The Law of Demand: Evidence from the City of Los Angeles
Not all of my ideas merit publication in a journal. That's why blogs exist. In this post, I would like to write about the City of Los Angeles' demand for gasoline.
A Trillion Dollar Coastal Loss in 2100?
When I'm back in LA, I will read and blog about this new article that claims that climate change could impose a trillion dollar loss on our coasts by the year 2100. Two things I would ask readers to think about.
Accidental Environmentalists? (A New NBER Paper)
Magali Delmas, Stephen Locke and I have just released a new NBER Working Paper. Stephen is on the rookie job market this year. I always try to write "original" papers on subjects where I hope that a new literature will emerge. Let me sketch this paper's big ideas.
Los Angeles' Mayor Anticipates One Fat Tail Event
How much do cities suffer from "fat tail" extreme events such as Hurricane Sandy or Katrina? The LA Times reports today that the Mayor of LA is forming contingency plans for an ugly scenario where an earthquake in Los Angeles disrupts the aqueducts that carry water into the city.
Voting with Your Fins (Cod Adapt)
At the NY Times, Michael Wines and Jess Bidgood must have studied some economics. They playfully recast Tiebout "Voting with your Feet" for Cod saying that these fish "Vote with their Fins" as the fish seek out cooler water.
The Marginal Carbon Footprint of Flying Part Two
A Tufts Agricultural Economist named Parke Wilde has nudged me to write out a few more thoughts about the carbon emissions from flying. First, some assumptions based on this web source.
Severin Borenstein's Excellent LA Times Op-ED
Who knew that the LA Times could cover topics unrelated to Kobe Bryant! In today's LA Times, Severin Borenstein has an excellent piece about the political economy of California's nascent carbon cap & trade market.
Long Run Trends in Quality of Life by Race
Mark Bittman writes in the Sunday NY Times; "The progress of the last 40 years has been mostly cultural, culminating, the last couple of years, in the broad legalization of same-sex marriage.
Cities vs. Farmers: Who Can Adapt to Climate Change?
I have been arguing for five years now that urbanization will protect us from many of the blows that climate change will cause. Cities (relative farming) have an edge in adapting to climate change. Cities always compete for talent.
Does Gov. Jerry Brown Believe that Carbon Mitigation offers a "Free Lunch" for California?
Read Gov. Jerry Brown's piece in today's LA Times. He is an optimist about the role that carbon regulation plays in stimulating an economy. I believe that the WSJ would disagree with the following direct quote from his piece.
Congressman Kevin Cramer Asks the Right Questions on the Real Cost of Embracing "Green Energy"
In today's WSJ, Congressman Kevin Cramer (R, Norh Dakota) asks the following questions; 1. how costly will it be for the stability of the U.S electricity grid to swap out low cost, dirty and reliable coal for more expensive, clean, and intermittent renewables such as wind and solar? 2.
Climate Adaptation and the Movies
The NY Times published an OP-Ed by Jason Mark that reviews recent Hollywood movies (think of Interstellar, Elsyium, Waterworld!) about the end of the world.
Applied Environmental and Urban Economics Research at RSUE
I'm happy to announce that I've accepted an offer to be a Co-Editor of Regional Science and Urban Economics. Dan McMillen, Yves Zenou and Giovanni Perri will continue as "the Editors". My role will be to review and edit submissions related to applied environmental and urban economics.
The Urban Smart Grid and the Low Carbon City
The NY Times has published a nice piece highlighting investments made in Copenhagen Denmark to create a "smarter, greener" city. New sensors have been installed and they are providing real time data that leads the local residents to make "better choices".
Could the Social Cost of Carbon Decline Over Time?
Cost/benefit analysis of government policy requires policy economists who evaluate the policy to take strong stands on how they quantify the costs and benefits of a proposed policy. Both the benefits and the costs of a policy that have not been implemented yet are random variables.
Should the AEA Cancel Our Boston Meeting in January 2005 to Reduce our Aggregate Carbon Footprint?
In January 2015, thousands of academic economists will gather in Boston for the Annual AEA Meetings. Dora and I will be there and we will be presenting new papers and discussing other researchers' work. I look forward to speaking to a few hundred friends of mine in the profession.
The Benefits of Sprawl: Evidence from Northern Dallas
In yesterday's WSJ, there was an advertisement pointing to the new Phillips Creek Ranch development in Northern Dallas. Here is a list of the new homes currently for sale. Located 30 miles from Center City Dallas, you can buy a 3500 square foot house for $500,000 ($143 a square foot).
News from India and Nashville
An old debate in environmental economics focuses on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). In a very well cited 1995 QJE paper, Grossman and Krueger run cross-national pollution regressions of the form: Air pollution indicator = c + b1*(Per-Capita GNP) + b2*(Per-Capita GNP Squared) + U .
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.
