tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62684922009-07-01T09:04:30.822-07:00A blog exploring the intersection of economic thinking and urban planning/real estate development and related big-think themes.Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1057125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-51091752253245953542009-07-01T08:44:00.000-07:002009-07-01T09:04:30.835-07:00

Yestreday's WSJ included "Only the Employed Need Apply ... With unemployment at 9.4% and rising, it's a buyer's market for employers that are hiring. But many employers are bypassing the jobless to target those who are still working, reasoning that these survivors are the top performers."Near the top of the disingenuous sweepstakes have been the stimulus advocates who live in a world where only

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-80552842883229079722009-06-30T15:16:00.001-07:002009-06-30T15:44:35.708-07:00

"Parents Won't Say if Tot is a Boy or a Girl ... because they believe gender is a social construction. ... A Swedish couple's decision to keep their toddler's gender a secret is stirring debate, especially now that the parents are expecting a second child...'Pop' is 2 ½ years old, but so far only those who change the child's diapers know whether the youngster is a boy or a girl." The kindest

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-58816726683336781822009-06-28T07:54:00.000-07:002009-06-28T08:10:49.624-07:00

I have now seen a few timelines that recap the history of current economic downturn. These are always useful, but all miss the important role that local conditions play. Local supply and demand differ drastically from place to place. In the U.S., coastal and sunbelt places are where the demand is and (often) where permitting is toughest and supply most constrained. Home price "bubble" effects

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-24806918674703770072009-06-26T15:41:00.001-07:002009-06-26T16:33:32.774-07:00

The President has promoted the idea of a new "Public Company" health insurance provider option as "a little competition" that all those market crazies should embrace.All I recall is that the audience did not laugh. Medicare is a public company with an unfunded liability that runs into the trillions of dollars.But those on the left like to dismiss trillion-dollar unfunded liability talk as

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-59534345930145031022009-06-24T12:33:00.000-07:002009-06-24T13:08:04.509-07:00

Wendell Cox reports that recent census data show continued population exurbanization -- for the period 2000-2007. That's where the land is, where permitting is (mostly) simpler, and where most people want to be. It's an old story. Our research (with colleagues Harry Richarsdon and Soojung Kim) considered employment decentralization for the years 1969-2004 (using the BEA's REIS data file). We

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-26466253458136546182009-06-20T11:00:00.000-07:002009-06-20T11:32:49.567-07:00

In today's WSJ, Abraham Verghese writes about "The Myth of Prevention". With respect to Medicare (and the President's chiding of his AMA audience last week), the writer notes that:Cut, poke, sew, burn, insert, inject, dilate, stent, remove and you get very well paid; if you learn how to do this efficiently, maybe set up your own outpatient center so you can do it to more people in a shorter time

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-51672646206962303092009-06-19T14:12:00.000-07:002009-06-19T14:31:12.848-07:00

There really is a "curse of oil." And I am a great admirer of William Easterly's writings. Combine oil with aid and you get the likes of Omar Bongo. "Mr. Bongo made no distinction between Gabon and his private property. He had ruled for so long, 42 years, that they had become one."I was in Mexico in (I think) 1976 when Pres. Lopez Portillo was sworn in. I recall his address to the nation and he

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-9835408059859582332009-06-17T16:21:00.001-07:002009-06-18T16:42:01.727-07:00

We have an emotional and a rational side (they are not left-right) and this has been understood and written about for centuries. But now we have neuroscience and many clever people who dream up and conduct very clever experiments. And we have writers like Jonah Lehrer who put it all together in readable prose. His How We Decide is light reading for smart people. That is very high praise.There

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-39680615424676986772009-06-15T07:23:00.000-07:002009-06-15T07:36:22.671-07:00

I used to react to LA Times editorial and op-eds on land use and transportation issues. But the almost-Pavlovian response has waned. So I managed put aside Tim Rutten's "Congestion pricing: A slippery slope to toll roads." But just when I thought I had kicked the habit, an editor asked for my response. And here it is.But the real story is that the Times editorial board has finally come around

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-6704241353099306272009-06-14T17:21:00.000-07:002009-06-14T17:43:02.620-07:00

In 2002, the NY Times Magazine included John Tierney's "Amtrak Must Die". The writer had actually stepped on-board for a first-hand look. Today's NY Mag includes Jon Gernter's "Getting up to speed .. Last fall, Californians voted to approve the most expensive infrastructure project in the country's history. But how do you actually build a high-speed train that will take you from LA to SF in 2

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-35417312589530374902009-06-13T17:42:00.000-07:002009-06-13T18:19:37.888-07:00

So they wheeled out Larry Summers to assure the world that his boss is a "Defender of Free Markets". In the speech, Summers detailed the President's economic goals, including "energy independence." Huh?Bill Clinton famously parsed the meaning of "is", but he was a registered of serial politician. I thought that Summers was selected to sell the "Obama-hearts-free- markets" message because he

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-75731962234987118762009-06-10T12:15:00.000-07:002009-06-10T12:49:54.402-07:00

I first learned about Patri Friedman's Seasteading ideas and the work he has been doing on this via the Russ Roberts econtalk interview. There is now an article with more in the July 2009 Reason.Seasteading will happen, but we do not know when. We do know three things. Liberty is a powerful draw, and technology is progressing faster than ever (on the side of seasteading feasibility), and

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-80823726334950651472009-06-06T07:23:00.000-07:002009-06-06T07:48:21.861-07:00

Wendell Cox compares Secretary Chu's idea to "Paint the world white" with the other less worthy proposals to keep us cool.And compare this to another doomsday report from a group that Kofi Annan is affiliated with (described in today's WSJ).

