Environmental Economics

More environmental economics teaching resources

From the inbox:

I ... teach ... economics ... and I also coach mock trial. I noticed your forensic economics mock trial project and was intrigued. So much so, that I would like to implement that as my class project for the quarter. I wanted to get your permission to implement this project. Also, would it be possible to get some insight into your project; specifically, do you have any old student papers that you could lend as a guideline for me to facilitate implementation of this project? Thank You.

My reply:

Sorry, but I can’t find any of those papers on my computer. The last time I did it was Fall 2004. I like the project but I decided to go with a benefit-cost analysis project since then.

I would be delighted if you used this as the class project.

Here is the link: http://www.appstate.edu/~whiteheadjc/eco3620/projects/mocktrial/index.htm

Gas under $2 (sorta)

I just filled up my gas tank over lunch:

• Price $1.82/G*
• Volume: $13.645 GAL
• Total: $24.96

*I used a $.50 per gallon grocery store discount.  Buying groceries for a family of 5 every month at Kroger earns us $.30-$.50 off per gallon with each fill-up at a Kroger gas station.  It just happens that a Kroger gas station is close to work.  Whatever. I just paid under $2 a gallon for gas! 

Hmmmm...maybe I'll go SUV shopping.

I forgot to boast on Friday ...

... that Appstate is the best little* economics department with an environmental core around. The latest evidence is the second environmental economics external speaker seminar of the year (with possibly a couple more in the Spring):

October 24
John Stranlund (U. of Mass.)
The Optimal Pricing of Pollution When Enforcement is Costly

Abstract: We consider the pricing of a uniformly mixed pollutant with a model of optimal, possibly firm-specific, emissions taxes and their enforcement under incomplete information about firms’ abatement costs, enforcement costs, and pollution damage. We argue that optimality requires an enforcement strategy that induces full compliance by every firm, except possibly when a regulator can base the probabilities of detecting individual violations on observable correlates of violators’ actual emissions. Moreover, optimality requires discriminatory taxes, except when a regulator is unable to use observable firm-level characteristics to gain some information about the variation in firms’ abatement costs or monitoring costs. In many pollution control settings, especially those that have been subject to various forms of environmental regulation in the past, regulators are not likely to be so ill-informed about individual firms. In these settings, policies that set or generate a uniform pollution price are inefficient.

Note: Our department was in an unusually chipper mood during this seminar. And we didn't go for beers until after.

*"little" = non-graduate degree granting.

If you live in Florida, is a Tropicana orange 'locally grown'?

How do you define 'local produce'?  From the USAToday today:

Nationwide, retailers from Wal-Mart to Whole Foods are increasingly devoting more shelf space to "locally grown" products including such things as fresh produce and Thanksgiving turkeys. Whole Foods, for one, now spends almost 22% of its produce budget on locally grown products, up from 15% four years ago, it says.

The "locally grown" label is part of retailers' push to tap into consumer desires for fresh and safe products that support small, local farmers and help the environment because they're not trucked so far. At least one consumer survey has showed that whether something is locally grown is now more important than whether it is organic (which many local products are not).

But retailers may have far broader definitions of "local" than consumers do. And while freshness is more likely if food isn't trucked so far, food-safety experts say there's no evidence that locally grown products are safer, especially because small producers often lack the food-safety audits more common among big producers.

And yet another reason to hate Wal-Mart:

In July, Wal-Mart pledged to source more local fruits and vegetables and noted, in a press release, that 20% of the fresh produce in its supercenters in the summer was already local, making Wal-Mart the "nation's largest purchaser of local produce."

For a Florida store, that 20% would include any citrus grown in Florida even if it's also sold nationwide, says Wal-Mart spokeswoman Caren Epstein.

"They're not defrauding people, but counting a product that is nationally shipped as local doesn't seem to be within the meaning of locally grown," says Jim Prevor, editor of Produce Business and author of the online Perishable Pundit.

Good news for NC pier anglers, bad news for society?

Make sure to visit Jennette's Pier at Milepost 16.5 in Nags Head, North Carolina (NC) in 2010:

The head of North Carolina's aquarium agency says he hopes a rebuilt pier on the Outer Banks will be open for use by 2010. North Carolina Aquariums director David Griffin said the agency will begin seeking bids this week on the Jennette's Pier project, The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reported Monday.

The $15 million project would rebuild the pier to 1,000 feet and design it to withstand hurricanes of 130 mph. The pier would include alternative energy generators and a 200-seat meeting area.

Jennette's Pier was demolished this year to clear the way for the new project. The original pier was built in 1939 and lost about 540 feet of length during Hurricane Isabel in 2003. The state acquired the pier last year.

"We hope to have an opening of May 2010," Griffin said. "We feel like this will be a huge addition to the Whalebone area, Nags Head and the entire county - and not just for fishing and beach access, but for educational purposes as well. "It will be a very solid building but also very green."

