First Lead Author Meeting of IPCC AR5 WGIII

I just returned from the first Lead Authors meeting of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III in Changwon, South Korea. This was the first of a series of meetings that will serve to prepare the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). The next meeting will be in New Zealand in Spring 2012. The AR5 will be ready in 2014.

Estimating Ricardian Models With Panel Data - NBER WP

The paper "Estimating Ricardian Models with Panel Data", joint with R. Mendelsohn, was published as NBER working paper last week.

Abstract:

Many nonmarket valuation models, such as the Ricardian model, have been estimated using cross sectional methods with a single year of data. Although multiple years of data should increase the robustness of such methods, repeated cross sections suggest the results are not stable. We argue that repeated cross sections do not properly specify the model. Panel methods that correctly specify the Ricardian model are stable over time. The results suggest that many cross sectional methods including hedonic studies and travel cost studies could be enhanced using panel data.

Massetti, E. and R. Mendelsohn (2011). “Estimating Ricardian Functions with Panel Data.” NBER Working Paper No. 17101, June 2011.

Postdoc at Yale

Starting from May 1st I will be Postdoctoral Fellow at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. I will spend two years at Yale as part of the outgoing phase of the International Outgoing Marie Curie Fellowship that I received this year.

The greening of development: no growth without energy

A short article for the World Bank Development Outreach Magazine, issue on Emerging Issues in Development Policy: The winding road to growth and equity, April 2011.

Economic development increases the demand for energy. This is true for countries at all income levels, although as economic growth progresses, the demand tends to increase more in the low- and middle-income countries than in high-income ones. But energy remains a key ingredient for economic growth at all stages of development.
With 5.4 billion people living in low and middle-income countries—out of  a global population of 6.5 billion—energy demand will very likely continue to grow at a fast pace for many years to come. [...]

Download the article.