One more session to attend and I'm out of here:
- On Saturday, attendance at the 10 am AERE "Fisheries" session was 11 and there were 27 at the 2 pm "Environmental Valuation" session (that might be some sort of record). On Sunday there were 24 at the "Spatial Implications" session. I heard attendance at the other AERE sessions fell in between these numbers. All of the presentations I saw were high quality. The initial reviews of having no discussants are positive. There is more time for the speaker and the questions from the audience were great.
- All of a sudden, I'm the oldest guy in the session. Yikes. When did that happen?
- My presentation went as well as they ever do (translation: I'm an idiot), thanks for asking, and I got some comments that will lower the probability of a first round journal rejection. Here is a link to the PDF of the PPT with a few corrections: Download Whitehead SEA 11-20-10. My literature review supporting the case for using stated preference methods for charter fishing is, well, awesome.
- Craig Landry (and myself, I guess, I'm a co-author!) finds that beachgoers are willing to pay $10 in higher travel costs to avoid a $1 increase in parking fees. Is this the Tea Party effect? Folks are willing to cut off their noses in spite of their faces to avoid any sort of government fee? Or, is it that we're not measuring travel costs very well? I think we should conduct a sensitivity analysis that leads to an equal marginal value per dollar spent.
- I had lunch with one-half of Knowledge Problem on Sunday. Very fun, thanks Lynne!
- And finally, here is my highlight of the meeting. An economist engrossed in his conference program after registering ... in his robe ... on Friday morning:
