Category Archives: Economics

Last week, I began to compare two important programs in the realm of environmental policy: cap-and-trade and carbon tax. I first examined the political viability of both programs and came to the conclusion that although they have received relatively equal magnitude of political praise and scrutiny, the carbon tax is a bit more politically reasonable. A carbon tax has more of a potential to attract people on the right due to the fact that it can come with the condition of revenue neutrality, which takes away people’s natural loss-averse tendencies because another part of the tax system would be adjusted. Continue reading Getting the Price Right: Which is Better? pt. 2→

Ah, modern supermarkets. Where can you find such a vaster array of more brightly colored and oh-so conveniently packaged foodstuffs all jockeying for your attention, screaming “Buy me! Consume me!” With the supermarket as our temple and the singing commercial as our litany, are we likely to fire the world with an irresistible vision of America’s exalted purpose and inspiring way of life? – Adlai Stevenson I always thought of the American supermarket as the domain of pure capitalism. In Economics 170, the supermarket was a commonly used backdrop to theoretical analysis, for example the question “Are chicken and beef perfect Continue reading The Military Pantry Complex→

This week I interviewed Jared Soares, a UPS Alumni who works not too far away at Earth Economics!  When did you graduate from UPS? May 2014. Can you tell me about your work at Earth Economics? (What do you do? How did you end up there? Do you have an idea of where you want to go within/outside of Earth Economics?) I am a research assistant. My primary job is to assist project leads and analysts. This can be anything from compiling data for reports to travelling to events to present information for private and public decision makers. I also Continue reading Interview with Jared Soares from Earth Economics!→

Recently, I have written about the primary techniques to combat the negative externality of pollution: cap-and-trade and carbon taxation. For decades, politicians, economists, and environmentalists alike have debated which method is more effective. Both cap-and-trade and carbon taxes put a price on pollution and, for the most part, have successfully reduced carbon emissions and sparked innovations in sustainable energy use. Of course, because a carbon tax is a price instrument and cap-and-trade is a quantity instrument, as we have seen in my previous posts, the means to the emission reductions are quite different. I will begin my series of comparisons with Continue reading Getting the Price Right: Which is Better? pt. 1→

On Tuesday, Tacoma voters will have their voices heard on two potential minimum wage increases. We’ve heard from bloggers on this issue before, and here’s a piece from Ashley Gross at KPLU this morning with interviews from local residents (and an economist!) on both sides of the issue.   [Edit: Although there doesn’t seem to be a “Play” button in the bar above, just click on the far left side of the bar to play the audio clip. The clip is 5:34 long.]  

Economists sure love their charts, as any student who survives Econ 170 has learned. Data visualization isn’t just the decorative frosting on lesson plans and published papers. It is an absolutely essential interface between people and data. Briefly consider this data on annual percent change in GDP in the United States from FRED: DATE VALUE 1955-01-01 7.125955765883840 1956-01-01 2.131213376900720 1957-01-01 2.102826706703490 1958-01-01 -0.731728665207882 1959-01-01 6.898619218085940 1960-01-01 2.566027153202800 1961-01-01 2.554101761976380 1962-01-01 6.114879435404820 1963-01-01 4.355504976980980 1964-01-01 5.767719183950940 1965-01-01 6.497636614399920 1966-01-01 6.595334041630260 1967-01-01 2.743014189834750 1968-01-01 4.909046030916900 1969-01-01 3.139619503066850 1970-01-01 0.202123088186139 1971-01-01 3.295743329097830 1972-01-01 5.262807206376060 1973-01-01 5.643390319077960 1974-01-01 -0.516677958914673 1975-01-01 -0.198293195948870 1976-01-01 5.386836510161830 1977-01-01 4.608445145318870 Continue reading Sonification!→

Farming in cities? What are you, MAD? Believe it or not, farming in cities is not only widespread, but has tons of benefit. Urban agriculture accounts for up to 15% of the world’s food. Japan, The Netherlands, and Chile have more urban than rural farms. Sydney, Australia produced a billion dollars worth of agricultural goods alone, some 12% of the state’s production. In 2014, Detroit produced enough to feed over 600 people for a year, and in 2008, Philadelphia produced 2 million pounds of vegetables. Urban agriculture doesn’t take one form. A good portion is in the style of community Continue reading Urban Farming→

Unfortunately I’m not talking about it being too hot to work on your thesis, or to do a problem set – I’m referring to economic productivity. Not only is climate change destroying our atmosphere, making our seasons more harsh and/or unpredictable, and killing polar bears – but its also impacting our economic productivity. A study recently published in Nature claims that “growing evidence demonstrates that climactic conditions can have a profound impact on the functioning of modern human societies”. Now this is what I call environmental economics (or ecological economics, I guess). The main conclusion of the study (called Global non-linear effect of temperature Continue reading Warmer Temperatures are Impacting Our Productivity→