Adventures of a Postdoc

....next update: Dec 2010

December 20, 2009

Wow. What a year it's been. Today, I am packing for a three-month trip to Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. I will be traveling with Anne, a Dutch girl that I met this summer when I was at a conference in Amsterdam. She was already planning to quit her job, rent her flat and travel for a year when I met her. Then we had the romantic, but inconvenient, fortune of falling for each other. From a little affair, this romance has grown into a full-blown relationship that brings tremendous meaning to my life (for some photos of our travels, go here). If the last half of 2009 was about Anne, then all of 2010 will be about her.

Bet let's step back a little further...

I am now living on the north side of Berkeley in a lovely little (24 m²/260 ft²) cottage.

I moved here in the middle of my second health challenge this year -- an inguinal hernia, which is very common in men (1 in 4 get it!) I got it cleaning the yard at my old place (long story short: I am glad to be in the cottage). The surgery went well (I was out cold) and I recovered pretty quickly. And my first challenge? I think I had swine flu. Whatever it was, I got it in the middle of a crazy rush (three conferences in a week), and then it turned to pneumonia. Luckily, I was in Amsterdam with that, and Anne hooked me up with her doctor. It's sad that we (Americans) have to worry about two things at the hospital -- dying and going bankrupt!

So, here's a photo of Anne and the cottage:

Gezellig is the first work I learned in Dutch. It means something like cozy and charming and that's the cottage :)

I'll be coming back in April 2010 with Anne, to live here a few months. After that? See below.

Work!

If you didn't know, I went very heavy into the water economics business after I graduated. My work revolves around my blog -- aguanomics -- and I use it to teach, debate, and learn. I got a few consulting jobs from it, and many invitations to speak or write (often for free, but sometimes for good money).

Check out this page to see the numerous radio interviews, public talks, discussions with student groups, conferences, etc. that I've done in the past year.

Traditional academics will want to know about publications, and I actually got a few papers published (finally!). Here's my CV [pdf] with all the details, but I'll direct you to my best publication to date:

An auction market for journal articles (with Jens Prufer) in Public Choice (forthcoming)
Abstract: We recommend that an auction market replace the current system for submitting academic papers and show a strict Pareto-improvement in equilibrium. Besides the benefit of speed, this mechanism increases the average quality of articles and journals and rewards editors and referees for their effort. The “academic dollar” proceeds from papers sold at auction go to authors, editors and referees of cited articles. This nonpecuniary income indicates the academic impact of an article—facilitating decisions on tenure and promotion. This auction market does not require more work of editors.

In addition to academic and public writing and public speaking, I was very happy to do some academic speaking, i.e., teach Environmental Economics and Policy 100 to about 90 UCB undergraduates this semester. We had a great time, and I was happy to tape all of my lectures for uploading to YouTube (yes, you can watch me talk for 35 hours! or listen to the MP3s :-) This page has all that material (and exams, if you're looking for a challenge :-).

One of the best things I did in class was auction $1 for $3.75. That auction, which recreates the incentives of political lobbying, got over 10,000 views on YouTube (probably because it's 3 minutes :-). Neat!

My students were also very worried about their grades, so I gave them extra credit assignments. One asked them to solve a collective action problem in their household (5+ people, not family), and I read a lot of clever solutions to "who takes out the trash?" Another assignment had them write to Congressmen, asking why the corn-ethanol program (of no economic or environmental value) was still continuing. Only one person got a reply, and that was close to a form letter. So much for "for the people!" Their other assignment was to interview three panhandlers (beggars), to find out how much they made and what they were going to do next. Many students did this assignment (they went in teams, for safety), and many were affected by the stories they heard. Besides the amazing variety of stories (medical problems, bad wives, losing jobs, just like it, traveling, drugs/booze, etc.), there was the data -- many of these folks make $10-20/day of begging, and many of them like it like that (no future) because it's "easier to ask people for money than work." I'll be posting some "best of" write-ups on my blog.

I could go on about blogging, teaching, etc., but I'll stop there.

The Future

Anne helped me decide (finally!) to not go after an academic job (i.e., the economics job market that I did two years ago; see VI (1): Job Market Update -- 20 Dec 07 for more on that).

Instead -- according to the Master Plan -- I am going to travel with her, learning about water issues in other countries and enjoying the freedom that I have worked so hard to keep (that's one of the reasons for no kids, no house, etc.)

During our three months of travel, I will write a draft of my book -- The End of Abundance, a Primer on Water Economics -- that I have under contract with UC Press (Here's the proposal [doc] they accepted.)

After we get back, we'll find out what to do next. I really enjoy speaking to the public and teaching people about water and environmental issues, so I am going to try to continue that.

As everyone knows, there is "no business model" for public intellectuals (as I want to be), because they speak for the public rather than a self-interested client; read this for more. I am hoping that I can get by with consulting (you can buy my time but not my opinion :-), writing for clients, public speaking, fellowships, whatever. If you know an organization that supports the public interest, tell me.

