Environmental Economics

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!

Taco Tuesday

Here is my recipe for the meat:

Brown 1 lb of grass-fed ground beef*

Mix the taco seasoning** (adapted from food renegade):

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt

Drain the fat from the beef, add 1/2 cup of water and the seasoning. 

Stir.

*This is preferably purchased from a vendor at the farmers' market. Make sure to wear some sort of hippy accessory (I always wear a tie dyed tank top) and ask the farmer if it is "grass-finished." 

**This is way more fun than buying a packet at the store (you can boast about your secret recipe). Also, if you are cooking for the gluten/dairy free you have no idea what is in the packets. 

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.

Daily Demand and Supply: Lobster of the Land*

You can tell that I'm ramping up to teach principles of micro--I'm using env-econ to store examples, even if they have nothing to do with the environment.  So here's a nice graph of ground beef prices over time.  Now i just need to figure out what is going on so I can sound smart in class.

*Get it?  Chicken of the Sea...Lobster of the Land...oh nevermind.

AERE Happy Hour at the SEA meetings

I just sent this message:

AERE / SEA session participants,

Let's have our informal AERE Happy Hour after the Distinguished Guest Lecture ("Life as a Lab: Using Field Experiments in Economics" John List [see note below]) on Saturday. This is a great chance to meet old friends and new and organize your dinner party!

 

What: AERE Happy Hour

 

Why: Meet old friends and new and organize your dinner party

 

Where: Hotel lobby bar (i.e.., Pulse -- "At 5:00 pm, an audible heartbeat will welcome the beginning of an eight-hour social hour as Pulse transforms into a vibrant lounge. As the evening progresses, the bar staff intensifies the showcasing of mixology behind the bar by giving demonstrations on how to make classic and new trendy drinks. The color of the iconic sail will change with the mood of the evening ending with a heightened pulsating array of radiant colors as a salute to the evening.")

 

When: 6:15 pm

 

See you in Atlanta!

 

John W.

 

Note: Speaking of field experiments, I withdrew my field experiment paper just now. Buy me a beer at happy hour and I'll explain why!

 

I'll try to post on that note soon (if I can get ready for my other sessions). Here is the excuse that I gave the SEA "We've been waiting on some essential data and it has not arrived." Nor will it ever.

Friday beer post

From the western NC best kept secret list:

Laughing Seed Cafe, Asheville

Not so long ago, eating at a vegetarian restaurant could be an ascetic experience even for vegetarians. But all those meat eaters have no idea what they’re missing when they walk past the Laughing Seed Cafe. It distills much that is distinctive about modern Asheville’s charms and quirks to a single place. After the restaurant opened in 1991, it helped lead Asheville’s downtown revival and now highlights a list of eateries that likely give the city the heaviest concentration of vegetarian restaurants per capita on the East Coast. Owners Joan and Joe Eckert also founded the attached Jack of the Wood pub, which brewed Green Man Ales. They sold the brewing business, but still pour its distinctive products in the restaurant and pub. The food has an international turn, with influences on standing menu items that include Vietnamese, Thai, Cuban, Indian, Pakistani, French, Mexican, Jewish, and ingredients assembled in imaginative, clever ways. 40 Wall St, Asheville. 828-252-3445. http://laughingseed.jackofthewood.com

via www.newsobserver.com

I'm a meat eater but this place is good.

Oh, and have you tried the Green Man?

And I hear there will be a crab feast afterwards

Just a little something to make Tim jealous, from the ASSA program (searching on Q5):

 

 

When science works: the myth of gluten sensitivity

I know this isn't exactly environmental, but a couple of side interests of mine have been 1) the ability of health fads and information conveyance (or misinformation) to affect behavior, and 2) using science for mythbusting.  Here's a case where anomalous scientific findings--gluten causes intestinal issues in some non-celiac patients--helped establish a multi-billion dollar industry and convince thousands upon thousands that they are gluten-sensitive.  So what happens now when the same scientist who established gluten sensitivity, follows up with two, more rigorous, studies and finds that non-celiac gluten sensitivity, well, doesn't exist.

In one of the best examples of science working, a researcher who provided key evidence of (non-celiac disease) gluten sensitivity recently published follow-up papers that show the opposite.

via www.businessinsider.com

A few of the money quotes.  First how do consumers react to gluten sensitivity?

Gluten is a big industry: 30% of people want to eat less gluten. Sales of gluten-free products are estimated to hit $15 billion by 2016.

Although experts estimate that only 1% of Americans — about 3 million people — suffer from celiac disease, 18% of adults now buy gluten-free foods.

So what will happen when those 17% of adults who don't have celiac disease read this:

For a follow-up paper [by the same authors who wrote the original paper that found gluten sensitiveity existed], 37 self-identified gluten-sensitive patients were tested...

The subjects cycled through high-gluten, low-gluten, and no-gluten (placebo) diets, without knowing which diet plan they were on at any given time. In the end, all of the treatment diets — even the placebo diet — caused pain, bloating, nausea, and gas to a similar degree. It didn't matter if the diet contained gluten. (Read more about the study.)

In other words, subjects who THOUGHT they were gluten sensitive had the same belly troubles, even if their diet contained no gluten.  Consumer behavior is driven by perception.

"In contrast to our first study … we could find absolutely no specific response to gluten," Gibson wrote in the paper. A third, larger study published this month has confirmed the findings.

Now that's good science.

So what happens now?  My guess, good science will take a long time to prevail.  Now that gluten sensitivity is entrenched as a consumer reality, it will take a long time for the myth to disipate in the market. 

 

"Washington College Students Rally to Protect Cows From Global Warming"

My favorite is 1% milk* with chocolate malt Ovaltine:

A newly released report showing that higher temperatures cause cows to give less milk is uniting climate and animal rights activists to take immediate action to counteract the negative effects of bovine heat stress.

“Cows are happy in parts of Northern California and not in Florida. That’s a good way to sum up the findings of my new research,” said University of Washington economist Rainbow Moonglow Rabinowitz. “A hot cow is a cranky cow, and a cranky cow gives less milk. So, in addition to fighting climate change, we must all struggle together to make our Bovine-American friends happier. If we fail, we risk facing a tragic “Cows With Guns” scenario.

Professional animal rights activist Sunshine Daffodil Wyzowski explained how she developed her so-far resoundingly successful methods of cow-cheering.

“We start with the assumption that cows are highly intelligent creatures,” said Wyzowski, “much like progressive college students. Therefore it’s only logical to conclude that the same things will make them happy. You know, like chanting, bongos, songs by Animal Collective (on vinyl of course), PBR, and ironic hats. If we provide our Bovine-American friends with these things in sufficient quantities, it’s only logical to conclude that we will be able to counteract the effects of climate change, which is man-made and George Bush’s fault.”

Local dairy-owner Billy Bob Jones, whose farm was the center of a recent cow-cheering event, reported mixed results.

“Well, as anyone with a lick of sense knows, cows are pretty dumb,” said Jones. “Kinda like progressive college students. And they’re easily scared by loud noises. Last week, a bunch of them overprivilged, under-brained UW snots come trompin’ onto my land, chanting, beatin’ on drums, and playin’ the gadawfulest records you’d ever heard in your life. Rattled my poor cows pretty bad. They haven’t given a drop of milk since.”

via www.imao.us

Hat tip: the Stand-up Economist

*Organic, of course.

What do the U.S., Russia, Ireland and Morocco have in common?

Illustration credit: Richie King, Quartz; (click for larger image)

via www.yahoo.com

I prefer bourbon .  Unlike vodka, it has a flavor.  And I refuse to call it whiskey.  I don't know why.