The University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Badgett

Badgett: Evidence Backing Gay Marriage is In

Lee Badgett, UMass Economics Prof. & Director of CPPA
Lee Badgett, UMass Economics Professor & Director of CPPA

UMass Amherst economist Lee Badgett testified during a trial on California’s same-sex marriage ban that gay marriage does not undermine traditional marriages.  In Massachusetts, same-sex marriages have been allowed since 2004, with no affect to marriage and divorce rates for straight couples, according the statistics she cited.  “I don’t think we need to wait any longer to see what the impact will be. I think we know,” Badgett said. “Everything I’ve looked at leads me to the conclusion that there is no impact.”  (Associated Press, 1/20/2010)

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Friedman UMass Economics

Friedman: VT’s state employee’s pension plan is “in good shape”

Gerald Friedman, UMass Amherst Economics Professor
Gerald Friedman, UMass Amherst Economics Professor

Gerald Friedman, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, has been consulting with the Vermont State Employees Association as to whether or not the Vermont Legislature should enact changes to the employees’ pension system.  These changes, recommended by a special commission headed by Treasurer Jeb Spaulding, would, according to Spaulding, save the state as much as $29 million next year.

Last week, Friedman made a presentation to the the House Government Operations Committee.  He argued that he didn’t see a crisis necessitating the changes Spaulding and the commission had recommended.  “I see a pension plan in good shape,” he said.  “My suggestion to you would be to punt for a while. You don’t have to do anything.”
 (BurlingtonFreePress.com, 1/16/2010)

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Boyce UMass Economics

Boyce Shapes California’s Carbon Permit Allocation Plan

James Boyce, UMass Economics Professor
James Boyce, UMass Economics Professor

In June 2009 James Boyce, UMass Amherst economics professor, was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Economic and Allocation Advisory Committee, charged with advising the state of California on implementing a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gases.

The Economic and Allocation Advisory Committee released its final recommendations earlier this week.  The committee recommends that California “rely principally, and perhaps exclusively, on auctioning as the method for distributing allowances,” and that roughly 75% of the auction revenue “should be returned to households either through lump-sum payments or through cuts in individual income or sales tax rates.”  The committee recommends that the remaining 25% be devoted to public investments in the clean energy transition.

For more information:

Press release from California Environmental Protection Agency
View the full EAAC Report
The Wall Street Journal 
Fox Business News
Daily Climate News and Analysis

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Badgett

Badgett Testifies in Proposition 8 Trial

Lee Badgett, UMass Economics Prof. & Director of the CPPA
Lee Badgett, UMass Economics Prof. & Director of the CPPA

M.V. Lee Badgett, UMass Amherst economics professor and director of the center for public policy and administration, testified today in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial.  This case is challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8,  the California referendum that, in November, 2008, overturned a state Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex couples to marry.  (Law Dork, 1/15/2010)

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Alums PERI

Heintz on Structural Deficits

James Heintz, PERI
James Heintz, PERI

On January 5, 2010, the Real News Network aired an interview with James Heintz (Political Economy Research Institute) in which he discusses how to address structural deficits in state and local governments as a way to deal with high unemployment. He says planning budgets in longer cycles and using federal funding to boost state economies can be helpful. View the video.

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Crotty

Crotty discusses the recent financial collapse in an interview with The Real News Network

James Crotty, UMass Economics Professor
James Crotty, UMass Economics Professor

James Crotty, UMass Amherst economics professor, discusses the recent financial collapse and why he believes it was caused by speculative bubbles based on “false values” and “structural blackmail” within huge financial firms. (The Real News Network, 1/10/10; Firedoglake.com, 1/11/10)

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Crotty

Crotty, interviewed by The Real News Network, discusses executive compensation

James Crotty, UMass Economics Professor
James Crotty, UMass Economics Professor

James Crotty, UMass Amherst economics professor was interviewed earlier this month by The Real News Network.  Crotty discusses executive compensation in the finance sector and the role it has played in the current crisis.

January 8, 2010
The Real News Network
Executive compensation:  “Heads I win tails you lose”

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Folbre

“Cheerynomics vs. Gloomynomics,” Folbre elaborates in Economix Blog

Nancy Folbre, UMass Economics Professor
Nancy Folbre, UMass Economics Professor

In her New York Times Economix Blog earlier this month, UMass Economics Professor Nancy Folbre light-heartedly proposes “a new taxonomy of economic approaches based on temperament.”

By NANCY FOLBRE

[excerpt]
 
Is this Gloomynomics?

Maybe our view of the world is too dismal even for the dismal science. It is a bit discouraging to believe that markets don’t work very well on their own and that government often makes their problems worse rather than better.

It is also a bit discouraging to believe that we are getting deeper and deeper into a terrible mess — not just a global recession, but a form of ecologically and socially unsustainable economic growth. 

On the other hand, this perspective generates a pretty urgent research agenda. And there’s some evidence that negative moods promote more careful thinking than “what, me worry?” optimism.

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Badgett

Badgett: States ready to legalize same-sex marriage

M.V. Lee Badgett, UMass Economics Prof. & Dir. of CPPA
M.V. Lee Badgett, UMass Economics Prof. & Director of CPPA

M.V. Lee Badgett, UMass Amherst Economics Professor & Director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, was recently quoted in an article on same-sex marriage titled, “Marriage was the story of the year in 2009.”  (DC Agenga, 1/4/2010.)

According to Badgett, the advancement of same-sex marriage is striking particularly in states that already allowed relationship recognition.  “I think the main thing that we learned is that states are ready to legalize same-sex marriage and it happened in several places that have civil unions or domestic partnerships,” she said. “Legislators realized, [at] the request of their constituents, that those statuses were not the same.”

Categories
Folbre

“Have Women Done It?” asks Folbre in NY Times Economix Blog

Nancy Folbre, UMass Economics Professor
Nancy Folbre, UMass Economics Professor

In her most recent New York Times Economix Blog, UMass Economics Professor Nancy Folbre challenges a recent cover story of  The Economist titled, “We Did It!  What happens when women are over half the workforce?”

January 11, 2010, 7:11 am
Have Women Done It?
By NANCY FOLBRE

[excerpt]

The Economist notes that women remain underrepresented in management positions but registers considerable optimism concerning current trends.

By contrast, recent research by the sociologists Philip Cohen, Matt Huffman and Stefanie Knauer showed that women’s entry into management positions in the United States slowed significantly in the 1990s.

The Economist also cheerfully asserts that “Men have, by and large, welcomed women’s invasion of the workplace.” Their choice of words is surely ironic, but I was left wondering how well women are represented on the staff of the magazine.