The University of Massachusetts Amherst
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UMass Economics

M.V. Lee Badgett, economics, has calculated that India was losing $26 billion per year in economic activity by discriminating against LGBT people

A news story about how Malaysia’s Prime Minister Maharthir Mohamad says he doesn’t think Asia needs to copy the West in accepting its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens, notes that M.V. Lee Badgett, economics, has calculated that India was losing $26 billion per year in economic activity by discriminating against LGBT people. (Bloomberg, 10/25/18)

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UMass Economics

A columnist writing about the arguments for and against raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour mentions that Arindrajit Dube, economics, supports raising the rate.

A columnist writing about the arguments for and against raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour mentions that Arindrajit Dube, economics, supports raising the rate, but also says it’s not known what happens when the minimum wage gets higher than about 50 percent of the median wage. (Finger Lakes Times [N.Y.], 10/23/18)

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UMass Economics

Robert N. Pollin, says if the Trump administration is serious about reducing the national debt, they will have to propose cutting spending on popular programs.

Robert N. Pollin, Distinguished Professor in economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, says if the Trump administration is serious about reducing the national debt, they will have to propose cutting spending on popular programs. He says, “The likely scenario is there will be pressure to cut spending. If the Trump administration is committed to continuing to increase military spending, the only place where you can get a substantial amount of saving out of the rest of the budget is in health care.” (Marketplace [NPR], 10/16/18)

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King

Lawrence King is interviewed about how the International Monetary Fund is directly or indirectly intervening in the agriculture policies or more than 100 countries around the world.

Lawrence King is interviewed about how the International Monetary Fund is directly or indirectly intervening in the agriculture policies or more than 100 countries around the world. This is despite the fact that the IMF has a mandate that prohibits it from such interventions. (The Real News Network, 10/7/18)

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Dube

Arindrajit Dube says Amazon’s recent announcement that it will boost its minimum wage to $15 per hour is good news for workers at the lower end of the wage scale.

Arindrajit Dube says Amazon’s recent announcement that it will boost its minimum wage to $15 per hour is good news for workers at the lower end of the wage scale. “For much of the past three decades, the wages of those at the bottom of the wage distribution have failed to keep up with overall economic gains. Most of the wage increase has occurred among the top half of the wage distribution, especially since the 1990s,” Dube says. (Yahoo! Finance, 10/4/18)

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Ash Boyce

A new paper by Michael Ash and James K. Boyce finds that for racial minorities, living near facilities such as gas or oil refineries or coal processing plants did not significantly bolster minority employment.

A new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by Michael Ash and James K. Boyce, finds that for racial minorities, living near facilities such as gas or oil refineries or coal processing plants did not significantly bolster minority employment. Instead, they found that minorities living near such plants are more likely to be exposed to pollutants but could not count on them to provide jobs. Ash and Boyce took information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and did a comparison as part of the study. (Phys.org, 10/3/18)

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Dube UMass Economics

An op-ed discussing the earned income tax credit mentions that Arindrajit Dube has suggested an adjustment to the program.

An op-ed discussing the earned income tax credit and how it is a low-visibility tax policy that actually works quite well to mitigate the effects of poverty mentions that Arindrajit Dube, economics, has suggested an adjustment to the program. Dube says combining the EITC with a basic guaranteed income for poor people could be a way to boost its positive influence. (Bloomberg, 10/1/18)