Earnings data from UCLA shows that UCLA Business Economics and Economics graduates earn 45% and 30% more than average UC graduates two years after graduation, and that these differences persist. For example, 10 years after graduation, the median Business Economics student earns $113k, while a quarter of the class earn more than $158k.

This speaks to the determination of our students, and the power of economics training.

Congratulations to Professors Michela Giorcelli, Katherine Meckel and Volker Nocke, who became members of the prestigious National Bureau of Economic Research. Giorcelli is a Faculty Research Fellow at the “Development of American Economy” group, Meckel is a Faculty Research Fellow in programs on “Public Economics” and “The Economics of Children”, and Nocke is a Research Associate of the “Industrial Organization” group.

Professor Lee Ohanian writes in today’s San Francisco Chronicle that “California’s solar rooftop mandate doesn’t make economic sense”.

This month, the California Energy Commission voted to require that almost all new California housing include rooftop solar panels. The commission estimates that after three years, the solar mandate will have the same effect on carbon reduction as eliminating 115,000 cars. But this represents only 0.8 percent of California’s registered motor vehicles. With California building about 100,000 homes each year, this relatively small reduction in carbon emissions may increase new home construction costs by as much as $9 billion.

California’s rush into renewables is premature.

This unprecedented mandate will not reduce carbon emissions significantly because California electricity generation is powered primarily by natural gas, which produces less carbon than cars. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gases in California, producing more than twice as much as electricity generation.

Addressing the state’s failure to build roads and houses is much more important in reducing carbon emissions than turning every new house rooftop into an electrical generator.

There are fewer miles of serviceable roads in California today than in the 1990s, which means that California drivers burn tons of fossil fuel while sitting in traffic. Los Angeles drivers spend about 150 percent more time in traffic than the average U.S. driver, which costs L.A. drivers about $3,500 per year.

A related problem is that California’s housing supply does not come close to keeping up with demand. California’s housing shortage has increased home prices enormously in coastal cities and is causing a growing number of workers to commute long distances from locations with relatively affordable housing, such as the Central Valley, to work in areas with high-paying jobs, including Silicon Valley, the Bay Area and Los Angeles. In 2016, 471,000 drivers commuted to LosAngeles daily from another county, and California is home to the three U.S. cities with the greatest share of workers commuting at least three hours per day.

The new solar rooftop mandate will also raise housing and business costs, and California’s disproportionate bet on solar energy will probably have the unintended consequence of reducing future energy reliability and increase the possibility of brownouts.

Solar energy has the major drawback that its production peaks when residential demand is low, and it plummets late in the day when demand peaks. This gross imbalance between supply and demand leads to bizarre market outcomes, including California producing so much power at midday that it pays Arizona to take the excess production to prevent an electrical grid overload.

The large imbalance between supply and demand also stresses conventionally generated electricity production, which operates at inefficient low levels during midday, but then must increase production extremely rapidly in the late afternoon. As California increases its solar power share, this tightrope act of matching supply and demand becomes increasingly complicated and will tend to increase brownouts as operators struggle to keep up with demand.

The cost of cutting carbon with rooftop solar is high. The Energy Commission estimates that the solar mandate will raise construction costs by about $9,500 per home. Cost estimates by builders, however, which include the mandate’s additional requirement of more efficient appliances, lighting, windows and insulation, are $30,000 in higher constructioncosts. But even the commission’s low estimate drives up the already high cost of California housing, where only 30 percent of households can afford the median home price of nearly $540,000. This will push even more Californians further away from large job centers, increase commuting times and further increase carbon emissions from autos.

The Energy Commission counters that lower future energy costs would more than offset their estimate of additional construction costs. But if solar panels, extra insulation, thermal windows and highly energy-efficient appliances and lighting were such a great deal, then consumers would demand them, and builders would build them without any state arm-twisting. The commission seems to have chosen a mandate because consumers don’t value these energy-saving items nearly as much as the commission thinks they should.

