Environmental Economics

Picture of the day

From the local paper, curiously coinciding with Tim's tool post:

 

A Cass Sunstein OIRA post-mortem

From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

But from some administrative-law experts and OIRA-watchers, Mr. Sunstein earned praise. He brought "much-needed academic rigor to the position," says Eric Posner, a sometime co-author and a law professor at the University of Chicago, where Mr. Sunstein used to teach. In his reports and memoranda, his supporters say, he laid out a vigorous vision for how government could make itself more accessible and user-friendly, drawing on the latest social science.

In his most controversial case, in September 2011, Mr. Sunstein, at President Obama's direction, returned long-awaited new standards on safe levels of ozone to the Environmental Protection Agency for reconsideration. The president of the League of Conservation Voters told The New York Times the move was "the worst thing a Democratic president had ever done on our issues," environmentalists called the decision nakedly political, and Lisa P. Jackson, the EPA chairwoman, reportedly considered resigning. ...

One target of the critics is cost-benefit analysis itself, which environmentalists believe fails to capture much of what they value. Mr. Sunstein views it as a tool to cut through knee-jerk reactions—Regulations kill jobs! No, they save lives!—and move on to more-analytical terrain. ...

Some conservatives, for their part, have suggested that the agencies' cost-benefit estimates are rigged in favor of government intervention. "Neither of the competing dogmas can be supported by the evidence," he writes in Simpler, citing retrospective economic analysis of federal cost estimates that find some errors but not a pattern of errors.

Two comments:

1. The EPA's own analysis of the ozone standards indicates that the net benefits are roughly zero. 
2. How do you know when benefit-cost analysis is doing a good job? When both sides of the issue are irritated about it.

All of a sudden I'm pulling for the Gators

Actually, I hate to admit it but I have been since the tourney started (got to support the SEC...don't tell Ropicki), but this seals the deal:

If you’re wondering how Florida Gulf Coast University became the first 15th seed in the history of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to advance to the Sweet 16, look no further than the ur-text of the school’s economics department: Atlas Shrugged.

Embedded in this long, ponderous novel—required reading for all undergraduate economics and finance majors at FGCU—is the formula for transforming your college from a bunch of trailers on a swamp into the most talked-about school in the country. It’s simple, really. All you need to do is practice what Ayn Rand called “rational self-interest.”

via deadspin.com

Yes, Ayn Rand invented rational self-interest.

Here's more. One thing these simplifications miss is that most all economists teach free market capitalism. But, at some point most economists acknowledge that there are certain situations where markets fail to allocate resources efficiently. 

Here is one more written by an economics faculty member comparing FGCU's coach to Hayek. Weird coincidence, I'm working on a piece comparing John Calipari to Joseph Schumpeter ... creative destruction and all that. 

A RateMyProfessor test

Looking for an ego boost (or deflation...it's a crapshoot really) I was just browsing RateMyProfessor.com.  Here's a test for you: Pick which description below describes John and which describes me. 

A) This guy is such a tool! He's so full of himself and wants you to bow down. He goes off on strange tangents and doesn't have actual lecture plans and wings it. You rely heavily on the book but the book isn't enough for his tests. I guess he knows what he's talking about but needs an ego check.

B) I was dreading this class, but Prof. [XX] made it enjoyable. He is light-hearted and uses a lot of good examples to help everyone understand the material. He is also very helpful.

I would've gotten it wrong.

Friday Beer Post

OK,it's Thursday, and this is about vodka, but being from Bawlmer (Baltimore) I couldn't pass this one up:

On Monday – which was Maryland Day, for those of you not from the Old Line State – Philadelphia Distillers officially launched its new vodka, the Bay, which is flavored with “traditional Chesapeake seasoning,” an apparent relative of Old Bay.

via www.washingtonpost.com

Bloody Mary here I come.

My "featured lunch speaker" presentation at CNREP

Here is the PDF: Download Contingent Valuation - from dubious to hopeless

Here is the text: http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/aplwpaper/13-07.htm

The gist is I don't think the contingent valuation method is all that bad.

Stephanie Stefanski's poster at CNREP

Frank Lupi's poster at CNREP

Just got back from NOLA

Here is the conference website: http://www.cnrep.lsu.edu/

We're* official backers of The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change!

From the inbox (Yoram Bauman): 

Kickstarter: My latest project is The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change, which I'm working on with Grady Klein (my co-author on the Cartoon Econ books) and the non-profit publisher Island Press. But we need your help to make it a reality... and in return we're offering up some awesome rewards, including a limited number of cameo appearances in the book itself! Check out the fun video and more at our Kickstarter page, and please help spread the word because we've only got a narrow window of time to reach our goal!

I watched the video, thought hard about it and ...

*Note: yes "we" ... you can stop wondering where those ad revenues are going.