Environmental Economics

Day 2 at the AAEAs

Here is my AAEA meeting schedule for today:

10:30-12:00 - I finished up my presentation [Download AAEA072907.ppt] this morning so I'm running late. These sessions   have already started so I'll find something interesting on the fly. The uncertainty adds to the excitement.

1:30-3:00 Symposium: Economics of Beach Management and Coastal Hazard Mitigtation (see below)

3:30-5:00 Symposium: Dynamic Interactions Between Residential Development and Natural Amenities: Reflections on Experiences in Lake-Rich Landscapes

5:30-7:30 AERE Reception

11:30 - redeye flight back to NC

Down on the Farm Bill

I think I've been asleep for the last week.  Somehow I missed the 2007 U.S. Farm Bill passing the House of Representatives.  Here's a fairly lengthy description of the bill from the environment news service.  Before I offer some comments, I should state up front, I'm not a fan of farm policy.  If for no other reason, farm policy ruins a perfectly good textbook example of competitive markets (large numbers of identical price taking producers) I could use to illustrate market efficiency in my introductory econ classes.  Anyway, here are some of the highlights of the latest farm bill...

Day 1 at the AAEAs

The AAEA sessions don't begin until 10:30, they have the plenary, etc talks early in the morning. For example, this morning I'm missing "breakfast with (Partha) Dasguptha and (Vernon) Smith" (a fee event) and the AAEA Presidential Address (I'm not a real aggie so it is OK if I don't hear what my president has to say).

I DO plan to attend three sessions:

1. 10:30-12:00 Non-Market Valuation Techniques
2. 1:30-3:00 Stated Preference Methodology
3. 3:30-5:00 Estimating Recreational Values

Raise your hand if you're sure...

A ban on Ban?

After a decade of cracking down on power plants in an effort to clean up ozone air pollution, environmental regulators in Ohio this year zeroed in on another culprit - deodorant.

Deodorants, as well as hair spray, car wax and windshield washer fluid, contain small amounts of volatile organic compounds that contribute to making ozone, an ingredient in urban smog.

So the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency put limits on the amount of those compounds in consumer products sold in the state.

My favorite quote:

"We knew the manufacturing industry was already moving [to reduce VOC's in deodorant], so it was a cost-effective strategy for us to pursue," said Heidi Griesmer, a spokeswoman for Ohio's environmental agency.

If industry was already moving that way, do we really need regulation?  Could this be another illusion of action?

I'm in Portland!

I'm in Portland at the AAEA meetings (I have a "First Time Attendee" ribbon for my name badge. I'm sure I'll wear it tomorrow). Some travel notes:

1. I've been awake for 15.5 19.5 hours. Up at 5 am to make the 8:30 flight to Minneapolis. The same flight I took two weeks ago and valued sleep by more than $26/hour. This time, I valued sleep less than $26/hour and stayed home the night before.
2. There is no sales tax in Oregon. I bought a 6 pack ... of water, blueberry poptarts and a snickers bar and the total came to $6.66. The checkout girl said 6-6-6 and I said "you know, that's the devil's number." She said, "I know, that's why I asked you if you had your club card." I'm not a Safeway club member so I suggested that I buy something else and she said that I shouldn't worry about it. I'm trying not to.
3. I'm actually reading a novel, I forget the writers and title but it was a NYTimes best seller. More details later but I know this, I'm turning pages faster than the Egan and Herriges paper I read on the plane.
4. This is the closest I've ever been to Economist's View and the Pacific Northwest. Coming in on the plane you see Mt. Hood and the other one, and the plane is about the same altitude. Wow.
5. I think I saw Partha Dasguptha in the lobby.
6. I missed the Vernon Smith talk. I would've gone if he was at a PhD granting institution, but since he is moving to a liberal arts college I can't seem to take him seriously.

The cromulent environmental economics blog: an academic blog?

About a week after I started Hypothetical Bias, the cromulent economics blog, Tim emailed me with the idea for Environmental Economics (doh!). Loyal Environmental Economics readers* will notice that what started out as a strictly academic blog has become increasingly a cromulent environmental economics blog. There are two reasons for this:

1. the demise of Hypothetical Bias:
   a. more people read env-econ than hypo and its more fun to reveal your idiocy in front of lots and lots of people
   b. only an idiot would try to maintain two blogs
2. Tim is as cromulent as I

I decided to finally post this thought when Footnoted posted on academic vs personal blogs: What is an academic blog anyway? I like this commenter's definition of an academic blog:

Academic blogs differ from other blogs in that they can be just as stupid, but they will have letters after the writers (or school affiliations) name that will mislead a tiny fraction of the real world into thinking they are worth reading as opposed to the Left-nut bag blogs, ... and the pseudo politico blogs, the gamer blogs …urp.

Complaints are welcome in the comments section!

*Get a life!

Is it possible to hold yourself for ransom?

I can't decide if this is economic brilliance or complete insanity:

Under pressure to preserve the environment while at the same time ease the poverty of his people, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has come up with an unusual solution.

Correa wants wealthy nations to pay Ecuador $350 million a year in exchange for leaving an estimated 1 billion barrels of oil under the ground in the pristine Yasuni rainforest.

On the one hand I like the idea that Correa is making the first offer in the bargaining process, on the other hand it has the slightly odd flavor of someone holding a gun to their own head and threatening to shoot if we don't pay.

What do Wal-Mart and high gas prices have to do with each other?

Nothing real deep here--sometimes I just like to point out examples of basic economics--and brag about my kids.

I was flipping through the channels late last night after a long night at the softball fields--after an unnamed pitcher who happens to be the oldest daughter of an Env-Econ co-founder threw a 1-hitter to advance her team to the championship game of the I-270 (Columbus metro area) 10 and under travel fastpitch softball league--when I saw a new commercial.  It was a series of people standing at gas pumps bemoaning high gas prices.  As the commercial progresses, the people start to reveal that the way they cope with the higher gas prices is to buy cheaper stuff...at Wal-Mart.  See...that's econ 101. 

Cultural economics field research

As part of our trip to Edmonton we visited Fort Edmonton Park:

One of Edmonton's premier attractions, the Park represents four distinct time periods, exploring Edmonton's development from a fur trade post in the vast Northwest, to a booming metropolitan centre after the First World War. The park features over 75 structures many of which are the originals. Costumed interpreters operate the site and live the way of the past. Exploring each building, each room, and talking to the 'inhabitants' makes for an extremely enjoyable recreational visit. This attraction can be viewed in a few hours or may take many return visits to appreciate the sense of the past.

Highly recommended if you like that "living history" crapola, which I do. Craptacular!

To the right you can see my very own shot of the 1885 Street (click on the thumbnail ...). I spent most of my time in the Saloon, stumbled out, dropped the camera and somehow this wound up on the picture card.

Publish or Perish Sit on My Butt and Do Nothing

John likes to entertain us all with his academic tales of woe, so I thought I would join the pity party*.  I received one of the fastest rejections of an academic journaI article I've ever seen--less than 48 hours. 

The paper in question was sent to a mid-level economic development journal on Monday. We received the following message from the journal editor this morning:

The problem that you tackle is a most interesting one. However the methods are inappropriate for the scientific standards that we try to keep at [unnamed journal]. In particular, I simply do not buy the use of contingent valuation analysis for this problem. I want to see longitudinal data which with proper treatment and control groups analyzed over time. That type of study I would find most interesting.

Economic journals have scientific standards?  Whodathunkit? 

Read on for details...