The University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Faculty and grad students on “Occupy” protests

Anastasia Wilson (Photo by Diane Lederman, The Republican)

Many UMass Amherst Economics Department faculty and graduate students have participated in the “Occupy” protests that started on Wall Street and have spread internationally. Occupy protests have been held locally in Amherst, Boston and Northampton.

On Oct. 19 UMass Amherst economics professors Gerald Friedman, David Kotz, and Stephen Resnick joined colleagues Dean Robinson and Jillian Schwedler (political science), Max Page (art), and Millicent Thayer (sociology) for the first Occupy UMass Teach-In held in the Cape Cod Lounge on the UMass Amherst campus. (The Daily Collegian, 10/20/11)

Deepankar Basu (Photo by Diane Lederman, The Republican)

Nancy Folbre, UMass Amherst economics professor, writes in the Economix blog about the Occupy Wall Street movement and what it may mean for the debate about wealth distribution in the U.S. She says visiting the protestors in New York City showed her that they weren’t proposing class warfare, but were instead expressing class rage. (New York Times, 10/17/11

Graduate student Mark Paul is profiled in a story about local residents who are taking part in the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York City. (Gazette, 10/11/11)

A group of UMass Amherst students held a rally outside the Student Union on Oct. 12 calling for economic justice as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Speakers at the rally included UMass Amherst economics professors Deepankar Basu and David Kotz. (Republican, 10/13/11)

UMass Amherst graduate students, including Anastasia Wilson (shown in photo), participate in the Occupy Amherst protest on the Town Common. A video of the event highlights their message. (Republican, 10/5/11)

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Folbre Blogs Big Banker Bonuses at NYT

In her regularly featured New York Times Economix blog, UMass Prof Nancy Folbre draws on new research by UMass’s James Crotty to look at the large bonus payments to bankers, even in the years of the finance-led crash.

Banker Bonus Rain by Nancy Folbre  Wall Street firms have always been famous for their generous bonuses to managers and traders — their so-called rainmakers. …What is especially striking is the high level of these bonuses in 2007 and 2008, years in which profits were negative. [Read the rest at http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/banker-bonus-rain/]