M.V. Lee Badgett, economics and public policy, is the lead author of a new study that finds 21.6% of LGBT people in the U.S. experience poverty compared to 15.7% of cisgender straight people. Badgett, who conducted the study for the Williams Institute at UCLA, where she is a distinguished scholar, says, “Our study shows that all subpopulations of LGBT people fare the same or worse than cisgender straight people.” (Windy City Times,10/22/19)
A column written by a woman who was paid by her husband to do housework and suggests the government might pay women for doing housework, quotes Nancy Folbre, professor emerita of economics. Folbre says she does not favor a public sector wage and says government money could be better spent on policies like paid family leave or tax subsidies for child care that honor and reward such work, as well as on policies that encourage men to increase their responsibilities at home. (The Atlantic, 9/25/19)
There is continued coverage of research findings by Dania Francis, economics and Afro-American studies, that between $3.7 and $6.6 billion has been lost from dispossession of black-owned agricultural land in the South. (Esquire, 8/14/19)
Kartik Misrak, PhD candidate in economics, has been accepted for publication of his paper, “Does Historical Land Inequality Attenuate the Positive Impact of India’s Employment Guarantee Program?” in the World Development today.
Economist James K. Boyce explains how to fight climate change and rising income inequality in one shot. (Institute for New Economic Thinking, 7/30/19)
Dania Francis, economics and Afro-American studies, was part of a research team studying the financial loss resulting from the dispossession of black-owned agricultural land in the South. The team estimates the loss, including property and income, at between $3.7 and $6.6 billion in today’s dollars. (The Atlantic, 9/13/19)
A columnist quotes David Kotz, professor emeritus of economics, who says the current trade war started by Pres. Donald Trump has destabilized the U.S. economy and led to a 5.5 percent drop in gross private domestic investment. (Common Dreams, 8/13/19)
A news story on efforts to raise the federal minimum wage includes comments from Arindrajit Dube, economics, one of the authors of a recent study of 138 minimum wage increases in the U.S. between 1979 and 2016. “What we found was that these policies have the intended consequences of raising wages at the bottom” of the income scale and “have some degree of spillover beyond the minimum wage,” Dube says. “At the same time there is no overall evidence we found that the number of low-wage jobs are actually reduced.” He says the researchers didn’t find adverse impact on employment. (U.S. News & World Report, 8/9/19; News Office release)
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)