Environmental and Urban Economics

At USC Economics,  I (in my role as department Chair) have a busy schedule. We are hiring new faculty, creating new curriculum and engaging in fundraising.  Each day brings new challenges and new opportunities.   On  Tuesday, I will be interacting with our talented majors outside of the classroom in two different events;

Noon:  Lunch with Undergraduates

6pm  The Economics of Bitcoins

A department chair is a type of cheerleader.  I try to convey an optimism and enthusiasm for what we are trying to achieve. I try to discourage free riding and I try to celebrate effort and public goods provision.

This new NBER paper looks quite interesting.  Suppose that I am an inventor and I create a blood test that correctly detects your probability of having cancer .5 years from now.  For my test to accurately predict your future risk probability, a trained nurse must administer the blood sampling.   As I debut my product, I will make sure that the qualified nurse does the test.

Sherwin Rosen was one of the greatest University of Chicago economists.  While he did not win a Nobel Prize (he died at age 62 during the year when he was the President of the American Economic Association), his student Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize and his student Kevin Murphy has won multiple major economics honors.   I was not his best student but he continues to teach me new lessons about economics.   I just read his 1997 paper on Austrian Economics.

The NY Times challenges the Coase Theorem today without ever mentioning Coase.  Several examples are given of "neighbors going to war against each other" over low stakes stuff.   To an economist, the puzzle here is why isn't there more "peace and love"?  The fight didn't have to occur. Instead, they should have traded with each other.  Let me set up an example and let's think this through. 

You and I are neighbors and I use a leaf blower on Saturdays that makes you nuts.

This report card suggests that I need to invest more time in the quality of my Ph.D. students.

You can also obtain rankings of top institutions and economists in the regions of your affiliated institution(s):

United States (you rank 203 of 10448, top 2%) California (United States) (you rank 36 of 1080, top 4%) Pacific States (United States) (you rank 37 of 1280, top 3%) These statistics are based on data from 51320 authors. Rankings for the top 5% authors are available here.

For those who wonder if a Department Chairman can get some work done, here is the introduction of my new paper that I will present at the Hoover Institution on 11/8/2017.

Urban Climate Change Adaptation and Local Real Estate Markets

Matthew E. Kahn

University of Southern California and NBER

Introduction

The major productivity hubs in the United States are located in coastal areas such as San Francisco, Seattle , New York City and Boston (Hsieh and Moretti 2017).

Michael Greenstone has written an excellent piece about how climate change is likely to affect marathon races and the runners.  While the headline hints at "doom and gloom", the real meat of the article is highly optimistic about our ability to adapt to this outdoor stress.