Shouvik Chakraborty, Political Economy Research Institute, is interviewed about while the Indian capital of Delhi has become the city with the most polluted air in the world and what the government there can do about it. He says the dirty air is caused by a combination of burning fossil fuels for transportation and power added to some lesser pollution from burning crops in agricultural areas near the city. Chakraborty says the Indian government needs to spend more on developing clean energy and to move away from reliance on fossil fuels. (The Real News Network, 12/26/17)
Day: February 8, 2018
Devika Dutt, a graduate student in economics and researcher at the Political Economy Research Institute, is interviewed on whether public or private ownership of banks is the most efficient. (The Real News Network, 1/16/18)
James S. Heintz, economics, comments in a story about growth in the manufacturing section in the Attleboro area. He says Massachusetts has always played a major role in manufacturing items such as machine parts, electronics, medical devices and other technologically sophisticated products. He also says it’s difficult to attribute any increase in manufacturing jobs to the goal and rhetoric of the Trump administration. (Sun Chronicle, 1/19/18)
Arindrajit Dube, economics, is the author of a new paper that looks at the effects of minimum-wage increases across 137 locales since 1979. Dube concludes that on average, minimum-wage increases eliminated jobs paying below the new minimum but added jobs paying at or above the minimum. (Daily Journal, [Ill.], 2/7/18)
James K. Boyce, economics, writes an op-ed in The New York Times about a proposed carbon dividend that is designed to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere and provide money to ordinary Americans by distributing money raised by selling permits to companies that sell carbon-based fuels. The permits would be auctioned and limited and over time their number would decrease. A bill creating this system is being filed in the U.S. House by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland. Boyce and Van Hollen argue that this system would immediately provide a financial benefit to the American people, would increase the cost of carbon and would result in cleaner air and water and diminished climate change. (New York Times, 4-Traders, 1/29/18)
Recent research by Arindrajit Dube, economics, on the impact of increasing the minimum wage is highlighted as contradicting a widely reported study from 2017 that claimed the increase in Seattle’s minimum wage made workers worse off because it forced employers to cut back on hiring and hours to afford paying higher wages. Dube’s research shows that, “on average, minimum-wage increases eliminated jobs paying below the new minimum, but added jobs paying at or above the new minimum. The two changes effectively cancel each other out.” (Washington Post WonkBlog, 2/5/18)
Arindrajit Dube, economics, is interviewed about what happens when retailers voluntarily raise the minimum wage for their workers. He says it decreases the number of employees who quit their jobs for better opportunities and tends to lead to increases in wages for similar or slightly higher-paid workers. (Bloomberg, 1/24/18)
Robert N. Pollin, Distinguished Professor in economics, and Gerald C. Friedman, economics, comments in stories about efforts to get single payer health care laws passed in California and New York, respectively. Pollin argues that if California adopts a single payer system, the cost of health care for consumers will go down. Friedman also says If New York lawmakers adopt a single payer system, the state would save $45 billion per year in health care costs. (KPCC, Sacramento Bee, Fox 40, Poughkeepsie Journal, 2/7/18)