Now that 2017 is wrapping up it might interest some people to hear why I choose to work on some research questions. For each paper I published in 2017, I offer a few "big picture" comments to explain what questions motivated the research.
- Jerch, Rhiannon & Kahn, Matthew E. & Li, Shanjun, 2017. "The efficiency of local government: The role of privatization and public sector unions,"Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 95-121.
- Delmas, Magali A. & Kahn, Matthew E. & Locke, Stephen L., 2017. "The private and social consequences of purchasing an electric vehicle and solar panels: Evidence from California," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 225-235.
- Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2017. "Death and the Media: Infectious Disease Reporting During the Health Transition," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 84(335), pages 393-416, July.
- Bunten, Devin & Kahn, Matthew E., 2017. "Optimal real estate capital durability and localized climate change disaster risk," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-7.
- Matthew E. Kahn, 2017. "Will Climate Change Cause Enormous Social Costs for Poor Asian Cities?," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 34(2), pages 229-248, September.
- Sun, Cong & Kahn, Matthew E. & Zheng, Siqi, 2017. "Self-protection investment exacerbates air pollution exposure inequality in urban China,"Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 468-474.
- Siqi Zheng & Matthew E. Kahn, 2017. "A New Era of Pollution Progress in Urban China?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 71-92, Winter.
1. It is difficult to rank the productivity of local governments in providing services at a point in time or to compare the same city's productivity over time. We argue that the average cost of moving a bus a mile offers an "apples to apples" metric for ranking local governments. We study when governments outsource to private entities and how such outsourcing affects the average cost of service delivery. We explicitly model the endogenous privatization choice.
2. Solar panels and EVs are complements. It is no accident that Tesla and Solar City have merged into one company. We use existing data to study the joint spatial distribution of the purchases of these "green products". We discuss how innovations in financing these durables affects their annual "affordability".
3. How does the NY Times decide what to report? Major cities report their death rates from infectious diseases several times a year. Such dynamics in this "objective reality" provide a benchmark for studying whether the media reports "good news". During times of slow linear progress in death rates, the media doesn't cover the story.
4. The popular media routinely publishes pieces arguing that coastal real estate in cities such as Miami is doomed because of sea level rise caused by climate change. If forward looking developers and real estate owners are aware of these emerging risks, then this alters development patterns and capital maintenance patterns. The net effect of such supply side decisions is a more elastic supply of housing and less ex-post damage caused by the sea level rise that ultimately occurs. The New York Times and other (i.e Joe Romm) implicitly assume that the capital stock in at risk places is infinitely lived. While this capital is durable, it has a finite (and endogenous) life. One way to adapt to climate change is to have a less durable capital stock such that we retain the option to rebuild on higher ground. This supply side approach to studying real estate in the presence of emerging spatial risks has not been previously studied.
5. This piece reviews my thinking about how cities in LDC Asian nations (think of Thailand) will adapt to climate change. My piece is realistic but optimistic about the role that free markets play in protecting such individuals against emerging risks.
6. This piece uses city/day level data on sales of air filters and masks to study how rich and poor people in China adapt to high levels of urban air pollution. Since masks are cheap, both the rich and poor are more likely to buy them on more polluted days. Since air filters are expensive, only the rich buy them on more polluted days. Such differential investment in self protection means that the rich are better able to self protect against pollution. This means that pollution exacerbates overall inequality between the rich and poor in urban China.
7. This paper presents the "big ideas" of our 2016 Princeton Press book. Our book presents a new twist on the 1990s Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis. We closely link together ideas from urban and environmental economics to explain how China's cities became so polluted and why pollution progress is now starting. We sketch out an urban political economy for why mayors in some cities are pursuing the "green agenda" while others are not.
