Environmental Economics

About 20% of all state level benefit-cost analyses are in the area of the environment

Source: White, Darcy, and Gary VanLandingham. "Benefit-Cost Analysis in the States: Status, Impact, and Challenges." Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis: 1-31.

My dream is to publish a paper with only "a few" self-cites

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1821

Quote of the Day: And then he called all climate scientists 'doo-doo heads.'

The Hair's stance on climate change:

“I consider climate change to be not one our big problems. I consider it to be not a big problem at all,” said [Presidential Candidate Donald] Trump. “I think it’s weather. I think it’s weather changes. It could be some man-made something, but you know, if you look at China, they’re doing nothing about it. Other countries, they’re doing nothing about it. It’s a big planet.”

Misplace modifiers much Donald?

...and I'm still an environmental economist

While I'm bragging about the successes of PhD advisees, Matt Interis (PhD, 2009) is profiled on the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association website.  Matt is the grand pubah of the Land, Water and Environment section of the AAEA.

...and yet he failed to mention the outstanding advise he received while at THE OSU.

I'm taking the over

It's a start:

Eleven House Republicans signed on to a resolution Thursday that recognizes humans have a role in causing climate change.

The resolution also endorses steps to combat global warming, though it stops well short of calling for specific solutions.

ADVERTISEMENT

 

Led by Rep. Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.), the lawmakers want the House to go on record to generally agree with the overwhelming consensus of scientists that human activity, through greenhouse gases, is warming the globe.

The resolution frames climate change as an issue of environmental stewardship, which it says has a long history in the United States.

They’re introducing the non-binding legislation a week before Pope Francis speaks to Congress. He is expected to call for action on climate change, following up on his encyclical earlier this year asking world leaders to fight global warming.

via thehill.com

The over/under on when they propose a carbon tax as a specific solution is 6 months.

"Appalachian State Set to Convert Entire Appalachian Mountain Range into World’s Least-Attended Football Stadium"

Rotten Appal:

BOONE, NC — In a move that is being lauded for its ingenuity, Appalachian State has announced plans to convert the entire Appalachian Mountain range into the world’s least-attended football stadium.

“The decision was made by the board of trustees with Appalachian State’s best interests at heart,” athletic director Doug Gillin explained, “The more resources the school dedicates to the football team, the more students will want to come to the school, which will make more money for the university. In turn, we can then use that money to dedicate more resources to the football team. It’s just simple economics really.”

Expecting to cost the university around $10.27 quadrillion, the planned expansion will stretch Kidd Brewer Stadium across 757,000 sq miles starting in central Alabama and ending in southeastern Canada.

“We here at Appalachian State are more than a university, we are a family,” Chancellor Everts wrote in a mass email detailing the 4.5 billion percent increase to tuition required to help cover the cost of the project, “And even though the school will no longer be offering academic, social, and non-football related athletic programs, I know, as a family, we will persevere through these harrowing times. Go Mountaineers!”

Since the email was sent out, most students have begun working on transferring, but others, like in-state freshman Alex Davis, have remained optimistic about the school’s future.

“604 billion dollars a year is a bit pricey, but I really love it here and I can’t imagine myself going anywhere else,” Davis explained, “It’s just in such a great location! Plus, I already have some student loans anyway so I’ll probably just take some more out. I’ll only end up owing the US government like 13% of the national debt by the time I graduate, which actually isn’t that bad if you don’t think about it.”

At press time, construction workers were seen beginning to demolish the mountains closest to Kidd Brewer Stadium in preparation for the expansion.

via rottenappal.com

Rotten Appal appears to be the Onion for Appstate students. I like it.

"To comply with the Clean Power Plan, states should tax carbon"

Adele Morris and Evan Weber:

Since the release of the final rule, much attention has been given to how states can trade emissions allowances across borders to reach goals jointly, allowing more abatement where costs are lowest. The requirements for these complicated schemes occupy hundreds of pages of the rule, while EPA devotes only one sentence (in the preamble) to the potentially equally cost-minimizing carbon tax approach. The agency clearly prefers cap-and-trade over other options, as evidenced by the detail in the rule and EPA’s accompanying proposed federal plan for states who do not submit an acceptable (or any) implementation plan.

However, another factor accounts for EPA’s apparent short shrift for a tax approach: the concept is remarkably simple to understand—one-sentence simple—and just as easy to administer. By gradually increasing the cost of emitting greenhouse gases from coal- and natural gas-fired power plants by charging a per-ton fee for the CO₂ emissions the plants already monitor, states could both reduce electricity demand from fossil fuel sources and level the playing field for zero-emissions alternatives like wind and solar. States already know how to implement such a tax; every state already taxes fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and natural gas. A state would just need to show, by modeling (the kind EPA already does), that its proposed carbon tax trajectory will hit its Clean Power Plan target and be prepared to adjust it or take other actions if emissions are off course.

via www.brookings.edu

I guess I'm a development economist too?

A PhD advisee of mine (and now Assistant Professor of Development Economics at Colgate University), Dr. Carolina Castilla*, got some nice coverage today from the World Bank blogs:

A nice paper by Carolina Castilla in the May AER gives us some insight into trust and reciprocity between spouses in India (gated version here, longer, more detailed working paper here).    The premise is nice:  where better to find trust than a sample of married couples? 

via blogs.worldbank.org

Now the curious reader might be asking "Hey Tim, if your advisees are good enough to publish in the AER, why haven't you published there too?"  I can think of a few reasons: 1) I spend all of my time training other to publish in the AER, 2) I prefer the JPE, 3) John hasn't come up with an AER-worthy paper to graciously attach my name to, or 4) My advisee obviously forgot the unwritten rule that the advosor should ALWAYS be included on big hit publications (really Carolina? You can include me on a piece in Applied Econ and one in the AJAE, but not the AER?).

Anyway, it's always good to see students succeed...it's really the main reason I do what I do.

Congratulation Carolina.

And next time, don't forget where you came from...sheesh.

*Some may wonder how I ended up advising a Development Economist.  Carolina came to me with interests in econometrics.  After she realized I am a fake econometrician, she switched her interests to Development Economics but for some reason stuck with me as an advisor.  Fortunately she has been successful despite her poor choice of advisor.

Quote of the Day: On the inequity of the tragedy of the commons (and King Kong Bundy)

Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International said: ‘In the space of a single generation, human activity has severely damaged the ocean by catching fish faster than they can reproduce while also destroying their nurseries.

‘Profound changes are needed to ensure abundant ocean life for future generations.

‘We are in a race to catch fish that could end with people starved of a vital food source and an essential economic engine. ‘Overfishing, destruction of marine habitats and climate change have dire consequences for the entire human population, with the poorest communities that rely on the sea getting hit fastest and hardest.

‘The collapse of ocean ecosystems could trigger serious economic decline – and undermine our fight to eradicate poverty and malnutrition.’

via www.dailymail.co.uk

Sorry, I still chuckle every time I see 'WWF.' I'm trying to picture King Kong Bundy as an environmental advocate.

I think I've always wanted to be contaminated by nuclear material

Comics Curmudgeon:

Mark Trail, 9/10/15

Let’s all take a minute to appreciate what a thoughtful nature journalist Mark Trail is. Sure, that box of glowing rods marked by a giant radiation symbol is probably full of radioactive material, but wouldn’t it be embarrassing if a team from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission came out and found a bunch of gag novelty items or something like that? I think once Mark does eventually call them in, and they hear that he dicked around for a few days waiting for special dive suits to be shipped to him and then went poking around himself without any training on how to handle radioactive material, they’ll be glad he didn’t waste their time!

via joshreads.com