Environmental Economics

Throwdown!

From Mankiw's Blog:

Each year, I meet a number of highly promising students who were accepted by [MIT and Harvard] and are having trouble choosing between them. Here is my advice:

1. Don't sweat it. You will get a great education at either place.
2. Look up your favorite ranking of economists' productivity and look at which school has more faculty near the top. Those are the profs you want to hang around and learn to emulate.

For example, if you use this standard ranking and look at the top 50, you will learn that MIT has 3 and Harvard has 12.

That should settle the question.

Not quite.

Emily Proctor

Why doesn't my WIndows Vista computer tell me the correct time? My watch says it is 6:15 (an hour and 15 minutes until my intramural basketball game tipoff -- why aren't I stretching?) and my computer says that it is 5:05. When I reset the time it goes back to something wrong. The difference in right/wrong times does not appear to follow a system.

Ugh.

I'm angry, testy, hyperfocused and I don't want to be bothered

Nevertheless, this blog is, at least, 50% clean (Brain enhancement is wrong, right?):

... an era of doping may be looming in academia, and it has ignited a debate about policy and ethics that in some ways echoes the national controversy over performance enhancement accusations against elite athletes like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

In a recent commentary in the journal Nature, two Cambridge University researchers reported that about a dozen of their colleagues had admitted to regular use of prescription drugs like Adderall, a stimulant, and Provigil, which promotes wakefulness, to improve their academic performance. The former is approved to treat attention deficit disorder, the latter narcolepsy, and both are considered more effective, and more widely available, than the drugs circulating in dorms a generation ago.

...

Jeffrey White, a graduate student in cell biology who has attended several institutions, said that those numbers sounded about right. “You can usually tell who’s using them because they can be angry, testy, hyperfocused, they don’t want to be bothered,” he said.

I'm happy to proclaim that the shorter, more BMI'd environmental economics blog contributor is prescription drug clean. The strongest drugs employed are hot coffee and cold beer.

Also, drugs were circulating in dorms a generation ago? I wish someone had told me that ...

Hat tip: TM

Seminar announcement

Tim Haab (pictured to the right, click on the thumbnail) has just confirmed his April 25 seminar date at Appalachian State University. If you happen to be in the greater Boone area, please stop by for a post-seminar beer.

Photo credit: Chuck.

I'm going to NOLA

I'm getting ready for my third trip to the Crescent City in the past 9 months. If the snow stops I might make it to the airport for my noon flight.

Don't look for me around Bourbon Street because I'm part of the Appstate interview team (we'll be in black and gold Yosef outfits), I'll be one of the pasty whites that never leaves the hotel room except for vegetable lasagna and at least one AERE session dagnabbit.

I'm in Kentucky, somewhere between Louisville and Cincinnati off I-71 (env-econophiles: don't try to find me)

Today is my kid's grandmother's birthday and the day before the Christians celebrate the birth of their lord (i.e., try to enjoy your pagan festival).

Happy Birthday Mom!

I'll post something original and, natch, fascinating, as time permits this week. Happy Holidays!

Snap!

From John F:

Sometimes -- often -- I am really amazed you people are university professors. You certainly don't act like it.

Weird: I've heard this exact same thing from my department chair and dean within the past 2 weeks. Freakishly weird.

I'm a "Kinda Dorky Non-Nerd"

Env-econophiles: Take the nerd test and let us know how you score in the comments section. Note: the toughest quesion is the internet vs sex tradeoff. I struggled, man, I struggled.

Hat tip: Market Power (Uber Cool non-nerd)

I'm a new southerner

The winter issue of New Southerner (the mainstream magazine of alternative thinking) is now online and my interview, previewed here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here, shows up under the "Fuss" heading: Coal-to-gas is not a long-term solution, economist warns.

Why are economists always "warning" about something? What is the antonym of warning? Pleasantly surprises?

Coal-to-gas is not a long-term solution, economist pleasantly surprises

Common Tragedies is a fantastic environmental economics blog

I'm sending this link to my mom:

Thank God for John Whitehead

And I'm sending it to all those girls in high school that laughed at me. The college girls too. Now they'll know.