All is not well at Elsevier richardtol.substack.com/p/fraud-and-...

🌍 Are you in the market? Dream postdoc opportunity for environmental economists! @envdefensefund.bsky.social + @ucsb.bsky.social's @emlab.ucsb.edu are hiring 2-3 postdocs to work on carbon markets, nature-based solutions & resource economics with Chris Costello (emLab Director/EDF Chief Economist).

Not sure how this got past the administration's communication controls, but EIA had a nice piece last Friday on the increasing role of solar/wind/batteries in Texas. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg... 🔌💡

Jim Sallee gives a master class in how to explain complex policy in simple prose. I'm definitely assigning this to students.

✨ We will be featuring the 2025 AERE Scholars & Mentors over the coming weeks! Stay tuned to learn more about the amazing cohort! ✨

Ok so the Trump administration blew up the international agreement to tax CO2 from shipping. 14 years ago the Obama administration successfully opposed applying the EU carbon price to US airlines operating in Europe. Just because Ds and Rs both agree on something doesn't mean it's right.

Great news! Andrew Plantinga will be succeeding Nick Kuminoff as one of the four editors of @jaereaere.bsky.social starting January 1. Compensation for the less great but inevitable news that Nick's term must end. Thanks Nick and welcome Andrew. www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jaere/cu...

Hey #EconSky working in environmental econ! Looking for things to do this weekend? Why not write up a 2-3 page proposal for a cool conference-publication combo, happening in May 2025 in Washington, DC? Submit your proposal (or paper) here by Oct 20: conference.nber.org/confsubmit/b...

🎉 Congratulations to Professor Ivana Komunjer on being elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society @econometric.bsky.social one of the highest distinctions in the field of economics! Since 1931, only 1,254 scholars have received this honor 🧵 [1/3]

Head-scratching WaPo article says solar tax credits are slowing adoption, and ending them will (by mid-century) result in more solar panels on roofs. Explain *that*, Econ 101 professors. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

A bittersweet day. Long-time EPA chief economist and @aereorg.bsky.social fellow @AlMcGartland (other site) is retiring. His dedication to practical, public-spirited, and good-humored policymaking will be missed at the EPA. Here's hoping his voice continues to be heard and influence felt.

Its not just climate science that's wrong in DOE's dreadful climate report - the economics is terrible too! salatainstitute.harvard.edu/environmenta...

ICE and DHS are proposing (again!) to limit student visas to 4 years before requiring reauthorization. Makes no sense for PhD programs. See something, say something. Comment here by Sept 29. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

DOE's embarrassment of a "climate science" report is 150 pages where as this response from the scientific community is 500. My take: It takes much more effort to refute nonsense than it does to generate it, a tax on the time of all who care about fact and accuracy sites.google.com/tamu.edu/doe...

Over 125 economists signed the open letter calling on the President, Congress, and the American public to uphold the principles of Federal Reserve independence and not remove Lisa Cook without due process. There's still time to sign! And please share. #EconSky docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Three amazing points in one paragraph of the DOE report on GHGs. www.energy.gov/articles/dep... 1/3 The Social Cost of Carbon "is not intended to measure the private marginal benefits ... of fossil fuels." Correct! (But not relevant. That's why it's the called the Social *Cost* of Carbon.)

👇especially #6 and #7. 6. Clear writing comes from clear thinking. 7. If readers don’t understand your writing, that’s your fault, not theirs.

Published papers can become suddenly more important. This 2017 paper is among the most read and cited #JAERE papers in the last 12 months. *Subsidizing EV charging stations would be twice as effective as subsidizing EVs.* By Shanjun Li, Lang Tong, Jianwei Xing, and Yiyi Zhou tinyurl.com/bhrt3zsj

Brander and Taylor (1988): tariffs on imports of open-access resources can be pareto-improving. Now @prakrati.bsky.social shows the converse empirically in #JAERE. Bans on environmental service exports (waste imports) can be environmentally beneficial. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

Believe it or not, this magnified inset of a new #JAERE figure demonstrates "solar rebound" from net metering. Residential rooftop solar panels can -- in theory -- increase electricity use. Matthew Oliver, @jmorenocruz.bsky.social , and Ken Gillingham. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....

Those annoying text messages work. State government appeals to save energy largely failed when broadcast over radio and television, but succeeded via text. New in #JAERE from Dylan Brewer and Jim Crozier. cc: @aereorg.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

I wear mine often. Good shirt; good cause.

WaPo op-ed supports Carbon Tariffs for three reasons (and my rebuttals): 1. Revenue (that's all tariffs, not just carbon tariffs) 2. Protect US industry (again, all tariffs) 3. The US has no domestic carbon price (huh?) wapo.st/46bDgWo

Tax cuts that balance the federal budget: Year 1) Pass 10-year budget that cuts taxes in yr 1 and raises them in yrs 2-10. Year 2) Treat yr 1 as baseline, pass new budget that cuts taxes in yr 2 and raises them in yrs 3-11. Year 3) Treat yr2 as baseline, .... you get the idea. Problem solved!

