Month: July 2019

An article that asks what gross domestic product, or GDP, is and whether it’s the best way to measure the economy, quotes Nancy Folbre, professor emeritus in economics. She says GDP provides only a partial economic picture because it doesn’t factor in unpaid work, like housework or childcare. (PBS NewsHour, 7/30/19)

James K. Boyce, emeritus professor of economics, writes that to meet climate goals, it’s necessary not just to promote energy efficiency but also to curtail the supply of fossil fuels. He says curbing the supply of fossil fuels will raise their price, effectively putting a price on carbon emissions. (Institute for New Economic Thinking, 7/22/19)

A new study co-authored by Lawrence P. King, economics, finds that falling incomes and rising incarceration rates at the county level in the U.S. are linked to an increase in drug-related deaths. The researchers looked at data at the county level from 1983 to 2014. “It’s a strong argument for the medicalization of hard drugs as opposed to criminalization, which actually makes a lot of sense, given that the definition that we use of addiction is continued obsessive-compulsive use of drugs despite the negative consequences,” King says. (WICZ-TV 40 [Binghamton, N.Y.], 7/22/19)

James K. Boyce, emeritus professor of economics, writes a column where he talks about how creating a “carbon dividend” process for reducing carbon emissions would be both good economics and would be politically popular. The idea is to tax carbon and share the resulting revenue with all Americans, similar to how Alaska shares revenue from the oil industry. (Politico, 7/23/19)

An editorial supporting a raise in the federal minimum wage that varies depending on regional labor market conditions, cites research by Arindrajit Dube, economics, who says the optimum minimum wage is 50-60 percent of a regional labor market’s median hourly wage.(Washington Post, 7/16/19)

The work of Robert N. Pollin, Distinguished Professor in economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, is cited in a story about efforts to deal with the student loan crisis and a proposal by Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders to forgive all U.S. student debt by taxing every stock and bond trade. Pollin estimates this transaction tax would generate about $220 billion per year. (The Epoch Times, 7/15/19)

Arindrajit Dube, economics, says a recent study by the Congressional Budget Office that says raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour would lift 1.3 million people out of poverty but would also cause the loss of 1.3 million jobs, relies on some questionable assumptions. He says many of those have already been rebutted by researchers in the field. (WBUR, 7/11/19)

A news story on how the debate over raising the federal minimum wage has shifted over time cites research published this year by a team of economists that includes Arindrajit Dube and Doruk Cengiz, economics. The study found local effects of more than 130 minimum-wage increases since 1979 where the decrease in jobs paying less than the minimum wage was fully offset by an increase in jobs paying just more than the new wage rate. The story also mentions other research Dube has done on the minimum wage and how it affects the job market. (Washington Post, 7/8/19)

A new study co-authored by Lawrence P. King, economics, finds that falling incomes and rising incarceration rates at the county level in the U.S. are linked to an increase in drug-related deaths. “If we’re incarcerating people because we don’t like the negative effects of drugs, what this study shows is it’s counterproductive,” King says. (WRAL.com [from CNN; Science Codex, 7/3/19)

A news story about efforts to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2024 cites research done in 2018 by Arindrajit Dube, economics, that finds raising the minimum wage reduces the number of families living in poverty. The story also says research has shown that raising the minimum wage does not lead to major job losses, reduction in hours or a decrease in low-wage jobs. Another study co-authored by UMass Amherst economists says raising the minimum wage between 1979 and 2016 gave low-wage workers a pay increase but didn’t cause changes in employment. (Vox, 7/2/19)