Environmental Economics

Finally, an accurate depiction of an economist on TV

This reminds me of a time not long after I got my PhD.  I was golfing with my father and a group of his friends when one of them asked me, 'What do you do?"  My father quickly jumped in and said "He has a a PhD in economics.  But don't ask him what the stock market is going to do.  He has no clue."

I went to sleep last night at 11 pm

Even though I was disbelief (Viewers outraged ...):

NBC was pummeled by viewers who took to social media after the network cut away early from the closing ceremonies of the London Games on Sunday to air a new television show, drawing outrage from those who tuned in for the highly anticipated musical spectacle.

The Twitter-sphere exploded, with "#NBCfail" and "#closingceremonies" trending worldwide, after NBC cut out performances by Ray Davies, Kate Bush, The Who and the Muse in favor of a commercial-free airing of "Animal Practice." ...

NBC did air the Who's performance at the closing ceremonies in late night, following "Animal Practice." But that did little calm the fury of viewers ...

And if you think that excerpt is from The Onion, here it is at the WSJ:

But NBC decided to delay [The Who] for an hour so I can watch some show that’s Scrubs in a veterinary hospital.  I actually thought this was a joke. I kept waiting for NBC to say ha-ha. Because who would end two weeks of coverage by slicing off the very end of the ceremony featuring one of the world’s most famous bands?  NBC, apparently.

I DVRed the thing so my kids could watch it at a suitable time (we watched the spice girls this morning before school). Naturally, thinking that NBC could not be so stupid, I stopped the recording at 11 pm. Now they'll never know who The Who is (are?).

I blame Bob Costas (the messenger): 

"We'll be back from Olympic Stadium in about an hour for the London closing party featuring The Who. But stay tuned now for a full episode of 'Animal Practice,' the new NBC comedy presented commercial free."

Update: The video is now posted on NBC's website. Yet, "The Who performs 'Teenage Wasteland' ..."? I'm not sure, since I can't watch the video until I remember my Charter password, but I don't think they performed "Teenage Wasteland." 

Picture of the day: Outlier

An example for your econometrics course (source: Chronicle of Higher Education):

If one would like to create a spreadsheet for one's use, here are links to the president and faculty salary data:

• http://chronicle.com/article/Public-Pay-Table/131916/

• http://chronicle.com/article/faculty-salaries-table-2012/131433

A lot of people ask me ...

... hey, what do your notes look like (no one ever has asked me that). So, in order to keep the people happy, here is my comparison of consumer surplus and compensating variation from Benefit-Cost Analysis course last week (click for a larger image [hope it is correct!]). Today I get to explain "consumer surplus without apology." I haven't worried about this stuff in a long time, but we have a layer of graduate students enrolled in the course this semester (did you hear that SACS?).

24 speculation

Spoiler alert: if you are waiting to watch 24 Day 8 on DVD, TiVO, on the internet, et cetera, don't read anymore.

We brought good things to life. And bad things to Chinese rivers.

General Electric predicts light-emitting diodes' share of its total lighting revenue will more than triple in five years as regulation phases out incandescent bulbs.

“LEDs are probably the largest growth area” for the lighting industry, Michael Petras, chief executive officer of GE's lighting business, said in an interview in Frankfurt Monday. LEDs make up “less than 10 percent” of GE Lighting's global sales, and that proportion probably will rise to one-third by 2015, with the overall market doubling “in the next couple of years,” he said.

via www.courier-journal.com

Alternative title: He built GE into the greatest company on Earth, and the Earth into one of the top three planets in the universe!

On "Mathiness" and Economics

In a call to arms for economists, David Zetland (from aguanomics) writes:

As an economist, I was appalled to read the comments of recent PhDs on Ostrom's award:

http://aguanomics.com/2009/10/economics-fail.html

As I am sure you know, she has made critical contributions to understanding how common pool resources can be managed in the absence of private property rights. In these days of climate change, collapsing fisheries, etc., I can hardly think of a better person to get the prize (besides Williamson, whose contributions are also critical to understanding when markets/firms work or fail!).

Unfortunately, these NEW PhDs -- perhaps an unrepresentative sample or perhaps the best of the best -- seem to be ignoring relevance in favor of "mathiness"

Here's the money quote: "If she [Ostrom] is so big and important how come there isn't a theorem that is named after her? huh? tell me, smart ass!"

This is ridiculous.

I think it's high time that we BREAK the Core, replacing at least half of it with the economics of people -- not an imaginary, but mathematical homo economicus.

I am doing that in my course (http://www.kysq.org/EEP100/) for undergrads, but the real work (yes WORK) is really on remaking the PhD curriculum.

Haven't we falsified the importance of the status quo by now? It's time to discard this rejected hypothesis and try something different, something that WORKS.

My thoughts below:

In case you are a total loser and didn't get invited to the party ...

... catch the boys on 20/20 Friday night (from the press tour):

October 23:
20/20: SuperFreakonomics One-Hour Special, ABC // 10 p.m. EST

One-hour special? I think I'll try to watch this one.

Has anyone seen the TV appearances this week? Is the climate controversy mentioned?

Friday College Football Sour Grapes

Saturday, September 12, Ohio State (#8) vs. USC (#3).  Final score: USC 18, OSU 15.  1st quarter, 4th and goal for USC from the Ohio State 2 yard line.  Official ruling: Touchdown.  You be the judge...

I choose not to run

Has anyone else noticed that Don McManus' career spans at least 15 years:

• Seinfeld, The Race (1994): Duncan Meyer, the boss of Jerry Seinfelds' new girlfriend wants to avenge an undeserved loss in a foot race.
• 24 Day 7 (2009), 5:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.: Bob, the bad guy who menaces Kim Bauer at the airport with his bad guy "wife". Watch this clip for a glimpse (he's the guy in the car).

Both shows were on my hotel room TV Monday night in Newport, R.I. as I ate room service while recovering from my presentation at the NAAFE Forum (and a jog around Newport).