Environmental Economics

Hey John, If I'm the first to go*, this is the sendoff I want

This is how to celebrate the life of a friend.

*For the record, I'm not planning to go anywhere anytime soon.

Friday Beer Post (on Wednesday)

No way to pass up posting a tragedy like this:

The front of the Busch beer truck then struck the Frito-Lay truck, prompting the Frito-Lay truck to overturn and spill beer and chips onto the roadway, according to FHP.

'Friday Beer Post' and 'Daily Demand and Supply' Combined

Over the past decade, there has been a boom in bourbon sales (John's Kentucky relatives rejoice!).  The demand increase has driven an increase in prices and move toward substitutes, like single-malt scotch.  Unfortunately for scotch substituters, the long-time attraction of scotch has been its long aging process and rare commodity status, causing inelastic supply of scotch (it is difficult to ramp up production in response to demand increases, resulting in little response in quantity supplied to price increases).  The result is rapid increases in the price of scotch, with little increase in the quantity supplied in the short-run.

Thirst for the liquor is booming around the world -- from the U.S. to developing countries like China -- pushing prices of older vintages through the roof, attracting savvy investors hoping to cash in and forcing distilleries to scramble to meet demand.

"The shortage of old and rare single malt ... has already started, and it's going to get worse," said Rickesh Kishnani, who launched the world's first whisky investment fund.

The problem is that age-labeled single malt Scotch has always been, by design, a limited commodity. Distillers produce a set amount in a given year with pretty much zero visibility about what demand will be like when the bottles start hitting venerable ages.

The industry woke up to the current boom too late. In the late 1980s, many distilleries were going out of business, and just a decade ago, Scotch exports were stagnating.

More capacity is being added now, but the bad news for whisky drinkers is the shortage could last another 10 to 15 years, experts say.

For the record, I am a Bourbon drinker.  Always have been (when I'm not drinking beer)--since, well, I'll keep that to myself in case my kids are reading.  

And I like to keep it simple: Jim Beam and Jack Daniels do just fine.  Especially when mixed with ginger ale or Coke.  Sure I will drink the niche-stuff (small batch) if someone else is buying--Knob Creek is yummy.  

And yes, I know Jack Daniels is technically a Tennessee whiskey and not Bourbon, but that difference is the same as the difference between 'soda' and 'pop.' Same product, different name.   

And Scotch is un-American. 

Literally.

Just sayin'.

Friday beer post: time to get your glyphosate on

Just in time to ruin happy hour:

A German environmental group said on Thursday it has found traces of the widely used weed-killer ingredient glyphosate in Germany's 14 most popular beers, a potential blow to the country's reputation for "pure" brewing.

Industry and government immediately sought to play down the report from the Munich Environmental Institute.

The Brauer-Bund beer association said the findings, which were based on a small number of samples, were not credible. Germany's Federal Institute for Risk assessment said the levels did not pose a risk to consumers' health.

"An adult would have to drink around 1,000 liters (264 U.S. gallons) of beer a day to ingest enough quantities to be harmful for health," it said in a statement.

via mobile.reuters.com

For how many days?

An unfortunately named journal

A colleague received an email that alerted me to this one:

Asian Social Science (ASS) is an international, double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by the Canadian Center of Science and Education. The journal focuses on the following topics: anthropology, sociology, politics, culture, history, philosophy, economics, education, management, arts, laws, linguistics and psychology. It provides an academic platform for professionals and researchers to contribute innovative work in the field. The journal carries original and full-length articles that reflect the latest research and developments in both theoretical and practical aspects of society and human behaviors.

via ccsenet.org

There are other ASS journals out there, by the way. I'm not sure what they were smoking when they considered journal names. And yes, this one is on Beall's list. 

I enjoyed the journal naming discussions for JAERE. My favorite was Cathy Kling's suggestion of Bulletin of Environmental Economics Research (BEER).

