Matthew Kahn

Matthew E. Kahn (born 1966) is a leading American educator in the field of environmental economics. After earning his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago, he began teaching at various universities, including Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, and Tufts.^[1] He is currently a professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment, Department of Economics and Department of Public Policy. He is a Research Associate at the NBER. Kahn has published over 90 papers and has authored Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment (Brookings Institution Press, 2006) and (with Dora Costa) Heroes and Cowards: The Social Face of War, which was published late in 2008 by Princeton University Press.^[2]

In fall 2010, Basic Books published his new book titled Climatopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in the Hotter Future. The book's central argument is that global warming poses a serious challenge to the world's cities but it is an anticipated threat. Facing a "known unknown" challenge, forward looking people have a strong incentive due to self interest to seek out coping strategies. Examples of such strategies include migrating to cities offering lower risk of heat waves and sea level rise. Innovators will have strong incentives to design new products such as homes less susceptible to flooding and energy efficient appliances that can help insulate people from climate change's impacts. The net effect of these adaptation efforts is that our future cities will continue to thrive in the hotter future. This transition will be costly and urban places will suffer but urban people will continue to prosper. Such adaptation efforts will be much easier if we choose to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions now. But, the world free rider problem is so challenging that it is highly likely that greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise.

The book has been dismissed by climate policy activists who believe that Kahn fails to understand the research on global warming and that his thesis threatens efforts to encourage carbon mitigation legislation. Such critics have pointed to single sentences in the book such as on page 7 "Moscow is unlikely to suffer from extreme heat waves. Phoenix Will." However, in the summer of 2010, Moscow suffered a record heat wave. The Moscow Heat Wave indicates that "new news" will always be arriving. The crux of Climatopolis is not supposed to be a bet on any one specific city. Instead, the key hypothesis in Climatopolis is that cities such as Moscow will now take pro-active steps such as air conditioning and improved building ventilation such that its next heat wave will cause much less death. New information about climate change's impacts will continue to arrive and we will re-optimize as we learn. Many climate scientists implicitly ignore behavioral responses to the information they are generating. We are not passive victims. We have every incentive (due to survival self interest) to make new choices as we learn about the evolving challenge of climate change. "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!"

Kahn's research focuses on the environmental, urban, real estate and energy economics. He is also known for his work on social capital.^[3] He blogs on these topics at greeneconomics.blogspot.com. In 2009, the Wall Street Journal named him one of the top 25 Economics bloggers.^[4] Starting in Winter 2010, the Christian Science Monitor has published his blog entries. He is married to Dora L. Costa. Professor Costa is an economic historian and demographer who teaches at UCLA.

Books

• Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment (Brookings Institution Press 2006)
• Heroes and Cowards: The Social Face of War with Dora L. Costa, Princeton University Press, 2008
• Climatopolis,^[5] Basic Books. Fall 2010.

References

1. ^ http://mek1966.googlepages.com
2. ^ UCLA Anderson School of Management | Wilbur K. Woo Greater China Business Conference | Speaker Bios
3. ^ Economic Trends By Gene Koretz, July 23, 2001, Business Week. [1]
4. ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124768581740247061.html
5. ^ http://climatopolis.com

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Name	Kahn, Matthew
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Date of birth	1966
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