Environmental Economics

Why won't the Freakonomics blog post my comments?

I left a comment concerning the FCS Walter Payton Award and Appstate football fans at this post last night. I submitted my name and email address, was polite and not abusive, and the comment has not appeared after 24 hours. New comments have appeared from others during that time. Has this happened to anyone else?

Must you be, like, cool, rogue-ishly handsome, or something else to get a comment posted on the Freakonomics Blog?

What's the point of reading a blog if you can't post your thoughts?

If I Google myself too much will I go blind?

It's the end of the quarter, students have gone home, faculty have gone, er, somewhere, and I'm sitting in my office trying to fill out a seemingly endless stream of annual report forms so I can go home to my family and have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby danced with Danny 'F___ing' Kaye.

So what does any good academic do while he's alone in his office?  He Googles himself--trust me it's nowhere near as fun as it sounds.  Really I'm looking for quotes from Env-Econ readers to include in my 'impact reporting' section of the outreach component of the Unified Reporting System for tenure track faculty.  Quotes like this:

"Environmental Economics" is the best site of its kind out there...

Would that be the best environmental economics blog among the class of environmental blogs that focus on economic issues authored by two slightly nerdy, tall but surpisingly awkward around the ladies, previous employees of a middle-tier regional university in the University of North Carolina System? 

Yep, we're the best site of that kind. 

Tim Haab is likely to visit Boone, NC during Spring 2008

Yep. I just received notice that my request for supplemental speaker funding has been granted (I actually sat down and wrote nice things about the guy). Oddly, Tim demands $295 worth of red M&Ms in his hotel room (i.e., my basement) and, more oddly, the funding group on campus has agreed. As part of this visit we'll be honored with a seminar from a professor at a big-time research university. Wow. Think of all the things we'll learn.

Note to Tim: the rules of engagement for economics seminars at Appstate follow closely the rules of Fight Club:

1. You don't talk about fight club.
2. You don't talk about fight club.
3. When someone says stop, or goes limp, even if he's just faking it, the fight is over.
4. Only two guys to a fight.
5. One fight at a time.
6. They fight without shirts or shoes.
7. The fights go on as long as they have to.
8. If this is your first night at fight club, you have to fight.

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)

My god, what have I done!

$24 million to aid area beaches, dredging:

The [NC] coastal area is positioned to receive about $24 million for beach nourishment and dredging projects in the massive federal spending bill Congress is debating in its final hours before adjourning for the year.

I find myself a bit responsible for this bit of pork.

Finally, proof the demand for gas is inelastic

From CNNMoney.com:

Growth in gasoline demand has been slowing all year. In five of the last seven weeks, the amount of gas that Americans consume has actually fallen compared to the same time last year...In some weeks demand has fallen by as much as 3 percent.

From the EIA, U.S. Retail Gas Prices:

12-17-2007: $2.998

Change from 1 year ago: $0.678

Using my mathematical prowess, the % change in price is 29.22%.  So a 29% increase in price leads to a 3% drop in consumption. for an elasticity of .103.  That would fall soundly in the inelastic range.

Field of Dreams II: Ethanol Dreams

From the NYTimes:

Last week, the Senate voted 86 to 8 for a new energy bill containing expanded ethanol mandates, and the House is expected to follow suit this week.

...and here's the money quote:

“This is like a runaway freight train,” said Scott Faber, a lobbyist for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, who complained that ethanol has the same “magical effect” on politicians as the tooth fairy and Santa Claus have on children. “It’s great news for corn farmers, but terrible news for consumers.”

But is it just ethanol's fault?  I haven't taken pot shots at an article in a while, so read on...

Tietenberg and Lewis

The retiring-from-Colby-but-not-textbooks Tom Tietenberg has added a co-author to his suite of best selling environmental economics textbooks. From the Lynne Lewis webpage at Bates College:

Lynne Lewis received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado in 1994 after finishing a two-year dissertation fellowship at the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Her dissertation received the Universities Council on Water Resources Dissertation Award in 1995. Prior to coming to Bates she served on the faculty at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. There she was involved in interdisciplinary teaching and research with the Center for Coastal and Watershed systems.

If you ever noticed the Bates College Environmental Economics on the EPA's Acid Rain Program Allowance Auction Results, that's Lynne.

Another reason to hate Duke

11 groups ask Duke to ditch plant efforts:

Eleven environmental groups asked Duke Energy on Monday to halt its plan to expand a coal-fired power plant 50 miles west of Charlotte, citing recent reports on climate change.

...

Duke, in response, said the Cliffside project would improve the environment by retiring four inefficient boilers and dramatically reducing nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions.

I'm #2, or even lower

According to my ScienceDirect Top 25 Hottest Articles in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management for July - September 2007 e-mail, rival blogger Matt Kahn comes in at #1:

1. Do greens drive Hummers or hybrids? Environmental ideology as a determinant of consumer choice • Article, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 1 September 2007, Pages 129-145
   Kahn, M.E.

Grrrrr.