M.V. Lee Badgett, economics, will lead a first-of-its-kind study looking at how federal contactors fare on gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination. A $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor will fund the research. (Gazette, 1/19/17)
Douglas Cliggott, economics, writes a commentary in Fortune where he says members of the U.S. Senate who will question Steven Mnuchin, the nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, should find out his views on how to boost labor productivity and how to reduce income inequality. (Fortune, 1/18/17)
From the Huffington Post article by Lynn Parramore (7/26/16):
America’s financial system is broken for all but a few at the top — that much is plain. The rest sense that we are stuck on the minus end of some great financial formula, but given the complexity and size of Big Finance, it’s hard to pin down exactly why it happens and how it all adds up. Read more……
Leonce Ndikumana, who is lead author of a new report on the impact of misinvoicing commodity exports from the developing world, especially from Africa, says the problem shouldn’t be seen as administrative mistakes. Instead, he says people in the commodities industry are manipulating the system. Read more: Financial Times article and report
Trade Misinvoicing in Primary Commodities in Developing Countries
Brexit, Bernie, Trump and many more protest and resistance movements show us that conventional wisdom isn’t always so wise in our current moment. That makes this moment an opportunity to address the deep inequalities of our global economic system, writes Prof. David Kotz. Read more…..
Professor Jerry Epstein and Ph.D. student Juan Montecino have just published a remarkable report on the role of finance in the U.S. economy. A summary and link to the full report are at http://rooseveltinstitute.org/overcharged-high-cost-high-finance/
Reducing use of fossil fuels can not only helps to protect future generations from the threat of climate change but also to protect the present generation from the health costs of dirty air. In the latest issue of Global Environmental Change, professor James K. Boyce joins with Chinese researchers to analyze how air quality co-benefits could be incorporated into the design of the cap-and-trade system being introduced in Beijing and nearby regions. Read more…..
Read the recent Economic and Political Weekly paper by Deepankar Basu , economist at UMass Amherst and Debarshi Das of the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati .
Robert N. Pollin, economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), and James Boyce, economics and PERI, comment in a news story about how development of a renewable energy economy would produce jobs, reduce pollution and help reduce income inequality. (Billmoyers.com, 3/17/16)
The work of economists Deepankar Basu and Amit Basole on the calorie consumption puzzle in India was referred to in the Mint on Sunday newspaper article “Cultural norms, Veblen effect and malnutrition” by Sumit Mishra. Read article.