Next Week...

Next week we will finish chapter 2 and read The Tragedy of the Commons.

Garrett Hardin published this piece in 1968 and for any current student of resource economics it is just as relevant today as it was 39 years ago - maybe even more so today.

Nice class today - I am enjoying the level of participation.

Peace

Simple ideas from a brilliant man

And he's a pretty good hoopster to boot. Bill Bradley had a nice piece in the Washington Post
a few months back that is worth revisiting. His argument is simple - tax the things we want less of (oil imports) and reduce taxes on things we want more of (jobs). In case you weren't aware, Dollar Bill ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2000. He served in the US Senate for 18 years, played for the Knicks for about a decade ( I saw him play when I was 4), went to Princeton and Oxford. The ideas he talks about in the article are just a sampling of the kind of things he thinks about - I guess that's why I voted for him in 2000 and wish he would run again.

The General

More on China

Yesterday's NYTimes had an article on economic growth and pollution in China. It is hard to imagine how fast China's economy has been growing and even harder to imagine just how dirty the air and water must be. It begs the question - at what price growth??

China Pays Steep Price As Textile Exports Boom

Did you see the WSJ article on August 22nd with the title "China Pays Steep Price As Textile Exports Boom"? A perfect example of negative externalities.

Below is the link if you have access:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118580938555882301.html

The Syllabus

ECN 330

The Costs of Market Failure

Since we will be talking about market failure in class this week - here is an update on the link between pollution and asthma.

The General Is Back!!

Back in the classroom - that is. Yesterday I taught my first class as Visiting Associate Professor of Economics at UNC-Wilmington. It felt good to be back in the classroom and the 22 students who showed up seem like a great bunch - I am really looking forward to the semester. As was the case last Winter - we will be using this site as a place to conduct an ongoing conversation about Natural resource economics and related issues. Hope to hear from lots of you.

Business and Climate

Good stuff from The Economist.

See you next week.

China's advice for Africa

A very interesting piece from Jeff Sachs on the recent meeting of the African Development Bank held in China. Notice the role of government in the development process.

Some useful links

Here are some links that should be of interest.

Resources for the future

Environmental economics

Good Morning Summer Scholars!!!

Today we will stick to introductions, course outline, and some general discussion of the program. I am very excited about the next four weeks, and I hope you are as well. I will use this forum to post articles, both, with and without commentary. My expectation is that you will have checked the blog before you go to sleep so that you may come prepared for any potential in-class discussion the following morning. Please feel free to create an account and post things, but remember, anyone, anywhere might read it - including mom and dad.

Peace, Jim aka The Green General

N. is at it again

Greg Mankiw is up to his old tricks - check it out.

Climate Policy in China

An interesting read from this morning's CSM.

Fortune Magazine on Gas Taxes

most people think I'm a crazy liberal who wants to impose my values on others (SARC)- like clean air for children and no blood for oil. Well it's not just me and the other "world government" folks - check out Fortune.

Looking for a job?

This is a good place to start - EcoJobs.

Bet you didn't know...

In my spare time I founded a Fortune 500 company

I teach at Berkeley, and I run a drum shop in Vermont

No wonder I never get any writing done.

Global Forces, American Faces: Who Wins? Who Loses?

I am sitting in a class listening to Dave Richardson (Syracuse) talk about some results from recent research by a group of economists at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Here is the summary of the policy implications from this research - "further deepening of America's global engagement needs newly creative, newly effective domestic policy. The recipe for American success involves pairs of ingredients always, cognates, global intiatives paired with domestic initiatives. Without domestic policy innovation, conversely, continued global integration may be unsustainable in this democracy."

Sound familiar - check it out.

Peace, The General

Scientists Urge Global Action on Clean Energy

From today's NYTimes

More Climate Economics

Professor Anderson passes along a good read in today's NYT.

Hog Heaven

Last week in class I was telling you all about the pleasantries of Hog farms in NC. One of the ideas I mentioned, in the context of our energy acquisition/dissipation model, was turning waste into an energy input. Well, check this out- Pig Poop Economics.

Enjoy your break. JC