China's Water Pollution Regulation
Working with my friends at Fudan University, we have released a new paper on the unintended consequences of China's recent water pollution regulation. You can read the paper here.
Shiller's Conjectures About the Long Run Consequences of Income Inequality
When it was announced that Gary Becker won the Nobel Prize in Economics, there was a press conference at the University of Chicago.
My Advice for the NY Times as it Searches for a "Climate Change Editor"
The NY Times is creating a "green job" as it will hire a new climate change editor. Given that Dora and I have written a recent paper on how the NY Times covered the urban mortality transition from 1890 to 1930, I will offer this important newspaper some unsolicited advice.
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Dr. Krugman is Correct about Urban Quality of Life Progress
Paul Krugman is correct and Mr. Trump is wrong. Quality of life has never been better in American center cities. Of course, Mr. Trump knows that his section of Manhattan is doing great. His real estate there is worth more than ever.
The Federal Government's Gross Employment Flows from 2005 to 2015
I have always greatly admired the work of Davis and Haltiwanger on gross employment flows. Dora Costa and I have some new work up and going on Federal and local government employment dynamics. Take a look at our new figure below. This figure is my homage to Davis and Haltiwanger.
China's Value Added in Rebuilding U.S Cities
The LA Times has written an informative piece describing new real estate construction in downtown LA paid for and constructed by Chinese investor teams. This piece raises several interesting economic points. Only in the recent past, "Made in China" was viewed as a signal of low quality.
Real Estate Investment and Modeling Flood Risk Uncertainty
Imagine a scenario in which you must choose whether to invest $500,000 in a sunk investment in a new house (that will live on for 40 years and then turn to dust) overlooking a beautiful body of water.
An Economic Analysis of the NY Times Bashing of Exxon on "Carbon Stranded Assets"
John Schwartz has published a front page "article" on the NY Times business page claiming that Exxon has huge problem because it owns billions of dollars of assets (oil) that will be a stranded asset in the near future. This is an interesting claim.
Cutting Edge California Carbon Policy: Nudging Bus Operators to Use Garbage as Fuel
Robert Catell has written a great OP-ED for the NY Times that captures another reason why I'm a proud Californian. California's Air Resources Board (ARB) has a mandate to reduce the state's ambient air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.
The Value of a Statistical Life Revisited: Evidence from Hostage Negotiations with Iran
The US government paid Iran $400 million dollars to guarantee the survival of 4 Americans. So, my calculation suggests that the U.S government values a statistical life at $100 million.
Some Economics of Persistent Social Networks
Dora Costa, Swen Wilson, Chris Roudiez and I have released a new NBER Working Paper that I must admit that I like. There have been plenty of "peer effects" papers written by economists.
How Durable is Durable Real Estate Capital?
Read this "doom and gloom" piece suggesting that coastal home owners will lose a fortune over the next decades as "1.9 million homes are submerged by the year 2100". The question I want you to ponder is the following Paul Revere riddle.
Urban Governance Challenges in the City of Rio de Janeiro
Michael Powell has published a great piece about income inequality and urban governance dysfunction in Rio. Below are some thought provoking direct quotes from the piece;
#1
“I am so upset,” she said. Her eyes turned red-rimmed. “I have not gotten my retirement check for a month.
”Old School” Econ 101 for the New Generation of Economists
USC's fall term starts on August 22nd. I give my first "Econ 101" lecture to 150 students in 8 days. I haven't taught Principles in 18 years. Several of the Principles students that I taught at Columbia University are now tenured economics professors.
Supply or Demand? Understanding Regional Price Variation
I slightly disagree with Dr. Cochrane on this one. In this blog post, he posits that "supply constraints" is the reason that land rents vary across the U.S. Demand also matters here.
Chinese Environmentalism and Effective Protests in a One-Party State
While the NY Times continues to publish pieces arguing that the Chinese Communist Party hinders freedom and quality of life for Chinese urbanites, it has also recently published a piece documenting that the CCP is responsive to the desires of "the people".
Of Mice and Men: Contrasting Climate Adaptation Risk for Creatures vs. Urbanites
Here is a news release that reports on research that overlays the spatial distribution of primates and the likely future spatial distribution of future weather conditions to study how much more heat and weather variability such creatures will face due to climate change.
The Economics of Environmental Protests in China
The NY Times reports that in China's Lianyungang that there are protests related to reducing the population's exposure to a nuclear fuel reprocessing facility. Such awakening "environmentalism" is a theme of my new book; Blue Skies Over Beijing.
Urban Economic Growth Causes Climate Change Adaptation
The NY Times has published an editorial on climate change adaptation. It argues that the poorest nations have the least capacity to adapt. To flip this around, this implies that economic growth facilitates climate change adaptation.
Does the Tesla + Solar City Merger = A Big Green Lobbying Machine?
Mergers make economic sense if there are economies of scope across the entities and if there are certain intellectual spillovers and specific investments that will take place in the new merged entity which wouldn't have occurred if the two firms had remained separate.
The Economics of City Carbon Footprint Measurement
Reuters reports that cities all over the world are "rushing" to measure their respective carbon footprints. Sounds good to me. The article argues that this public reporting has been caused by the COP 21 Paris Meeting on carbon mitigation. Such measurement is a necessary step for mitigation.
UC Berkeley's Chancellor's Investment in an Expensive Security Fence and Office Exit Door
I'm on the UC Berkeley campus learning many things about life. Nicholas Dirks is the Chancellor of UC Berkeley. He is an anthropologist and here is his Google Scholar page. I see about 5000 GS cites which I guess is pretty good.
The Rise of the Human Capital Economy in China
In my new co-authored book "Blue Skies Over Beijing", Siqi Zheng and I argue that China's eastern cities are transitioning to a new economy based on human capital and skills. China has made an enormous investment in higher education.