The University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Basu UMass Economics

Basu on the Euorpean debt crisis

Deepankar Basu

Deepankar Basu, UMass Amherst economics professor, wrote an article for ZNet in which he details the causes of the European debt crisis and outlines two different paths for recovery. According to Basu, the two underlying causes include peculiarities of Germany’s growth process in the 2000s and the loss of policy options for countries that are part of European Monetary Union (EMU). Basu outlines two different paths for recovery without dismantling the union. The first option, favoured by European elites, is to advance emergency loans to Greece, and if necessary to the other countries too, and enforce Structural Adjustment Program (SAP)-type conditionalities (so-called “austerity” measures).  The second option, and the one that should be favored by the working class, is to is to work out a sensible debt-restructuring program with bondholders and force the German economy to reflate.  (ZNet, 5/23/10)

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Pollin

Pollin’s living wage research cited in NY Times

Robert Pollin

Two city councilors in New York City plan to introduce living wage legislation governing publicly subsidized development projects.  This legislation would guarantee wages of at least $10.00 per hour instead of $7.25 that it is now.  Robert Pollin, UMass Amherst economics professor and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, has studied living wages and is cited in the article.  According to Pollin, about 140 municipalities in the U.S. have passed similar legislation. (New York Times, 5/25/10)