Sensibly adopting renewables on such a major scale requires waiting until new technology is developed that can feasibly store renewable energy. Waiting would also allow California to assess alternative options to reduce carbon, including emerging technologies that capture carbon, and that turn carbon into ethanol, as well as consider further development of large-scale solar power generation, which generates electricity at about half the cost of rooftop solar.

In the meantime, it is straightforward for California to reduce carbon — build more roads, build more houses, and enjoy not only less carbon but more economic growth, lower housing costs and more time outside of our cars.

The following is from today’s Daily Bruin.

UCLA professor and 2002 California gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon often dresses up as famous economic figures like J.P. Morgan for his classes.

“A couple years after I ran for governor, a friend of mine asked me, what are you going to do now?” Simon said. “I said I’d like to get dressed up like Julius Caesar and go in front of a bunch of freshmen, slam my helmet on the table and say ‘veni, vidi, vici’ – I came, I saw, I conquered. If they start laughing, maybe I’m in the right place.”

Simon, a professor in the department of economics, received the My Last Lecture Award at a ceremony in De Neve Auditorium on Tuesday. The award, created by the UCLA Alumni Scholars Club in 2010, honors a student-nominated professor and gives them the chance to lecture on a topic they would want to talk about if it were their last lecture on Earth.

Simon structured his lecture around nine lessons that he’s learned in his life, from human nature to career advice, and talked about a range of topics, such as the importance of exercise, Mark Twain quotes and the role of self-deprecation when presenting.

Simon established a career in investment banking and ran for governor of California in 2002, but realized his passion for education after he lost. He said he became a professor on a whim, at the suggestion of a friend, but quickly grew to enjoy teaching.

“It started feeling really great, and I really enjoyed it,” Simon said. “The student evaluations came back and they were good, and one thing led to the next. (Teaching) has gone from a passion to a calling.”

Simon said he had to get used to preparing for class and learned new perspectives in economics from reading and putting together course material.

“Even (though) it’s something I’ve been doing for many years, I learned once again some things I knew once before and had forgotten, and (was exposed to) other new perspectives,” Simon said. “It’s been fun for me.”

He added he tries to teach students by using the mistakes and challenges he’s overcome in his own life as educational tools.

“I try to say to the students, in effect, don’t worry,” Simon said. “You are the future and you’re going to do great, and you’re going to make mistakes, but it can make you feel better if I can tell you about all the mistakes I’ve made, and all the mistakes that have been made in history.”

Students who have taken Simon’s classes said they appreciated how he connected with them and took the time to help develop their interests.

Michael Chen, a fourth-year economics student, said Simon’s courses have changed the way he views economics.

“One (phrase) that really resonated with me was, ‘Trees don’t grow to skies,’” Chen said. “An asset can look like a tree but it will have a reversion to the mean. I reflect on that whenever I look at the market.”

Chen said Simon engages students by learning personal details about them.

“He acted not only as a teacher but a mentor to me,” Chen said. “In a class of 30 or 40 students, (Simon) takes the time to know every student individually and tries to cater to their needs.”

Colin Connor, a third-year economics student, said he thinks Simon was selfless with his time and resources.

“Once, I asked him about something in a book that he had written and he just said, ‘Oh, I’ll just send you a copy,’” Connor said.

Nick Katzaroff, a fourth-year economics student, said he appreciated how personally engaged Simon was with his students.

“He was kind of like another dad, or a grandfather,” he said. “He would always ask how your family is doing and always wants your feedback. When you challenge his view, he will either be open to your view or research more about (the topic).”

Andrew Atkeson, a professor in the department of economics who has co-taught classes with Simon, said he thinks Simon is able to teach complicated economics concepts in an accessible and engaging manner.

“I think I’ve learned a lot about teaching in working with him, which has been a great pleasure for me,” Atkeson said. “A lot of times in economics, we present on a dry and technical level, but what we are discussing are human motivations.”

Simon said he feels indebted to the UCLA community and is grateful to have the opportunity to share his knowledge and resources with students.

“I’m a lucky guy,” he said. “It’s not often that at my age you stumble upon something that becomes a second career, and that’s exactly what happened to me.

Scarlett Wilson