Is the double dividend back? Maybe if we include distributional concerns, according to Frederick van der Ploeg, Armon Rezai, and Miguel Tovar Reaños in @jaereaere.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Efficient solar investment depends not only on *where* panels are installed, but *when*. Insightful new paper in ‪@jaereaere.bsky.social‬ by Nicolas Astier and Nicolas Hatem. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

NEW: Judge orders release of Georgetown's Badar Khan Suri, saying Trump admin went after him on social media but produced no evidence he's affiliated with Hamas or poses a danger. DOJ said case belongs in immigration court not USDC. w/@kyledcheney www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

UK sanctioning "as many as 100 oil tankers that it says are part of a shadow fleet of vessels helping Russia to move its oil," which could expand the number of ships the country has designated by up to 75%. With increased enforcement and lower oil prices, It would be a great time to lower the cap.

@ezrakleinbot.bsky.social and @dkthomp.bsky.social get this wrong in 𝐴𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒: “... in the late 1970s, home construction started to fall behind the pace of population growth.” Actually, the number of US dwellings grew faster than population in the 70s and 80s, and kept pace in the 90s.

Spectacular paper. Congrats. "Uncertainty" (my scare quotes) has been wielded rhetorically by opponents of regulation. But one way to reduce regulatory uncertainty is to stop opposing the regulation. Now Ashley et al. show that regulatory uncertainty can prolong unprofitable investments.

If the paper title has a question mark, is the answer ever "yes"? (See what I did there.) aka "Betteridge's law"

Electricity use that is clean-ish, but not *clean*.

@jaereaere.bsky.social is implementing recommendations of the AEA-EEA-ES-RES Report on Improving the Publication Process in Economics: - acknowledge articles' editors - single out excellent referees - publicize selection process and terms for editors - referees disclose prior reviews - etc.

If only @harvard.edu had some sort of reserve fund, or endowment, to cover times like these. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/u...

I like this new JAERE paper because it doesn't just show convincingly that pollution is bad. I offers a mechanism, and shows how that mechanism interacts and exacerbates inequality. Congrats to Andrea and Edson.

The (actual) clone of the EPA's EJ Screen tool is now live. #EnergySky screening-tools.com/epa-ejscreen

No gas tax? National EV subsidies threatened? There are effective, low cost ways local governments can reduce emissions from gas powered cars.

I have some good news. Trade Talks is back. tradetalkspodcast.com (Hi @chadbown.bsky.social )

With recent events, state climate policy matters more. Fullerton and Ta find that after states tighten their renewable portfolio standards (red line), CO2 emissions decline (left axis), but not statistically significantly, and not by more for states with more renewable potential.

Yes. And Todd Gerarden's paper at ASSA nicely shows how US Tariffs on solar panels have (a) increased US manufacturing a little, (b) decreased US installations by more, (c) reduced consumer benefits by more than producer gains, (d) all at enormous environmental cost. www.aeaweb.org/conference/2...

How did he know in 2021? "A victory by the Republican Party, under a new Trumpian leader in 2024, reversed this modest progress on climate change policy, and .... nationalist policies precluded collection action and actively undermined common climate goals." Mackintosh, Climate Crisis Economics

For context next time a student asks for an extension due to family circumstances .... Bashar al-Assad's eldest son defended his doctoral dissertation in mathematics last week at Moscow State U.

A non-environmental externality. 60% of students admit to cheating on college work, but the majority of professors don't see or ignore academic misconduct. My take: Lax profs impose an externality on diligent colleagues. www.chronicle.com/article/chea...

ICYMI. 80% of US solar panels imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. US Dept. of Commerce is about to impose 21%-271% tariffs on solar panel from those countries (depending on company). Current US solar panel prices already ~3X that in parts of Europe.

Be a mentor or a scholar. It's a great program, plus you get a coveted, status-bestowing, green, name-tag lanyard. Info session 12/14 at 3pm EST.

Is there an economic explanation for why Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis would lobby to *keep* Biden's fuel economy standards? Are the standards still protectionist despite the less steep footprint slope for cars? Maybe due to the car/light truck distinction? www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/c...

An *excellent* point-by-point demolition of arguments for across-the-board tariffs. Follow-up question: If you were a polar bear and cared only about climate change, which would be worse, across-the-board tariffs or tariffs targeted at climate-friendly technologies like EVs and solar panels?

The President Elect wants to cut taxes on tips, overtime, social security, etc. I have a *great* idea for how to pay for some of that. Deal?

Rats. I was hoping today we could return to thinking about the wisdom -- and foolishness -- of current US climate policy.