As a bill to raise the Massachusetts minimum wage to $15 awaits final approval, some business owners are concerned about the costs associated with the higher pay levels. Cited in the report is a study of 137 minimum wage increases by Arindrajit Dube, economics, which found that the number of jobs didn’t decrease following pay hikes. (Globe, 6/21/18)
Month: June 2018
Research by Gerald Friedman was used as a basis for a bill calling for a single-payer healthcare system in New York State, which was recently passed by the state Assembly and has moved on to the state Senate for consideration. (New Rochelle Patch, Healthcare Purchasing News, 6/16/18)
There is continued national news coverage of the analysis done by Gerald C. Friedman, economics, on what would happen to the U.S. economy if Bernie Sanders’ proposals for spending, single-payer healthcare and tax policy were adopted. A number of left-leaning economists are challenging Friedman’s analysis. Other commentators note that Sanders’ plans call for increased government spending that could spur economic growth. There is also an opinion piece by Friedman and Mark Paul, a graduate student in economics, about why Sanders and his policies are appealing to young voters, especially African-American students. (CNN Money, Slate, Dallas Morning News, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Dollars and Sense, 2/24/16)
Michael A. Ash, economics and public policy, is interviewed in the Portuguese weekly magazine Expresso. (Expresso, 4/7/18)
Robert N. Pollin, Distinguished Professor in economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, comments in a news story about Madeline Janis, who pioneered local hiring agreements in the Los Angeles area. Pollin told Janis that existing Buy America policies were inadequate and encouraged her to develop the Jobs for America program, a nonprofit group that works to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. (The American Prospect, 4/9/18)
A long news story on the continuing debate over the minimum wage and whether increasing it take away jobs notes that Arindrijit Dube, economics, described as “perhaps contemporary economics’ most prominent defender of minimum wage increases,” says it matters where the increases are applied. He says for example, that raising the rate in a prosperous coastal city could have much different impacts than doing it in poorer parts of the country. (The Guardian [U.K.], 4/13/18)
Gerald C. Friedman, economics, says the transition of the Berkshire County economy from one based on manufacturing to one now based on its natural beauty and cultural attractions is a “natural transition” reflecting changes in the global market. He also says tourism is what many people do with their extra money, so the Berkshires benefit from this trend. (Berkshire Eagle, 4/2/18)
M.V. Lee Badgett, economics, comments about a study that found there is a correlation between a country’s GDP per capita and LGBTQ acceptance. She says programs and policies that reduce violence stigma and discrimination and improve education and health care allow LGBT people to realize their full economic potential and that boosts the overall economy. (MetroWeekly [Wash. D.C.],
Léonce Ndikumana, economics, says the loss of foreign exchange due to illegal outflows of money taken from key elements of the economies of Africa is hindering their efforts at economic development. His comments are in a story about how Malawi is struggling to overcome lost revenue due to smuggling, tax evasion and corruption. (Malawi 24, 4/16/18)
Arindrajit Dube, economics, is co-author of a study that found crowdsourced workers who were able to choose their tasks and hours received wages worth about 20 percent of the value of their work while employers were compensated at between 20 percent and 80 percent of the value of the work. Dube and his colleagues also suggest that wages for people in the gig economy are likely to fall over time. (The Atlantic, 4/4/18)