Research by Arindrajit Dube, economics, is cited in a column criticizing lawmakers from the city of Los Angeles for moving closer to adopting a $15 minimum wage. The writer cites Dube’s research findings that a reasonable minimum wage should be somewhere around 50 percent of the area’s median wage, which Dube had calculated to be about $10.36/hr. in Los Angeles. (Slate, 5/19/15)
Robert Pollin, economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, says while he supports global trade, there are numerous reasons to be skeptical of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal moving through Congress. He says opposition from Democrats is based on experience of job losses from other international trade deals that were supposed to benefit American workers, but didn’t. (Republican, 5/14/15)
“There’s growing attention and public pressure to raise wages at the bottom. So I find it really interesting that these companies aren’t just simply raising wages for all their workers, but also raising specifically at the bottom.”
– Arin Dube
Listen to PBS NewsHour segment:
http://to.pbs.org/1K9deTG
A new report on inequality by Joseph Stiglitz and the Roosevelt Institute called “Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy” (http://www.rewritetherules.org/) includes contributions from many UMass-ers: PhD alums Susan Holmberg and Adam Hersh are co-authors; PhD alum Mark Stelzner and current graduate student Anastasia Wilson are contributors; and Phd alum Geert Dhondt and Professor Emerita Nancy Folbre are listed in the acknowledgements.
Gerald Friedman is featured in two news stories about a study he has done on health care and why it shouldn’t be considered a regular good or service. He also studied how much could be saved by adopting a single-payer system in New York. (Legislative Gazette, Healthpolicy.tv, 5/5/15)
Research conducted by Arindrajit Dube, economics, is cited in a column about efforts to raise the federal minimum wage and a news story about the effort in Congress and how a one-size-fits-all policy may not be a good idea. (New Republic, 5/1/15; Washington Post, 4/30/15)
The Indian “Calorie Consumption Puzzle” has attracted the attention of many scholars in recent years. All of them have been struck by the same question: why has the country’s nutritional intake been declining over the past few decades while people’s purchasing power is increasing. When it is generally true that richer people consume more calories, why is the Indian trend the opposite? Read more……