Plans are to locate three 100-foot wind turbines along the pier to reduce electrical costs, said Nags Head Planning Director Tim Wilson. A geothermal system for heating and cooling and a rain collection system also are in the plans.

According to an important study, Jennette's Pier gets about 0.19% of the shore (i.e., beach, bank, rip rap, pier and etc) fishing trips in NC. According to NMFS, there were 3.9 million shore fishing trips in NC in 2007. According to some fancy math conducted by an elitist academic economist, Jennette's Pier gets about 6630 visitors a year (0.0017*3.9 million). Using a fancy math formula from Tim's book (the paperback is available for $36), the economic value of each of these trips is about $4.58/trip. In perpetuity at a 2% discount rate, the social value of Jennette's Pier for fishing (at historical participation levels) is about $1.5 million. The social net benefit -$13.5 million. Ouch.

Note: I welcome additional estimates of the value of the three 100-foot wind turbines. 

Outer Banks beach driving conflict resolution?

Is this the conclusion to a story we've been following closely?

After seven years of court fights and compromise, more than 2,000 acres of seashore along the Outer Banks were deemed critical wintering habitat for piping plovers, a rare shorebird.

Beach drivers now wonder how the designation will affect them, and groups that oppose it want federal regulators to reconsider the move.

...

The final Fish and Wildlife rule designates about 2,043 acres of seashore at Oregon Inlet, Cape Point, Hatteras Inlet and Ocracoke Island as critical wintering habitat for piping plovers.

The area covered has been reduced substantially from the original proposal. The critical wintering habitat now also includes state-owned spoil islands and Bodie Island and Hatteras Inlet spits.

"It really will not have any impact on what's done with the beach driving in Cape Hatteras," said Patty Matteson, a spokeswoman for the Raleigh field office of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

"People are not going to see any impact from this. It doesn't set up a refuge. It's not going to stop activities that have been ongoing."

I'm bundling up

Forecasters say ...

Western North Carolina residents may see the first snowflakes of the year as cold temperatures hit the state's mountains.

And here it is from the local forecaster:

Daytime highs will be at sunrise. A cold front moving through early this morning is ushering in very cold air; expect steady or falling temperatures and windy conditions today. Tonight, snow flurries will develop. Snow flurries will continue Tuesday with a few heavier snow showers in the western upslope regions right along the NC/TN line. Snow flurries will end Tuesday evening. Tuesday's highs will be closer to normal for January 28 than October 28. Unseasonably chilly weather will continue into Wednesday. We'll look forward to Thursday when a warmup begins.

-- Insert "global warming my ass" joke here --

Local land use fight

Nothing like a good land use dispute to kick off your week.  Would you be against a gravel quarry being located near your house if after the useful life of the quarry, the land were donated to the city as parkland?  That's the question facing one central Ohio neighborhood (that sound very journalistic, didn''t it?):

Jackson Township officials want Columbus to stop a company's plans to open a gravel quarry near Jackson Pike and I-270.

Jones Fuel Co., better known as Jones Topsoil, wants to use about 60 acres of the 90-acre property for a gravel quarry.

...

In letters to the Columbus City Council and Mayor Michael B. Coleman last week, Township Administrator Mike Lilly called the quarry plan a "horrible change in land use."

...

The company, which has been in business since 1955, hasn't had any pollution issues regarding topsoil excavation, he said. It would donate the land to Columbus for a park after quarrying is complete in 10 to 15 years. Antrim Park on Columbus' North Side was built on an old quarry site, he said.

But Lilly worries that the park wouldn't come that soon.

"The bait on the end of the hook is that when this quarry has completed its useful life, it will be donated as a park," he said. "However, I don't know how long the useful life is. It might be 50 to 100 years the community has to endure this nuisance. I don't think the return is worth the nuisance."

My boss is asking me to leave work early on Friday

From the inbox:

Important Parking Information for Friday, October 31

Appalachian v. Wofford Football Game at 8:00 PM

Colleagues,

On Friday, October 31, 2008, the university is excited to welcome ESPN2 to campus as our Mountaineer football team takes on the Wofford Terriers.  We anticipate an electric atmosphere for our campus and are honored that Appalachian will be nationally showcased to approximately 3 million television viewers.   In an effort to accommodate faculty, staff, students and alumni and prevent traffic and safety concerns, the following plan is established for this busy day on our campus.

On-Campus Parking for Faculty, Staff and Students

In an effort to accommodate all parties involved, parking gates will open for visitors at  3:00pm.  At which time, we ask for your cooperation with the following plan.

If you park in the Raley Lot/Duncan Lot/Student Rec Center Lot/Student Union Lot -   If possible we ask for assistance by all Faculty and Staff that park in these lots to please relocate their cars to the following locations to allow visitors to park for the game ...

I'm in the Raley lot and ... you want me to go home at 3 pm on Friday? No problem!

 

One million visitors!

Sometime Sunday evening we reached the one million visitor threshold! While about 75% of these are Google searchers who stay for less than a minute, I'll still be celebrating all damn day.

No gifts, please.