Hump day booze post (from The Economist)

The world may be getting warmer, but it is not getting much wetter. It quaffed 249 billion litres of alcoholic drinks in 2014, a modest increase of 1 billion over the preceding year. When measured by intake per head of the drinking-age population, consumption is down a little from a peak of 56.6 litres in 2012 to 55.4 litres in 2014. People in rich countries are the ones imbibing less—a moderation that has not (yet) been matched by a corresponding binge in emerging markets. India, for instance, is the ninth-largest alcohol market, yet consumption per head is low. Small wonder that drinks companies see an enormous market waiting to be tapped.

via www.economist.com

For the metrically challenged, 55.4 litres* is 14.64 gallons. 

According to the graphic, beer makes up about 41 liters per year...which is 10.83 gallons...which is 1,386 ounces...which is 115.5 beers...per year?

Pffft.

For me and John, that's a good weekend.

*litres?  The author must have graduated from Centre College!

Friday beer post: #academicswithbeer

Elena Milani (Academia Obscura):

The Internet and social media are plenty of cute fluffy cats, because kittens sell, especially among academics. Everybody knows that!

But what about beer? I love craft beer (and kittens, of course), and in Twitter I’ve found many hashtags on beers such as #beer #craftbeer #beerbods #beertography #breweries #beerselfie and so on.

However, there isn’t a hashtag for academics who love beer, as me, and I was curious if beer could help me to engage others scholars in Twitter. So, I started “an experiment” launching #academicswithbeer with the help of Cristina Rigutto.

A lot of people replied, retweeted and favorited this tweet! And you are invited to join the conversation too!

You can tweet:

• Quotes
• Selfies
• Sketches
• Sketchnotes or mind maps
• Other pics or texts

But you must include beer in your pic/text/tweet!

Here's my pic so that I don't violate the rules of #academicswithbeer (notice the hand blown pub pint from Asheville Glass Center [right across from the Wedge Brewing Co.]):

 

 

Happy 10 year anniversary to the environmental economics blog (sniff)!

Here is our first post 10 years ago today:

John Whitehead and Tim Haab are excited to announce the launch of ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS. A website and blog dedicated to accessible writings on environment and natural resource issues written by economists. ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS can be found at www.env-econ.net

On the site you will find:

• Opinion pieces
• Current event and news analysis
• Literature reviews for the lay reader
• Summaries of recent research findings
• Back of the envelope analyses
• Rules of thumb
• Case studies for teaching
• Simple data analyses
• Book reviews
• Research notes, comments, replies
• Etc.

All postings are accessible, non-technical writings by expert economists. The site will appeal to students and members of the public interested in what economists have to offer in the analysis of environmental issues. If you are interested in posting to the site please follow the instructions on the site.

The site will be continually evolving so check back often (it would even make a very nice default homepage). Pass the site along to anyone you think might benefit from reading economic views on environmental issues.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to send them to us at [email protected] or [email protected].

via www.env-econ.net

Ten years? We were just kids (John and Tim). According to Typepad here are our stats:

• 4,421,053 Lifetime Pageviews
• 1215.91 Pageviews/Day
• 9294 Total Posts
• 28,652 Total Comments

Here is a graph of our annual page views from StatCounter. As you can see, this blog peaked a long time ago. But at least the recession has not become a depression. 

I'm symbolically hoisting one tonight with my buddy Tim (who I've seen in person maybe twice in the last 10 years). 

Friday Beer Post & Image of the Day

Just sayin':

UPDATE:  For crap's sake (thanks for point his out Mauricio R.), somehow I missed the environmental hook to the story:

The beer will come in 22oz bottles and contain 6.3 percent alcohol. Additionally, the beer collaboration will benefit an organization called "Protect Our Winters," which helps fight the effects of climate change on mountains. No word yet on if drinking the beer will be like chugging ice cream.

Beginning of Spring Beer Post (for Tim)

My wife is a Marylander and she is obsessed with blue crabs and Old Bay, so we have tried many food items with Old Bay. The typical approach is just to pour a ton of the spice in or on everything, so I was a little skeptical when I heard that Flying Dog was putting out an Old Bay-seasoned beer (Dead Rise Summmer Ale). However, it's really good. It's a nice refreshing ale with just the right hint of Old Bay. Look for it on taps and in the store.

 

 

This work is not a product of the United States Government or the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the author is not doing this work in any governmental capacity.  The views expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily represent those of the United States or the US EPA.