(Why not an academic, btw? Because we are hired and employed to write academic papers, i.e., "papers that nobody reads in journals nobody has heard of," and that seems a terrible waste of time and energy to me. I want to have an impact.)

After getting back, we may leave again (South America? Africa?) for more travel and learning about water -- I am going to maintain the blog throughout this process -- until... maybe we live in Amsterdam :-)

I am also strongly considering running for Congress in 2012. It will be a learning experience for me (fun!), and I may even affect the election, debate on policy issues, etc. Stay tuned.

Have a wonderful holiday/solstice and fabulous 2010!

Cheers!

December 21, 2008

After I finished my PhD (see Making of a PhD for that story), I went off to Washington DC to do a short postdoc ("Visiting Fellow, Regulatory Studies") at the Mercatus Center.

Since I knew that I was going to come back to California after two months, to start a two-year postdoc at UC Berkeley, I thought of my time in DC as a transition, a vacation, and an exploration of what's there and what's next.

Washington DC

My DC-experience started out badly: Doug Kohler, the guy who agreed to rent me a room (via craigslist), decided to cancel the deal and keep my $500 deposit. (I ended up suing Doug -- and winning -- but I couldn't collect my money. I launched a blog documenting Doug's misdeeds, and four other people found me who had been defrauded for thousands of $$. (Maybe that's nothing compared to the $billions being tossed around these days, but it was real money for us!) In the end, the blog not only helped two people avoid losing more money (they cancelled their checks after reading my blog), but it also helped get Doug arrested (he's negotiating a charge of fraud with all the lying he can muster), and formed the backbone of the prosecuting attorney's case file.

[Unfortunately, I've made the blog private on that attorney's request. Email me if you want "subscriber" access.]

After a week on a friend's couch (thanks Kathryn!), I ended up moving into a group house in Columbia Heights. I lived there with 6 other 20-somethings, and found myself in the middle of a fun -- if sometimes confusing -- bunch of folks.

Work

My work was interesting. At the Mercatus Center, neither of my planned projects (how to make regulators do their job without the prerequisite that they be angels; community water management as an alternative to the private/public debate) went anywhere. On the other hand, my blogging at aguanomics took off when MC's media person put me in touch with Forbes. My forbes.com piece got me a lot of attention -- a spot on Fox Business News (with a tie!), guestposts at the Freakonomics blog, invitations to speak at various places, etc.

Something was working right!

So, I put as much energy into the blog and public outreach as I could find, and now I've got a reasonably solid audience (200 visitors/day plus 500 RSS subscribers) for a blog devoted to water economics. [more on this below...]

Personal

My personal life was rather chaotic. I got involved in the "Burner" social community (going to events at Artomatic, attending the regional burn at TransformUS, hanging out with various firedancers), messed around with dating (the DC social scene is pretty active, with the high turnover of interns and various young things on the prowl), and managed to ride a bike to work through traffic scrums and massive heat and humidity. (If we are ever going to encourage a green commute, we will need showers at work!)

I got to know a number of people in DC who I still talk to, so that was cool.

My overall impression of DC is that it's a place obsessed with power (at work, in the bars) and that it's a pity that air conditioning exists: If there was no A/C, we would have fewer people in DC living off of our money, designing new programs to bring them more power and screw up our lives.

[I think that the founding fathers were rather clever to put the Capitol in a swamp. Too bad A/C came along...]

Berkeley

So, after those two months, I returned to California. (I had already flown back TWICE for conferences; talk about bad planning!)

I rented half of a GREAT house in "the flats" of Berkeley. It's got hardwood floors, a great kitchen, a fireplace and just a super layout. I particularly appreciate having a separate bedroom and office on the 1.5th floor :)

Better yet, I have a cool roommate, Nick, an industrial designer who manages to bring some style into my life!

So, after unpacking, I headed to Burning Man for the second time, taking Steve along for his virgin burn. I was better prepared, and thus able to arrive early, help with selling ice (you can only buy ice and coffee @ BM; everything else is a gift or what you brought), and get into the groove...

I camped with the couchsurfers @ BM, and I have also deepened my connections with that community (800,000 people worldwide who like to sleep on/offer up couches in places far from home). It's a nice coincidence that the "world headquarters" for CS is based in Berkeley for this year.

UCB Postdoc

Once I got back, it was off to work. As a Wantrup Fellow, I have no obligations (teaching, research, publication, office hours, etc.), so you can imagine that I reveled in the freedom.

In fact, I continued to do what I had been doing in DC, which is what I had been doing in Davis before I left -- blogging.

Now this brings us to an interesting question that I have been debating and discussing over the past 6-8 months, i.e., what should I do with my PhD?

Career

The traditional route -- "Academic Intellectual" -- would have me take an assistant professor job with an obligation to publish academic articles in academic journals. Teaching would be of lessor (or zero) importance, and communication with the public (blogs, talks) would have no professional reward whatsoever.

