Environmental Economics

Where should you go to graduate school in agricultural economics--redo

Yesterday, John posted the rankings of econ departments with faculty in agricultural or natural resource economics.   Those rankings are obviously flawed because they don't include either the school I graduated from (Maryland) or the school I am current working for (Ohio State).  QED. 

I much prefer the 2007 rankings from the Chronicle of Higher Education for faculty productivity in agriculural economics (picture to the right).  The top 5 are:

1. Iowa State
2. UC-Davis
3. UC-Berkeley
4. Texas A&M
5. THE Ohio State University

Much better.  Oh, and Maryland came in at #9--probably a little low based on professional consensus and my own obviously unbiased opinion. 

Sustainability and Resilience

A philosophical diatribe to start your week.  I have no idea if this makes sense--but I'm sure you'll let me know in the comments.

I've always had a problem with the idea of sustainability.  I'm not opposed to sustainability of environmental and economic systems (who would be?), I just haven't had anyone give me a definition of sustainability that I can get my mind around.  Every definition of sustainability that I've seen requires that we define the path of consumption in terms of the unknowable future.  But if the future is unknowable, how can we dictate the present?

For that reason, there has been a fairly recent move away from sustainability as a working concept for economic and environmental systems toward resilience.  But is resilience any better than sustainability for decision making?

Env-Econ 101 Case Study: Inelastic Supply

We spend a lot of time talking about the elasticity of demand: That is, how consumers react to higher (or lower) prices.  Just as important, but less often mentioned--probably because it's harder to measure--is the elasticity of supply:  How does the amount producers produce react to higher prices?

First, some motivation:

Some kinds of fertilizer have nearly tripled in price in the last year, keeping farmers from buying all they need. That is one of many factors contributing to a rise in food prices that, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program, threatens to push tens of millions of poor people into malnutrition.

More lawn news

Continuing on the theme John established for the day:

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. was ordered yesterday to stop selling and using products that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said contain two "illegal and unregistered" herbicides.

The Marysville-based lawn and garden company said yesterday that it agreed to a national recall of products containing these herbicides. They were used in a commercial fertilizer and in a consumer product sold under the name "Miracle-Gro Shake 'n' Feed With Weed Preventer All Purpose Plant Food."

Why do I care?  Marysville, Ohio is the town next to Dublin, Ohio, the suburbanly sprawled city I call home.  Scotts is a major employer in the area.  Dublin's slogan is "It's Greener in Dublin."  How are we going to stay greener without fertilizer?

The failure of U.S. ethanol policy

Sometimes ecological economists sound like real economists*.  That is, every once in a while they make sense.  From Lester Brown and Jonathan Lewis in today's Washington Post:

Taking these together -- the environmental damage, the human pain of food price inflation, the failure to reduce our dependence on oil -- it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that food-to-fuel mandates have failed. Congress took a big chance on biofuels that, unfortunately, has not worked out. Now, in the spirit of progress, let us learn the appropriate lessons from this setback, and let us act quickly to mitigate the damage and set upon a new course that holds greater promise for meeting the challenges ahead.

Happy Earth Day.

*Relax, I'm joking.

Earth Day Book sale at RFF Press

In celebration of Earth Day, RFF Press is offering an opportunity to purchase RFF books at a significant discount. We are offering hundreds of titles that represent some of the best works of scholarship in areas concerning the study of natural resources and the environment -- books that provide analysis of critical issues concerning pollution control, energy policy, land and water use, climate change, and much more.

We invite you to take advantage this offer by visiting our website at www.rffpress.org. Browse our titles, make your selection, and take advantage of the 40%-off savings by using our special discount code GXX when you order online.

Visit today. This Earth Day Sale opportunity expires May 22nd, 2008.

Housing values, water quality and economic renewal

From NOAA, May 2007:

"In almost any management area, understanding human behavior and how humans respond to the lake or ecosystem being managed is as important as understanding the ecosystem itself," says Elena Irwin, associate professor in the Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics Department at Ohio State University.  Irwin and fellow university researcher Tim Haab...found that both water clarity and quality correlated with increased property values, but "water clarity seems to have the biggest bang for the buck in terms of housing price," Irwin says..."If you increased the depth of water clarity by two meters, it was found to increase the average housing value by $4,300," she explains.

This is an increase of between four and five percent of the average home value in the study region. "The take-home message," Irwin says, "is that improved water clarity is a benefit. Lake managers should have the lake water quality in mind as they prioritize and make decisions and goals related to a healthy ecosystem."

From the Columbus Dispatch, today:

Cleveland's economy could get a boost of up to $3.7 billion if the federal government invests in a comprehensive effort to protect, restore and clean up the Great Lakes...The report released by the Brookings Institution on Wednesday concludes that Cleveland would enjoy a $2.1 billion to $3.7 billion economic lift, mainly in increased property values near Lake Erie.

 

Breakfast links

From Environmental Valuation and Cost-Benefit News:

• Pew Center for Climate Change Issues Climate Change 101: Cap and Trade
• Happiness Research and Cost-Benefit Analysis

In a perfect world I would be rich, handsome, 180 lbs (all muscle, cut and with a guns of steel) and have time to read these reports.

Drive Less! Quote of the Day

"I think that wouldn't make any sense.  Ugh ... who's making the money from all this and where is that money going? Is it going to go green? I don't see any green things anywhere."

Motorist Frankie Hoe, responding to Rep. John Dingell's, D-Mich., proposal of a 50 cent a gallon gas tax increase.

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.