JHU's Twenty First Century Cities Initiative as a "Multi-Product Firm"
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.
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"Plan B" for a Global Climate Mitigation Treaty
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.
Public Sector Pay Inequality Dynamics in Baltimore, Boston, and New York City
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".
An October Update on the 21st Century Cities Initiative at Johns Hopkins
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.
A September 2019 Update on the JHU 21st Century Cities Initiative
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.
The Political Economy of Property Rights
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.
Climate Change Adaptation Tradeoffs and Property Rights
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).
A Dunking Economist at Work
Dora and I are very proud of our son.
Understanding Urban Homicide Dynamics
The reduction in homicides in major cities such as Los Angeles and New York City is a great accomplishment. As crime declines, people spend more time outside and gain more from living in the city.
JHU's 21st Century Cities Initiative
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.
The Economics of New Delhi India's Free Public Transit for Women Policy
New Delhi will offer women free use of public transit. As this mode of transit is now cheaper, more women will ride it. In this blog post, I want to discuss how this shift in the composition of riders (that a larger % of riders will be female) affects demand.
Professor Mark Kleiman of NYU and UCLA
I am stunned and deeply saddened by the news that my friend and colleague Professor Mark Kleiman has passed away. Mark was a brilliant man and a highly influential urban policy scholar. Here is his Google Scholar page.
An Introduction to the 21st Century Cities Initiative at Johns Hopkins University
In late August 2019, I move to Johns Hopkins University to become the director of the 21st Century Cities Initiative.
The Coase Theorem Delivers: The Case of the Beverly Hills Farmers Market
Each Sunday morning, my wife and I shop at the Beverly Hills Farmers Market. As we tried to drive out of the parking lot, we were stuck in a huge traffic jam. This has never happened before. I exited the car and walked up to the traffic kiosk to find out why we were stuck in traffic.
Urban Noise Externalities are Muffled by Earbuds: Coase Would Smile
The NY Times has published a great opinion piece making the sensible argument that more local governments need to upzone. One NY reader posted the following comment.
"IN THEORY Increasing the density of homes sounds good.
A Note on the Role of Behavioral Agents in Estimating Causal Treatment Effects Using Observational Data
Back in 2006, James Heckman and co-authors published an important paper on essential heterogeneity in empirical economics. A key idea they convey is to consider a case where people opt in to take a treatment such as attending college.
The Mighty 1988 Entering Ph.D. Cohort at the University of Chicago Department of Economics
Back in September 1988, I entered the Ph.D. program at the University of Chicago's Department of Economics. Here is a photo of the entering class. In this blog post, I would like to provide a 31 year update on this promising class.
The 21st Century Cities Initiative at Johns Hopkins
Here is the twitter page for 21CC at Johns Hopkins. I encourage you to follow our activities.
Yale's James Tobin on Encouraging Different University Divisions to Work Together to Build Up a Strong Economics Community
The Nobel Laureate James Tobin makes a number of wise points here about the challenge that Yale faced in the 1970s and 1980s for building up a cross-campus economics community. These sound familiar.
Imagine
When John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded Imagine, I doubt that they imagined a West Coast without any land use zoning restrictions. In this blog post, I will imagine exactly this scenario. My imagination was triggered by this piece written by three friends of mine.
A Podcast from 2010 about the Microeconomics of Climate Change Adaptation
This podcast was recorded back in 2010. This is a recording of a talk I gave in Culver City about the economics of climate change adaptation. I focus on the system of cities and the system of neighborhoods within cities and how they compete for economic opportunity.
What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2100?
UC Berkeley's Dan Farber has written a very nice piece about the challenge that climate change will pose for today's 20 year olds in the year 2100. As both a concerned citizen and as the father of a 17 year old, I take such informed predictions quite seriously.
The year 2100 is 81 years from now.
Is Jeff Bezos a Believer in "Limits to Growth"?
A constant debate in sustainability circles revolves around whether there are "limits to growth".
Celebrating the Career of Professor Bob Willis
I will soon attend an event that will honor Professor Robert Willis of the University of Michigan and Stanford University. Here are my brief remarks;
"During my graduate studies at UChicago, I worked for Bob as a TA and as a Research Assistant. He served on my dissertation committee.
Constant Returns to Scale and the External Validity of Field Experiments
Cooking recipes provide a blueprint for how to make a cake that serves 4 people. Given that there is a market for cake inputs such as sugar and eggs, you can use this blueprint to make 1 cake for 4 people or 2 cakes for 8 people.
Adapting to Climate "Unknown Unknowns"
The New York Times has published an interesting piece by William Gail. He argues that we can't adapt to "unknown unknowns" because we are not prepared to handle them. On one level he is correct but on another level this claim is false. For generations, readers have loved reading science fiction.
PHD Recruitment Day at USC Economics
Last Wednesday, USC Economics hosted 20 prospective PHD students. It was nice to meet these young people. Now that my chairmanship is wrapping up and I'm preparing to move East, this is a good time to summarize where USC Economics now stands regarding Ph.D. education.
Blue Skies Over Beijing (Princeton Press 2016) by Kahn and Zheng
The March 2019 JEL has published a review of my co-authored (joint with Siqi Zheng of MIT) 2016 Princeton Press book: Blue Skies Over Beijing: Economic Growth and the Environment in China. The book and its first chapter can be found here.
Our book asks big questions;
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Implementing Urban Policy Reforms
While city quality of life has soared in recent years, everyone recognizes that traffic congestion in major cities continues to be a major problem. While many are deeply concerned about climate change, we have not implemented a carbon tax.
High Speed Rail for Short Distances in the USA
I am proud of my first piece published in Bloomberg. I didn't pick the title. It is costly to build high speed rail (HSR) but these costs decline if we use technology built in China, Japan, Korea and France. The rest of the world has plenty of practice in building these trains.
AirBnB Relies on Home Production (the Non-Taxed, Non-Union Sector)
Sarah Holder has written an excellent piece for CityLab about the effects of AirBnB on local housing prices. I'd like to expand on one piece of her discussion and relate this to the recent literature in economics on misallocation and "wedges" that arise due to taxes and market distortions.
The Economic Incidence of a "Green New Deal"
Catherine Wolfram's excellent blog post about the proposed "Green New Deal" (GND) nudged me to write out a few thoughts. I recognize that we do not have a clear definition of what policies would be bundled into such a GND.
REPEC December 2018 Academic Economic Report Cards
Productivity report cards have been posted for academic economists.
Designing a Carbon Tax and Dividend Scheme When People Differ by Place of Residence, Occupation and Investment Holdings
I support introducing a large carbon tax to mitigate climate change risk. Economists recognize that such a policy will introduce price effects (substitution effects) that will help mitigate the climate change challenge.
Why are Apple iPhone Sales Declining in China?
The NY Times reports that iPhone sales are way down in China. The recent 40% decline in Apple's stock price suggests that investors were unaware of the emerging trouble that Apple now faces. How would an industrial organization economist explain these recent facts.
