UMass Amherst economics graduate student, Seung-Yun Oh, has been awarded a Five College Fellowship for the 2011-2012 academic year. The residential fellowship is designed to provide support to doctoral students finishing their dissertation and includes a $30,000 stipend and a research grant as well as office space, housing or housing assistance and health benefits. Seung-Yun’s dissertation is titled, “Evolutionary and Institutional Model of Family Economy.” She will be hosted by Smith College.
UMass Amherst and the Boston Globe launched a new public policy series titled, “Recession & Recovery: A Forum on Smart Policies for Sustainable Growth,” on Monday, March 28 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Panelists included Robert Pollin, UMass Amherst economics professor and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, Jeffrey Thompson of the Political Economy Research Institute, Lisa M. Lynch, dean and Maurice B. Hexter professor of Economic Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and Eric Rosengren, president and CEO at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Rosengren says rising food and energy prices, caused by turmoil in the Middle East and increased prices in wheat due to poor harvests in Russia and Australia, could weaken the national economy. Pollin takes this further asserting that gas prices have soared because of a speculative bubble, noting that the commodities market is still unregulated. All four panelists agreed that unemployment, with rates still near 9% nationally, is the fundamental issue facing the economy, more so than the deficit. Rosengren feels that the deficit should be addressed long-term, “when we get closer to full-employment.” (Globe, 3/29/11; iMarketNews.com, Reuters, 3/28/11)