Environmental and Urban Economics

What do university think tanks produce?  Starbucks sells coffee. Tesla sells electric vehicles?  What does my 21CC at Hopkins "sell"?  In my first 2.5 months at Hopkins,  I have been on a listening tour as I talk to various stakeholders.   I can now offer some precise thoughts.

1.  My core team at 21CC has been working with me on my new urban economics research.  We have released our first report on public employment  and we now have underway a variety of new projects that will take time but are directly relevant to key urban policy issues.

2.   We have hired 10 undergraduate interns who are helping us on various projects and I will teach urban economics in the Spring 2020 at Hopkins.

As the U.S enters an election year, it should not surprise people that President Trump's team will not be leading the low carbon coalition.  Read this quote released by his team;

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the notification on Twitter and issued a statement saying the accord would impose intolerable burdens on the American economy.

“The U.S.

At Johns Hopkins, I serve as the Director of the 21st Century Cities Initiative.  This week, we just released a new report titled; " Public Sector Pay Inequality Dynamics in Baltimore, Boston, and New York City".     Using administrative micro data from Baltimore, Boston and New York City for the last 8 years, we document widening earnings inequality among each of these three city's public employees.

The top 1% (especially in Boston) of public employees are earning more over time.

The last few weeks have been exciting.   On Wednesday October 2nd, I gave the Rice Lecture at NYU's Wagner School.    I spoke about the urban economics of climate change adaptation.  On Friday, October 4th I spoke at the Federal Reserve of Boston Conference on the Geographic Divide in the United States.   I spoke about quality of life inequality in the U.S.  I soon go to Washington DC and Philly to discuss my recent urban economics work.

In the first news issue of the fall semester,  The Johns Hopkins University student newspaper has printed an excellent article about my 21st Century Cities Center.   The previous director was a prominent sociologist and she focused on urban poverty issues.  Over the next couple of years, I will shift the center's emphasis to the broader topic of urban economic growth.  Urban economic growth and human capital accumulation and learning go hand in hand.

How much richer would the world be if we all agreed on who has property rights to everything on the planet?  If we could all (including those who are not yet born) sign a binding contract over such ownership, then there would be no need for armies or the police. There would be no violence.  If you want something that someone else owns, there would be a market price and you would make a decision to buy it or not.

The Los Angeles Times has published an interesting article focused on electricity tradeoffs.  To lower wildfire risk, the state's major electric utilities may choose to cutoff grid power access at certain risky times (such as when it is very hot and dry).   By cutting off grid access, the elderly and disabled face greater risks because their health and quality of life is directly tied to constant access to affordable electricity.

Dora and I are very proud of our son.

As my term as the Chairman of USC's Economics Department ends on August 15th, I have been focusing on my new initiative at Johns Hopkins University.  At JHU, I am directing the 21st Century Cities Initiative.     This blog post is meant to both market this initiative and to offer some benchmarks for judging my center's performance.

Our Mission Statement is simple.