I’m a Natural Resource Economist and I work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a research scientist.

My research focuses on modeling complex economic-ecological systems and using empirical models to inform policy.  

My position affords me the opportunity to apply many types of mathematically and statistically motivated models to human behavior. I also use a variety of computational tools - some database management, some R, some Python, some other shit - to get my job done. The blog is a good outlet for commenting on the utility of various models and platforms. I used to blog at www.thesamuelsoncondition.com. I didn’t love Wordpress…I haven’t yet decided whether to redirect to that domain or just take up blogging under my actual name.

To be frank, I’m not totally sure what my blog is yet. Most of the things I write about probably fall under the Open Research banner…basically stuff I do at work that I think might be interesting or helpful to others. However, there are plenty of things that interest me (minimum wage policy, public finance, affordable housing policy, etc) that don’t necessarily have an immediate, intimate connection to my professional responsibilities. I like having a place where I can organize my thoughts on these issues as well.

The obligatory disclaimer:

• I don’t speak for NOAA, the U.S. Department of Commerce, or any other government agency. What you see here are my ideas and my positions.
• I don’t use government time or resources to maintain my blog. I write this stuff during off-work hours using my personal computer.

Contact me

• For work: aaron.mamula@noaa.gov or aamamula@ucsc.edu
• For other stuff: aaron.mams@gmail.com
• For code repos: github.com/aaronmams