The Economics of Personal Responsibility and Human Development
Congratulations to Nick Kristof of the New York Times. I am really impressed with this discussion between him and Carol in Berkeley.
Will President Biden's Low Carbon Policy Efforts be Slowed Down by the Gruenspecht Effect and Slow Economic Growth?
In recent decades, U.S Clean Air Regulations have focused on reducing the emissions of new cars, new factories and new power plants. Old cars, old factories and old power plants have often been "grandfathered" and haven't faced regulations.
Will the Rise of Work from Home Lower Uber's Medium Term Profits?
Post-pandemic many educated people will be working from home 3 days a week. Some of these people will choose to live further from city centers.
Some Research Notes on Using Geo-Tagged Cell Phone Data to Study Urban Economics Questions
Several excellent urban economics research teams have access to U.S geocoded cell phone data. Since I am not part of any of these teams, I will use this blog post to offer them some unsolicited advice. For some examples of these teams; skim this and this .
In the Year 2030, How Will Applied Microeconomists Study the Consequences of the 2020 COVID Shock?
An active research field in climate economics uses natural disasters as "natural experiments" to learn about the economic effects of such shocks. Amine Ouazad and I study how major hurricanes impact bank lending and securitization patterns in this study.
The Microeconomics of the Rise of Green Buildings and Climate Change Adaptation: A California Example
In this blog post, I'd like to introduce a "mashup" where I combine ideas about green buildings, the rise of Work from Home, climate change adaptation, and non-linear pricing of electricity to make some predictions about the rise of the green economy.
Using the Supply and Demand Model to Understand China's Recent Electricity and Coal Shortage
The New York Times has published an excellent piece about an emerging coal shortage in China. Let's use the supply and demand framework to study this issue. Aggregate demand for coal in China is rising because it is winter and much of the nation's winter heating is supplied by burning coal.
Competition in the Non-Profit "Green" Sector or the Industrial Organization of Non-Profits
Mark Tercek's recently posted an interesting column where he makes the case for why major cash investments in the "blue chip" environmental interest groups is a wise use of Jeff Bezos' funds.
Why Does JHU's Twenty First Century Cities Initiative Focus on Urban Economic Growth?
Johns Hopkins ranks as #10 or so in the United States among universities and is world renown in medical care and public health.
Productivity and Climate Change Adaptation in a Spatial Economy
This blog post builds on my last post on a related topic. My critics say to me; "Matt, our centers of productivity are located in coastal places and these places face ever increasing climate risks.
Climate Change Adaptation in a Spatial Economy
The point of this blog post is to explore how to use the Rosen/Roback spatial compensating differentials model to evaluate the challenge of climate change adaptation.
Climate Change Adaptation for Urban Indian Slum Dwellers: A New Economics Research Agenda
I have been to India once. In this note, I would like to sketch out a research agenda on the microeconomics of urban slum dweller adaptation to emerging climate risk. My points will only zero in on India's specifics a couple of times. There are many slums throughout the developing world.
My Next Steps in Working on Climate Change Adaptation Microeconomics
With the upcoming publication of my 2021 Yale Press book Adapting to Climate Change, I am making plans to follow the advice of Esther Duflo and Al Roth and try to be both a plumber and a market maker.
The Lulling Effect and the Upcoming COVID19 Vaccine
Microeconomists define a lulling effect to take place when an intervention (such as taking a dose of a vaccine) or a safety regulation (such as child proof bottle caps or vehicle airbags) convinces an individual that she is less exposed to risk.
Announcing the Formation of Climate Economics: A New Climate Resilience Consulting Firm
In the midst of this recession, I think it is time that I engage in some job creation. I have created a webpage for my new consulting firm called Climate Economics.
Pandemic Microeconomics Revisited: The Incentive Effects of Liability Shields for Contagion Risk
As a Miami Heat fan who lives in Los Angeles right now, I marvel at the success of the NBA Bubble. I am a fan of Jimmy Butler's grit. The league has created a "safe space" featuring no infection for months. The private sector (the NBA) achieved this.
Clean Air as an Experience Good in Urban China
Weizeng Sun, Siqi Zheng and I have just released a new NBER paper titled "Clean Air as an Experience Good in Urban China". In this blog post, I want to talk about our paper and make some general points about the persistence literature.
