Environmental Economics

Top young economists rankings from RePEc

Here is the link: http://ideas.repec.org/top/top.young.html.

Definition of young: Young is defined by the year of the first publication in any form. 5 years or less, 10 years or less. By this definition I'm not young so I don't appear in these rankings.

NIT pool update

Now that UK is out of the NIT and the new coach speculation is way hot I've lost some enthusiam for the big NIT pool. Nevertheless, here is the update from yesterday:

Wow!  Things are really heating up fast in the ... one-on-one NIT bracket competition.  First, let's start things off with a correction.  Yesterday I incorrectly awarded Whitehead 4 points for Virginia Tech beating Baylor.  Since Baylor beat Auburn yesterday, it is safe to assume that they beat Tech in the prior game.  If I am wrong, please correct me.  Accordingly, the score heading into quarter final action is Whitehead 44, "Charlie" 52.  But whatever you do, don't stop following the action now.  It is only beginning to heat up.  In a dramatic turn of events, "Charlie" lost two final four teams yesterday (Florida and Auburn).  Even more dramatically, both scores were reported in a manner that was not too difficult to find.  This thing is getting interesting fast.  You could not ask more from an inaugural completion.

Also, a travel note: I was able to watch some of the game on ESPN on the headrest screen on the plane to Tampa yesterday for free. Wow.

 

The Truth Squad's in the House

Have you heard the one about climate legislation costing every U.S. household $5000? Turns out it's far from the truth, but that didn't stop Heritage from putting the number on its blog.

EDF's new Climate Vote Truth Squad sets the record straight on this one:

The median impact on GDP from capping carbon for 2030 of analysis done by independent organizations such as the EIA and EPA is 0.58% (less than two-thirds of one percent). This figure is so small that even the differences between GDP forecasts overwhelm the impact that any of them predicts from a federal climate policy.

Sadly, we have several other posts up already -- grouped into economic scare tactics, Trojan horses and red herrings, and just plain junk science.

Apparently I hang out with a bunch of jocks...

As week two of the NCAA basketball tournament gets ready to start, a quick peak at the standings of the Env-Econ bumper sticker pool reveals something about my social life (although I'm not sure exactly what).  Here are the top 10--out of 55--as of this morning  (top 11 with ties):

M Panza--boyfriend of sister-in-law

M Giberson 

K Snipes--PhD advisee

T Haab--Me

A. Morgan

W Wheeler

B. Hammett--Friend and co-softball coach

V Pareto

N Powers

D Haab--7 year old son

M Haab--11 year old daughter

 

Where's John you ask?  Given his risky pick of Wake Forest as National Champion, John has a legit shot at winning the race to the bottom.  On the bright side, Kentucky could still win the NIT get a new coach next year.

I guess I'm not just an environmental economist

From the inbox:

Here's the official citation for the article including page numbers, etc...

Brian E. Roe, Timothy C. Haab, David Q. Beversdorf, Howard H. Gu, Michael R. Tilley, Risk-attitude selection bias in subject pools for experiments involving neuroimaging and blood samples, Journal of Economic Psychology, Volume 30, Issue 2, April 2009, Pages 181-189, ISSN 0167-4870, DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2008.07.005.

The short version:  People who are risk averse tend to not volunteer for medical studies that they view as risky (shocking eh?).  So, if you are doing a medical study to understand the biology of risk, your results might be screwed up.

A knowledgable person in Tampa

I'm attending the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council's Socioeconomic Panel meeting. Here is a link to the agenda: PDF.

The Socioeconomic Panel advises the Scientific and Statistics Committee (which advises the Council) on matters socioeconomic. Here is info about the Council:

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional Fishery Management Councils established by the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. The Council prepares fishery management plans designed to manage fishery resources from where state waters end, out to the 200-mile limit of the Gulf of Mexico. These waters are also known as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

...

When reviewing potential rule changes, the Council draws upon the services of knowledgeable people from other state and federal agencies, universities, and the public, who serve on panels and committees.

I'll be presenting some results from a recreation demand study that Tim, Rob Hicks, Kurt Schnier and I are trying to wrap up ("Recreational Values of Grouper in the Gulf of Mexico"). Here is a link to the presentation: Gulf_SEP2.pdf .

Happy Anniversary?

Missed this while sitting on the beach in southern California. Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Not really a reason to celebrate, bout it did go a long way toward launching the field that has supported two unnamed but world (in)famous environmental economics bloggers.

Environmental Economics?

My first post at The Energy Collective as an Advisory Blogger Board Member begins like this:

This is my first of a series of monthly original posts for The Energy Collective. I’m really looking forward to this gig since I think I’ll be able take a broader view of environmental and energy economics, relative to the day-to-day grind of nimble little blog posts. To kick things off I’d like to do some soul searching and examine one of the puzzles I’ve confronted since I’ve been blogging. Why are environmental economists so wildly unpopular with the public (i.e., blog readers … the only “public” I really know)? Next to financial economists, those goofs who don’t know a bubble when it is about to pop in their faces, environmental economists are likely some of the most disliked economists around. Always taking some sort of middle ground, environmental economists are not green enough for environmentalists and too green for business people. Why is that?

You've got to go to TEC to read the rest. Go there now (you may need to register). And hurry.

Another reason to hate Du ..., er, wait a sec

From the snail mailbox:

University of Kentucky alumnus Jim Rogers is featured in an article in Newsweek magazine as one of the 50 most powerful people in the world. Rogers, a member of the alumni halls of fame in both the UK Gatton College of Business and Economics and the UK College of Law, is the CEO of Duke Energy.

I imagine one of the most powerful people in the world could squash my head like eggplant and besides, we're on the same team. I better keep my big mouth shut.

The last of the original CT guys goes

CT better retire my number:

Rich’s decision to end his time at CT got me thinking about my future as well. I’m also trying to decide on a grad program, wrap up my projects at RFF, re-learn a bunch of math, and enjoy my last months in DC. ...

Makes me wish I could quit and move onto something new ...