.S.
A Day at UCLA
The Grateful Dead once asked; "Where Does the Time Go?" Permit me to offer a time diary for today;
1. I woke up early and worked on a submission for Chuck Mason's journal. The paper is now titled; Climate Change Adaptation: Lessons from Urban Economics.
2.
Could Utica Rebound Because of Climate Change?
I attended Hamilton College in the mid 1980s. Utica, at that time, was a depressing declining place. This article in the NY Times suggests that things haven't changed. Wikipedia says that its population has declined by 38% since 1930.
Is Keystone a Bad Investment for TransCanada if China Decarbonizes?
Joe Romm unintentionally poses an interesting question here . He focuses on the carbon production implications of the Keystone Pipeline. He is right to raise the old issue that if the oil in the Canada tar sands stays in the ground then this will reduce global GHG emissions. But, we knew that.
A Couple of Links to My Recent China Quotes
While I am very happy to hear about the agreement between China and the United States to reduce GHG in the medium term, there appears to be a fashionable "boosterism" among academic environmental economists and NGO economists to seize this "momentum" to try to claim that there will be self fulfill
Back to the Future: Watch Me Graduate from Scarsdale High School in 1984
Now there is video proof that I did graduate from Scarsdale High School in 1984. Here is the video from 30 years ago. I walk across the stage at the 58:51 mark and after collecting my diploma, I turn to the crowd and make a face.
Anticipating Expected Demand Increases: The Life of Gary Morse
The NY Times has published an interesting obituary for Gary Morse. He became a billionaire by building high quality retirement communities in the outskirts of Orlando, Florida.
Office Space in Cities Will Diminish
While academics take for granted that they will have a "nice office", the NY Times reports that more and more real world urban workers are getting used to working in cubbies.
Energy Infrastructure Maps of Flood Risk
The EIA is producing useful maps that highlight which power plants in which geographic areas face flood risk. I was just taking a look at a coal fired power plant in Norfolk Virginia. These maps raise several issues. If a flood does take place, how long does it incapacitate a utility? 2.
Do Demographers Really Predict Future Population Trends Without Incorporating Women's Economic Incentives?
While the University of Chicago recently celebrated Gary Becker's amazing career, the statisticians and demographers who publish in Demography and Science have ignored his work. This Demography paper is not behind a firewall while this Science paper is more difficult to access.
NYC Prepares for More Intense Stormwater
How will cities handle more intense and variable weather patterns? If there is a heavy snowstorm or if there is heavy rainfall, how will cities handle it? If the city is incapacitated for a day, how costly is that? The NY Times reports about a "small ball" investment by NYC in "curbside gardens".
Blue Skies as an Experience Good: Future Air Pollution Progress in Beijing
With the APEC meetings about to begin, China's Central Government has introduced a series of rules to reduce Beijing's air pollution.
Media Slant at the New York Times: The Case of Naomi Klein's New Book
An author named Rob Nixon has written a fawning review of Naomi Klein's new book "This Changes Everything". Ms. Klein seeks to throw a punch at neo-classical economics and Mr. Nixon is supportive of this effort.
Monitoring Water Pipe Leaks Using Smart Sensors: Will Public Sector Unions Oppose?
Los Angeles is no longer a "new" city. The city's population soared between 1910 and 1970 and the roads, homes and the airport! are showing their age. Apparently, there are water pipes underground and a majority of them are in bad shape.
Compact Cities and Faster Elevators
Speed is crucial in cities. If you can move faster, you can trade and learn from more people and thus gain more from urbanization.
Why Can't Jessica Chastain Promote Her Own Movie?
Celebrity endorsements must be an effective advertising tool. I don't believe I have ever seen a credible estimate of such a "treatment effect" but as a dogmatic Bayesian I believe in this effect. Recently, Hollywood provides one control group.
Implicit Pay Cuts at Harvard!
Harvard has the world's highest university endowment.
Green Consumers Change the World!
The WSJ reports that for profit meat companies are changing their game as they respond to shifting demand for "organic food". A direct quote about the power of free market environmentalism;
"Brandon Glenn had already gone further.
"Moats" Will Mitigate the Pigouvian Externality Caused by Local Fracking
The WSJ reports that in Denton Texas that there is disagreement among land owners concerning the net benefits of fracking. Some property owners adjacent to fracking activity complain about the noise and pollution associated with this production activity.
A Photo of Some of Gary Becker's Students
How many Gary Becker students do you recognize in the photo below? For example, do you see Claudia Goldin to the far left in the front row? Do you see me in the second row to the right in my red power tie? Do you see Ed Glaeser and Kevin Murphy in the middle to the left? For those of you who miss
Hollywood Tackles the Topic of Adaptation
I just saw the trailer for the new move "Interstellar". The NY Post talks about the movie. Last year, the movie Elysium came out featuring Matt Damon. That movie posited that in the future that the 1% will be able to escape the damaged planet Earth.
Uber Makes Los Angeles a Better Consumer City
The conventional wisdom from the empirical literature is that computers make the skilled more productive. A related question is whether "computers" make our leisure time more productive? This NY Times article correctly argues that Uber has made Los Angeles a much better "consumer city".
Malibu and the Battle to Open a Whole Foods in Paradise
Last night at 5pm, I was in Hyde Park Chicago in the midst of an ice storm. While I greatly enjoyed attending the Becker Conference, I'm glad to be back in Westwood and I recognize that LA is my proper home. I'm not a "Chicago guy".