We're among the best out there. From the inbox:We recently launched Blogs.com as a site to connect readers to the best blogs on their favorite topics. Our editors combed millions of blogs to put together a curated list of 1100 across several categories. We consider these sites to be the best blogs out there in terms...

PhD Comics on the economic meltdown. Here is the link: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd092908s.gif. Make sure that you follow the grad student questions down to the econ major section ...

The tax simply isn't high enough. From Environmental Capital:If Norway can’t slash emissions almost two decades after slapping a hefty pricetag on carbon, what does that say about the belief that “making polluters pay” will automatically transform America’s economy?

The labor market shortage of population dynamics / stock assessment scientists. I played a minor role in this study and have a minor comment (Demand for marine scientists grows):A new report*, released Monday by NOAA Fisheries, concludes that the supply of marine scientists trained to estimate the size and health of fish stocks is shrinking due to a variety of factors,...

Keeping cool in a world that's Hot, Flat, and Crowded. I wrote a review of Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded over at Climate411.org: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, has completed his transformation from Middle East specialist to green energy expert. He wants the United States to similarly switch focus. Hot, Flat, and Crowded,...

"Drive more if you love the Earth". First rule of blogging: Never miss a chance to post a Colbert Report video. It's about time...oil companies caught a break. This has not been easy for them. Every time their profits go up, so do gas prices. They cannot win. Once again, Colbert nails it:

Question of the Day. When I see news of financial crises and economic downturns, and then see neighbors, friends, family members, students getting themselves worked up in a lather over it, I want to ask: How has this affected you directly? I'm not saying there aren't direct effects, just that I tend to think...

Now this hits closer to home.... Yikes:In a move suggesting how the credit crisis could disrupt American higher education, Wachovia Bank has limited the access of nearly 1,000 colleges to $9.3 billion the bank has held for them in a short-term investment fund, raising worries on some campuses about meeting payrolls and other obligations.HEY HOUSE, PASS...

Field Research Opportunity. I'm heading to Boone, NC today, home of World Famous Sports Economist John Whitehead. Tomorrow at 2:30 I'll being wowing an Appalachian State audience with my oratory skills and wit (really I'm very uncomfortable in front of academic audiences so I just might wet my pants and pass out). But...

Seminar Announcement. October 3, 3010 Raley Hall, 2 pmDepartment of Economics Appalachian State University Tim Haab (Ohio State University), "Temporal Insensitivity of Willingness to Pay and Implied Discount Rates" (Download paper)

Doing very well while doing good. Today's New York Times Magazine portrays venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins and the new green Silicon Valley. They are betting hundreds of millions of dollars that now is the time for clean energy:[T]he firm’s green-tech investments didn’t seem terribly risky to [Kleiner partner Randy Komisar] because the energy market was...

Energy from Pork. One of the provisions (bribes?) added to the $700B financial market bailout to help it pass the House of Representatives--the previously stalled renewable energy tax credits:The House of Representatives passed legislation on Friday extending billions of dollars in tax credits for the solar, wind and biodiesel industries, ending months of...

How much are you worth?. Source: For Better or For Worse.

I heart getting e-mails like this. From the inbox: I was in a couple of your classes a few of years ago. ... I am still in school, trying to put off the real world as long as possible. I am taking two environmental law classes. I wanted to let you know that your "Environmental Economics"...

What would an off-shore wind farm look like?. On Friday, the GreenInc blog at the NYTimes posted this picture of what wind turbines might look like at various distances off shore. Unfortunately for them, I beat them to it by almost a year. If you will, please recall my post from November 13, 2007. Where's the love NYT?...

Picture of the day. Taken somewhere in Boone, NC (click on the thumbnail for a larger image)...

A morally hazardous conversation with my mother-in-law. A note from my mother-in-law in my inbox: If you have time, I would love to know if you feel it is economically smart to rebuild the parts of Galveston that are so vulnerable to weather. This goes for the parts of New Orleans that would be under water if...

A blast from the past. University of Kentucky PhD and John and Tim's former ECU colleague Randy Parker is macro-blogging at http://www.funnyeconomist.com. Here is his interview with Ben Bernanke via Mankiw's blog:Bernanke on the Great Depression An interview from 2005. Thanks to Randall Parker (via the RTE blog).I've added Randy's blog to our blogroll. Good...

Demand and supply #5420. A decrease in supply leads to an increase in price (The priciest gas ...):Nation, you’d have to drive a long way today — to Alaska or (glub, glub) Hawaii — to find gas more expensive than it is right here in North Carolina. We have the priciest gas in the...

A chance to be the median voter. From the inbox:... the current online debate at The Economist on the value of water. Currently, 60 percent of Economist readers oppose the proposition, “This house believes that water, as a scarce resource, should be priced according to its market value.” There are three days to vote and comment before...