Political scientist Michael Ross directs the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA and is the author of The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations. Before talking about why oil wealth can be a liability for developing countries, he rapped in the green room about why he’d love to live in 1920s L.A., how often people ask him why gas costs so much, and whether being a father has made him a better singer (well, at least a less embarrassed one).
Q. If you could live in any other time, past, present or future, when would it be and why?
A. At the moment I would so much love to be in Los Angeles in the 1920s. I went to this LACMA design show the other day with my wife, and the thing that made the biggest impression on me was a pair of aerial photos of the area around Wilshire and Fairfax, one taken in 1920, the other in 1929. The 1920 picture is of barren land, and Fairfax is a dirt road; in 1929 it’s all built up.
Q. What’s your most prized material possession?
A. Are we allowed to include organic material? It’s probably my son-he’s just about 3 years old. If I had to give away all but one thing, he’d be that one thing.
Q. How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
A. I do relatively well-typically about seven to 7 1/2. Not quite enough, but better than a lot of parents.
Q. As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A. It was certainly not a political scientist. From age 10 to 13 or 14, my biggest passion was astronomy. I just loved the idea of spending the day thinking about the universe and watching the stars.
Q. Who was the last person to ask you why gas is so expensive right now?
A. I do get that question a lot. I’m not sure I know the last person who asked that, but I’ll tell you what the related comment typically is: Oh boy, what a perfect time for your book to come out! But I can’t think of a moment in the last 30 or 40 years when oil wasn’t a hot political issue in one way or another.
Q. Where do you hang out when you’re not at UCLA or home?
A. Like most Angelenos, the true answer is probably in my car. But if I were to give a more fanciful answer it would be hiking on one of the trails off Mulholland.
Q. What’s the last song you sang out loud?
A. My wife teases me because she thinks it’s completely normal that everybody sings in the car along with their favorite songs, and she’s shocked that I don’t do this. I have always been embarrassed about my inability to sing. But one thing about having a small child is you’re kind of forced to sing. Last night at about 8:30 I read my son a bedtime story that ended with a song about a sailor dog named Scuppers. I’d like to think I’ve become a better singer, but what’s actually happened is the audience has become less discerning.
Q. What spectator sport do you watch most often?
A. Until the absolute demise of my favorite baseball team, the Mets, it was baseball. Now I’m kind of in limbo.
Q. What do you love to hate?
A. Just about all things about the conservative wing of the Republican party. I think not enough people admit that it’s pleasurable to despise and ridicule the people they disagree with politically. But I do.
Q. What do you think is the optimal outdoor temperature?
A. I like it when it’s pretty close to 90. If I could set my outdoor thermostat for my days in Los Angeles, it’d probably be right about 89.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.