The Social Benefits of Social Capital in Fire Fighting Units Contrasted with the Social Cost of Social Capital in Police Units
Fire fighters in a city such as Baltimore have a better defined job than the police. Fire fighters do not set fires. They put out fires and save those at risk. Fires occur at random times in random parts of the city.
The quality of the fire fighting unit can be measured using; 1.
Some Thoughts on the 2019 JEL Review of My Co-Authored China Book
In 2019, Ian Coxhead wrote a tough Journal of Economic Literature review of my co-authored 2016 book Blue Skies Over Beijing: Economic Growth and the Environment (joint with Siqi Zheng of MIT).
Al Pacino's Serpico and the Economics of Rotten Apples and the Missing Data Problem.
Almost 20 years ago, Brian Jacob, Steve Levitt and Mark Duggan taught economists how to detect cheating teachers and cheating sumo wrestlers.
Peer Monitoring and the Urban Police: Lessons from the Microeconomics of Microfinance
Information is highly valuable and costly to acquire. Some of us know more about some things than others. A mother of a young child knows more about the child's health and personality than does the child's teacher. A friend knows more about you than a stranger.
The Urban Economics of Big City Mayors
In early June 2020, Baltimore's Democratic Primary will take place and the winner will be highly likely to be elected mayor in November. Here is a profile of the key candidates. In this brief blog post, I want to sketch out a few thoughts about Mayors.
Private Nursing Homes, Product Differentiation and Reducing COVID-19 Contagion Risk
At dinner tonight, my wife told me that between 1/3 to 1/2 of COVID-19 deaths have taken place at nursing homes. I asked her a Chicago Price Theory question.
Will COVID-19 Reduce Smoking Rates Today and Thus Reduce Future Cancer Risk?
As American cities enacted indoor anti-smoking laws, smokers responded by smoking outside. If from now on, we are wearing masks outside --- smoking becomes more inconvenient and fewer people will smoke.
Real Estate Windfalls from Delaying the Fall 2020 Semester
The Harvard Crimson has published an interesting piece that debates the merits of another Zoom semester in fall 2020. The author endorses delaying this semester until Spring 2021.
Suppose that Harvard follows this plan.
Open Source Collaboration versus Winning the Race for Receiving a COVID-19 Vaccine Patent
The world needs a COVID-19 Vaccine. Is there now a patent race to deliver a high quality vaccine? Will the "winner takes all" winner gain a multi-trillion dollar patent? There are over 7 billion people on the planet.
Will the COVID-19 Induced Ballooning Budget Deficit Lead to More Efficient Taxation?
As each nation engages in a large Keynesian government expenditure expansion to reduce the short run economic impacts of COVID-19, this will create a huge budget deficit for every nation.
Larger Firms Have an Adaptation Advantage in Coping with Ongoing COVID-19 Infection Risk
In this blog post, I will argue that larger firms have an edge in adapting to workplace COVID-19 risk. For impatient readers, take a look at this article about Amazon's recent efforts to screen workers.
Has the Profitability of Selling Car Insurance Increased in Early 2020 Due to COVID-19?
Some time this summer, I will revise my Price Theory Problems e-book. Here is a new problem I will add.
Will Richer People Further Increase their Social Distancing in Post COVID-19 Urban Life?
Many urban scholars have noted that richer people tend to suburbanize. Bob Margo's 1992 paper makes this point in a straightforward way.
Low Carbon Suburban Living in 2021 in our "Post-COVID19" World
A growing group of urban scholars are now considering the long run effects of COVID-19 on optimal urban density patterns.
Do Social Networks Increase or Decrease the COVID-19 Contagion Rate?
Do Social Networks Increase or Decrease the COVID-19 Contagion Rate?
Dora L. Costa
Kenneth T. Sokoloff Professor of Economic History
UCLA
Costa@econ.ucla.edu.
Matthew E.
An Open Source Clinical Trial of Coronavirus Vaccines
As the world's scientists race to find a cure for the Coronavirus, will they work in private labs or will they openly share data and work in an "open source" research environment.
Measuring the Medium Run Productivity Costs of the Coronavirus Recessions
With some types of machines such as a coffee grinder, it works when you press the button and it doesn't work when you don't.
Will the Fear of the Coronavirus Reduce Baltimore's Long Term Murder Rate?
The City of Baltimore has one of the highest murder rates in the United States. The murder rate has remained high since the Freddie Gray riots in April 2015.
