Category: Pollin

In an interview on The Real News Network, Robert Pollin, economics professor and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), discusses federal regulation of derivatives with regard to the commodities market.  Bills that would help to regulate this market, including food and oil prices, are being debated now by both the Senate and the House.  Pollin favors a legally tight version of the Senate bill.  In his opinion this would be an effective response to the severe speculation that has surrounded the commodities future market since its deregulation in 2000.  (Therealnews.com, 6/16/10)

Robert Pollin, economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, writes a column about what the key issues are likely to be as negotiators from the U.S. House and Senate work to reconcile the two chambers’ versions of financial reform legislation. Pollin says much effort will be spent coming up with a new way to regulate derivatives and other financial instruments used to speculate on oil and food prices. (Huffington Post, 6/7/10)

Robert Pollin, economics professor and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), comments in a story analyzing the Federal Reserve’s role in addressing high unemployment, particularly among black workers.  Pollin says he believes economic thinking is changing and it now makes sense for the Fed to buy corporate bonds to fund high-employment businesses, especially those that will create jobs in urban areas, much as it acted to cut the federal funds rate in the 2008 economic crisis. He says the Fed has other mechanisms to control inflation without hurting employment, but it just doesn’t use them. (City Limits, 4/19/10)

Robert Pollin, economics professor and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), comments in a story about the slow progress being made in encouraging the green economy in the U.S. Pollin says few companies have applied for federal tax credits available to firms that are involved in green manufacturing and that currently only about 75,000 jobs have been generated. Overall, however, Pollin says green energy is an opportunity to help revive the nation’s manufacturing sector.  (New York Times, 4/22/10)

The research of professor Robert Pollin, economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, was referenced in an article which appeared recently in The Huffington Post.  Pollin’s work on green economies is considered substantial and thorough with respect to quantifying how many green jobs could be created from a clean energy transformation.  This is important research because, as the author points out, “green jobs may be the key to economic recovery and environmental sustainability.”