Thursday, September 23, 2010

Feature Economist

Modern macroeconomic theory, known as New Keynsian macroeconomics is built on "microfoundations," which was founded by Robert Lucas, an economics professor at the University of Chicago.

He believed that economics was the true driver of history, and so he planned to fully immerse himself in economics and then migrate back to the history department


I also think that economics is the true driver of history.

Maybe microfoundations could be used in developing environmental economics as well.

doctors learning to cook

thank goodness

Kaiser Permanente, which is a provider and an insurer, is the largest nonprofit health care system in the country, with about 8 million members, 15,000 doctors and 170,000 employees, predominantly in western states. The sheer scale of Kaiser, which holds farmers’ markets at 30 sites, makes changing the way food is bought a challenge, but also an opportunity.

“We can leverage our size to create greater demand for healthy food,” Dr. Maring said. Kaiser Permanente Oakland, for example, serves 6,000 inpatient meals a day, 80 percent of which have no special restrictions.

“It’s difficult for farmers to crack the institutional supply chain,” he said. “We need a ‘universal adapter’ that can pair small producers with big customers.” Toward that end, he helped start a regional growers’ cooperative and joined the board of the nonprofit entity that administers it, the Community Alliance With Family Farmers.

Dr. Maring also envisions Kaiser’s role expanding into areas like environmental stewardship, and he has carved out a kind of subspecialty in institutional real estate, with the goal of eventually putting some of Kaiser’s undeveloped land into agriculture.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Major Economic Journals

I've been reading more economics papers so that I can have a better idea of what I want to do research in and to be able to write a good research proposal for NSF and graduate school applications.

Major economics journals are
American Economic Review
Journal of Economic Growth
Econometrica

So far, I'm looking at applying to these economics departments:
MIT
Harvard
BU
Berkeley
Columbia
NYU
Yale
Brown
U Maryland

I'm also applying to
MIT Operations Research
MIT Technology and Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School PhD in Public Policy
Columbia Sustainable Development PhD
Berkeley Energy and Resources Group PhD

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Back to School

I'm taking a couple of economics classes at MIT this semester, and today was the first day of class. I'm taking 14.04 (Intermediate Microeconomic Theory) and 14.32 (Econometrics). The idea is to make my chances better for getting in to a phd program in economics, and I should also be able to be qualified to work as a research assistant after taking these classes.

Pics of New Room




Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Moved back to Somerville!

I'm just over the Cambridge/Somerville border between Union, Porter, Harvard, and Inman Squares. Seems like the place to be! I will post pics soon.

Effect of Climate Change on Economies

Here is some interesting research done at Columbia U on how increased temperature may cause reduced economic output because of changes in human behavior and reduced productivity. I think I had first-hand experience since I had to move last week when it was in the mid-90's.