Obviously, I have been doing the opposite -- acting as a "Public Intellectual" -- for a few reasons:

I want to teach more people about economics. If more people understood opportunity cost and comparative advantage, we'd be both richer and happier!
I want to work on relevant stuff. So much academics writing is useless (no practical application or lesson) that I hate to spend my time on the same stuff.
I am still working on some academic papers [they and my dissertation are here] and awaiting a SINGLE acceptance for publication. If I suck so bad (16 rejections so far!), then perhaps I should be looking for work elsewhere.
I LIKE blogging and speaking to the public and teaching. I DO NOT like academic writing, which takes forever to do (document everything), must please anonymous referees looking for holes in your work, and takes months (or years) to get published! That said, I do like to explore and debate ideas, so I think that the main issue is not with that, but the institutional shortcomings of academic publication, i.e., since you need it to get/keep a job, journals are deluged with papers (of VARYING quality), many of which need to be rejected just to keep publication volume down to something manageable.

blah blah blah...

So, what am I doing about all this?

First, I am expanding my public speaking role through a series of "water chats" (provisional name -- got any better?). These will be "author talks without the book" that I will schedule myself as I meander around California (and perhaps neighboring states). I plan to advertise my presence, meet with local water people (to learn), talk to those interested (to teach), and keep up with blogging (to publicize what I learn and where I am going next). I plan to take my first water chat tour soon after the new year.

Second, I am writing up a proposal for Aguanomics, the book. I have been contacted by several good publishers interested in a book on water, and it seems that a trade (NOT text) book on water economics would have a good audience: A Cadillac Desert that teaches non-economists how to look at water management (in its many dimensions) through the eyes of an economist. The book is meant to span the gap between the textbooks (boring, hard and perhaps over-complicated) and the water rants (biased books on "water crisis," "evil corporations," etc.)

Third, I am continuing to blog.

The trouble is that I work on public policy, I don't want to work for the government, and I am unwilling to trade my independence for an adversarial (corporate or non-profit) position that does not allow me to think in terms of what's best for "us" -- not just me, Americans, democrats, etc.

In one year, I will be back on the academic job market (unless I have another job lined up), and I will have to judge whether I can get a non-academic job (public policy researcher?), whether I can get an academic job (liberal arts professor), or whether I should just "retire" to travel and enjoy myself. (It's always good to have a Plan B! I am not rich, but my money/earning power is sufficient to live, and my respect for "status" is insufficient to keep me as a wage slave. I also take the motto of this site (my site) seriously. Kill Your Status Quo can be uncomfortable, but no risk, no reward!)

Libertarians never die -- they just walk off alone...

A Few Asides

I am very pleased that Obama won. I was sad that Hillary went nuts during the campaign. (I predicted in Oct 2007 that it would be Hillary vs. Romney.) I was MORE sad that McCain lost all his maverick in an effort to pander to the worst elements in the Republican party. I think that Obama CAN get stuff done by changing the tone (a la Kennedy), and have been pleased overall with his transition team.

For Christmas, I'd like the following presents from St. Obama:

Legalize drugs -- please end the chaos and waste from this failed Prohibition.
Redirect the US Military to defense and stop supporting illiberal dictators.
Trade with everyone (Cuba, Iran, et al.), freely. Yes, unilateral trade liberalization.
Protect people (not jobs or industries) via portable health care, pensions and unemployment support.
Get religion out of government (abortion, prayer, etc.) -- those are private matters!
Kill the farm bill. If we are going to bribe farm states, just send them money.
Implement a carbon tax, unilaterally.
Decentralize MANY government functions to states (support the 10th Amendment!), i.e., education, welfare, infrastructure, etc.
End corporate taxes and move regulation to agencies that are harder to bribe.
Reform income taxes (flat, with an exemption) and payroll taxes (switch social security from pay as you go)
Close Guanto and end shameful practices that are ruining (have ruined?) our reputation as a "shining city on the hill"
Promote 100% government transparency -- retroactively!
... and a puppy (just kidding on that one!)

The economic meltdown is a fiasco that can be blamed on politicians (who like to manage too much), regulators (leaning too hard on rating agencies, etc.) and corporate managers. I do not blame the capitalists since their job is to be as greedy as possible. It seems that some people forgot that (the Madoff scam makes me laugh and cry).

The environmental situation is NOT looking good. Many people in power do not understand sustainable nearly as well as they understand GDP growth and campaign contributions. Those without power will suffer -- especially as sea levels rise by one meter over the next 100 years, many species go extinct as their habitat disappears, and we all suffer from greater variation in the weather. Seriously -- our lifestyle is going to change, voluntarily or not. That's why I am not having kids, and I am considering retirement (to enjoy what's left) to be such a good option...

All of this makes me feel (and sense in others) a strong need to rest, reevaluate and reconsider what's going on around and within me. We've had quite an eventful six months, and volatility, change and uncertainty are stressful...

Enjoy the winter solstice, hug your loved ones, and enjoy the light to come!