As I scramble to catch up from a weekend in Washington D.C., here are quick summaries of things I found interesting, odd or both at the SEA meetings (and before you get all worked up, I am grossly oversimplifying these on purpose and they are only based on stuff I saw being presented).
- People relocate in response to local environmental changes.
- The poor, poorer and poorest residents of developing countries have different preferences for environmental services between them.
- Agricultural price supports on shade-grown coffee prevent deforestation in central American countries during down-turns in world coffee prices.
- Madagascar is currently experiencing a land rush, similar to the gold-rush in the U.S. in the mid 1800's. Property rights there are ill-defined and not working.
- I can get from my house in central Ohio to the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. without ever going all the way outside. House to garage to car to parking garage to airport to ramp to airplane to ramp to airport to Metro to escalator to lobby.
- People make different decisions in bargaining situations when facing a team of bargainers, than when facing a one-on-one bargaining situation.
- Being in a bad mood doesn't make you any less altruistic than being in a good mood.
- People take cues from the behavior of others in making decisions.
- The Grand Hyatt's toilets are REALLY loud in the middle of the night.
- Expert estimates of fatality risks of death from asthma treatments have little impact on peoples' subjective estimates of the same risk--at least much less than you would expect.
- Residents of western North Carolina are willing to pay to have billboards removed and willing to accept payment to allow the installation of windmills on mountain tops.
- The National Museum of the American Indian is architecturally impressive, but for its size has a surprisingly small collection--at least in my opinion.
- From Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman (yes, the psychologist), well-being can be measured and for the most part, well-being (or happiness) is based on relative improvements in your financial situation rather than your absolute level of wealth. In other words, a resident of a poor country may be just as 'happy' as a resident of a rich country if the poor resident is getting richer but the rich resident isn't. Oh--and happiness rebounds quickly after your teenagers move out.
- Weather affects the value of a recreational fishing trip.
- The value of fishing is not the same in the northeast U.S. as it is in the southeast U.S.
- Dinner in Washington, D.C. in much more expensive than dinner in Columbus, Ohio.
- The best beach replenishment program might mean replenishing the sand on popular beaches every other year, or once every 50 years, or somewhere in between.
- Beach-goers like to visits beaches with lots of parking.
- Coastal residents are willing to pay more for houses with a better view.
- At least one traveler feels the need to announce to everyone on her plane that she tends to throw-up when she flies.
That's about all I learned. See economics isn't all that dismal.
