Mark C. Long

Chatted with a water resource economist at an event in California yesterday. The state’s water “shortage” really is one of the most unforced errors in policymaking. Key stats: - farmers use 80% of the developed water supply - residents use 20% - cities pay ~20x higher prices (!) for water than farmers (~$722/acre-foot vs ~$36/acre-foot) - some of the biggest agricultural districts in the state pay literally $0 for their water - meanwhile agriculture accounts for just ~2% of California’s economy It’s crazy that politicians tell residents to take shorter showers or get rid of their lawns instead of just charging farmers the market price for their water usage.

Shaping Future Leaders: A Student’s Day at City Hall: youtu.be/sKZsvmBazYc

UC-Riverside’s School of Public Policy has received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund a four-year initiative aimed at improving civic engagement and public policy discourse. insideucr.ucr.edu/stories/2026/0…

I look forward to seeing you all at this week's NASPAA Conference!

I am excited to celebrate the UCR School of Public Policy's 10th Year Anniversary. Thank you all who attended our kickoff event on Monday. We look forward to a year of special events, panels, alumni and faculty features, podcasts, etc.

Who needs a ribbon cutting when you can do a nail hammering! Happy to launch the Riverside Tool Library.

Happy to announce...

This is a dark day. Politicization of our federal statistical agencies will inherently degrade trust in our federal statistics. Without this trust, we will be in the dark about the efficacy of our government policies. We must hold our leaders accountable.

Today, President Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer because President Trump didn't like the latest employment report. Here is his reasoning:

Abraham Lincoln knew the great value of having impartial statistics be collected by the federal government. The following is portion of the text of his address to the House of Representative on June 20, 1848.

This is fantastic news! Spectacular adoption of solar power generation. Let's keep up the good work, America!

Last summer, we installed solar panels on our house. Since then, we have been (slightly) a net exporter of energy to the grid. Honestly, feels great! I am grateful for the fall in the price of solar panels.