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-19110459739973595352009-06-05T14:51:00.001-07:002009-06-05T15:13:18.307-07:00

The Economist ("In the blood") points us to "Culture, Context and the Taste for Redistribution" by Erzo Luttmer and Monica Singhal. They look at the preferences of recent immigrants and find that national background explains a significant amount of varying tastes for redistribution policies. The authors conclude:By studying immigrants, we are able to credibly disentangle cultural determinants

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-8852190366820034152009-06-04T13:15:00.000-07:002009-06-04T15:06:40.194-07:00

Almost to the day that the President came out strongly for "truth-telling", his Secretary of Transportation launched this, which falls far short of the goal. (HT John Niles).Take this howler:In fact, each 1% of regional travel shifted from automobile to public transit increases regional income about $2.9 million, resulting in 226 additional regional jobs. Other economic benefits include increased

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-71866852005250535512009-06-03T08:06:00.000-07:002009-06-03T08:19:22.314-07:00

This NBER study shows that CAFE standards have been a disaster. HT to Ed Stevens.Holman Jenkins notes that this is all pretty obvious, but that the apostle of "change" has gone along with the same old political nonsense. Trouble is that it is now way beyond nonsense as taxpayers own the companies that politicians are undermining.Let's face it: CAFE has done nothing to reduce gasoline usage or

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-83246527814801817602009-06-02T15:11:00.001-07:002009-06-02T16:01:31.812-07:00

I have just finished reading The Horse in the City (by Clay McShane and Joel Tarr), which does a fine job documenting what went on (in American cities) between the years of the "pedestrian city" and the "automotive city". The book is a fascinating bit of research on modern urban history.We learn, for example, that “In 1890, 9,163 establishments manufactured carriages and wagons or their parts,

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-88710148286619109392009-06-01T07:36:00.001-07:002009-06-01T07:52:25.276-07:00

Voluntary collective action is a wonderful thing. We find it in various places and some of this has been documented in The Voluntary City, a project that I co-edited.In yesterday's NY Times, Robert Frank wrote about "Carbon Offsets: A Small Price to Pay for Effciiency". This morning's LA Times has a story that provides some examples ("Forests as good as carbon in the bank"). People get to put

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-59104981593807285612009-05-30T14:51:00.000-07:002009-05-31T13:11:20.412-07:00

In the Spring 2009 Journal of Economic Literature, Christian Broda, Ephraim Leibtag and David E. Weinstein report on "The Role of Prices in Measuring the Poor's Living Standards". They find that the poor pay less, not more. And once this is properly accounted for, poverty rates in America are much lower than we hear via the daily drumbeat -- and real wages higher. Read it.

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-73364696884372873682009-05-29T09:17:00.000-07:002009-05-29T09:23:06.860-07:00

Today's WSJ reports "Europe Listens for U.S. Train Whistle ... Europe's engineering and rail companies are lining up fo some potentially lucrative U.S. contracts for high-speed rail."I have been told numerous times that its the multiplier effect that matters. Forget about negative NPVs.But what if we get neither? Multipliers do spring leakages when the spending is abroad.

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-74588214154082814402009-05-28T08:08:00.000-07:002009-05-28T08:26:41.596-07:00

PERC has just published 7 Myths About Green Jobs. Read it. I thought that there was just one: There are no trade-offs.Nevertheless, wherever I go, I see smart people (from the President on down) espouse the no-trade-offs religion. And they do this with impunity. To be sure, they are careful to be on guard for anyone espousing flat-earth theories or creationism.Bond markets are reflecting

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-31322542493092213902009-05-27T08:56:00.000-07:002009-05-27T09:15:11.777-07:00

"Empathy" is much in the news these days. Trouble is that it only embellishes the sanctimony of politicians bearing gifts.The June 8 Forbes includes "Wal-Mart's Weight Effect. Surprisingly, discount retailers make people healthier." The piece cites research that highlights how the income effect of low prices can trump the substitition effect. Lower prices have the effect of higher income and

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-22340502120674642142009-05-25T08:49:00.000-07:002009-05-25T09:07:16.970-07:00

The June, 2009, Reason features "It's Alive! Alternative energy subsidies make their biggest comeback since Jimmy Carter". Science has advanced, but politics has not. Not included in the online version is Lynne Kiesling's excellent companion piece "Electric Intelligence ... Establishing smart grid requires regulatory reform not subsidies ... President Barack Obama included $4.5 billion in smart

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-5152544915658979872009-05-24T08:54:00.000-07:002009-05-24T09:11:51.384-07:00

Greg Mankiw has a sensible piece in today's NY Times ("The Freshman Course Won't Be Quite the Same ... The financial crisis will require subtle changes in teaching"). Keep the basics, but elaborate re the financial sector, leverage and monteray policy.Behavioral economics gets a lot of press because everyone gets to feel virtuous about thrashing the rational (straw) man. But it's just a model!

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-17914255613574562162009-05-22T18:53:00.000-07:002009-05-22T18:59:25.415-07:00

How could it not?Bjorn Lomborg calls if "The Climate-Industrial Complex" in yesterday's WSJ.David Theroux comments further.

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.com