Environmental Economics

My new autoresponse to appstate.edu emails

Hello,

John Whitehead is happy to report that he is no longer a part-time academic administrator (i.e., Economics Department Chair). If your email is regarding department business, please redirect it to our new chair Todd Cherry at cherrytl at appstate.edu.

John Whitehead is also happy to report that he is on Off-Campus Scholarly Assignment (i.e., sabbatical) in Fall 2017 and back to teaching, research and service in Spring 2018. If your email is about non-department business, he'll reply ASAP (or maybe not).

Thanks,

John Whitehead

P.S. For the remainder of his academic career, John Whitehead will refer to himself in the third person.

Greg Mankiw's Blog: A Trailer for the Pigou Club

via gregmankiw.blogspot.com

From YouTube:

From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Fisher Stevens and Academy Award-winning actor, and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio, BEFORE THE FLOOD presents a riveting account of the dramatic changes now occurring around the world due to climate change. BEFORE THE FLOOD will be in theaters in NYC and LA starting October 21, and air globally on the National Geographic Channel starting October 30.

The only economics in the trailer is a sign that says "Carbon Tax Now" and Professor Mankiw at 1:45. 

From dubious to a new hope

The AERE Summer Conference Program has been released! From the inbox:

The AERE Summer Conference schedule of papers has been posted!  We are excited about the variety and excellence of this year’s program--click here to see all the sessions.  The list of papers for Friday afternoon’s special session on The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: Estimating the Economic Losses will be posted by early next week.

My favorite paper title? "Alternative value elicitation questions in contingent valuation: A new hope." If Vossler and Holladay are Skywalker and Solo, who is Lord Vader? 

Dumb and Dumber Economics of Coastal Erosion

A small win for the economics profession

The fact that the NY Times gave a nod towards adjusting for inflation before they declared Star Wars the winner is huge:

In an astounding display of cultural and commercial domination on a global scale — one with little precedent in the history of Hollywood — the Walt Disney Company’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” earned roughly $517 million in worldwide ticket sales, smashing multiple box office records, even after accounting for inflation.

It was the largest opening weekend in North America, with $238 million in ticket sales. To put that figure into perspective, consider that “Avatar” (2009), which analysts consider to be the highest-grossing film in history, with $3.1 billion in global ticket sales, took in $85 million over its first three days in domestic release; the previous record-holder for a December opening was “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (2012) with $87.5 million.

via www.nytimes.com

However, it is not clear from the second paragraph if these are real dollars. We can only declare victory when the currency number has a parenthetical. For example, "...with $238 (2015 dollars) million in ticket sales."

Star Wars*, Academic Administration and Moral Suasion

A message I just sent to our department faculty:

I know it’s ridiculous timing, and the University scheduling committee needs to take a close look at this, but PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR GRADES FOR GRADUATING STUDENTS IN BY MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. All other grades are due by Monday at midnight.

Sorry for the all caps, but I am on call tomorrow for anyone who does not get their grades in on time and frankly I don’t want to have to field calls while watching Star Wars with my son. 

So be kind to my son and get your grades in on time.

*I'm an admitted Star Wars dork.  The first trilogy defined my childhood--Episode IV came out when I was 7.  And John still occasionally calls me Chewbacca, I guess because I'm tall, hairy and only speak in grunts.

Quote of the day

In a post simply titled "December 16, 2015", Tyler Cowen:

All the major reviews for Star Wars seem to be positive, but no one is calling it an “intense personal vision.”  So it probably isn’t very good. ...

The solstice approaches, and I am waking up slightly later than usual.

via marginalrevolution.com

My view on Sony and North Korea

Now that Sony has set a precedent of pulling movies after the parent company is hacked, I worry that the Empire will be using the Force on Disney now that the Force is awakening.

Yes, I'm a dork.

I saw American Hustle last night

And spent most of the time aftwards on the Google (searchword "Abscam"). It is a great movie but I also ran across this item:

ESPN''s Bill Simmons will be an executive producer, along with Connor Schell, on the film Million Dollar Arm, starring Jon Hamm, Bill Paxton, and Lake Bell. Million Dollar Arm tells the true story of a sports agent attempting to recruit a pair of teenage Indian cricket players to play professional baseball.

via www.awfulannouncing.com

In the trailer for Million Dollar Arm there was an endorsement quote from Bill Simmons on the screen (I can't find the trailer with the Google). I was thinking, "wow, The Sports Guy likes it, it must be good." But now I feel like I need a shower.

How kosher is it to serve as an executive producer and also endorse the film as some sort of cool guy independent observer? Shouldn't movie trailers have a conflict of interest policy? Even the American Economic Association has one.

I like to watch*

Growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again:

In July the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), will discuss a carbon tax bill that would impose a fee on fossil fuel producers at the source, rather than on emissions from power plants. The bill, sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), “would return 60 percent of those revenues to residents to help offset costlier energy.”

RFF’s Rob Williams, Richard Morgenstern, Jared Carbone, and Dallas Burtraw have developed a new model to examine the implications of such a bill, exploring how the economy, the environment, and consumers will be affected by a carbon tax under a variety of scenarios, such as providing consumer rebates from the revenue. On Wednesday, June 26, they will explain the results from the model, which is the only model of its kind to look at distributional impacts across current and future generations of people. Register here to attend in the seminar in person or watch online at www.rff.org/live.

via common-resources.org

I'll post a screen shot next week to prove that I'm "working" during the summer. 

*From one of the best all time economic movies: Being there.