CEPR Blog

October 6, 2008

Post Claims Paulson Misled Bush on Bailout
by Dean Baker, TPM Café (Talking Points Memo)

October 3, 2008

Stock Market Closes Below Monday Low: Come On Let's Have Some Hysteria!
by Dean Baker, TPM Café (Talking Points Memo)
 
Statement on Congressional Approval of Bailout
by Dean Baker

Letting the Bank Robber Fix the Bank's Books
by Dean Baker, TPM Café (Talking Points Memo)


October 2, 2008

Responsibility and the Bailout: Will They Resign If It Fails?
By Dean Baker, TPM Café (Talking Points Memo)

CEPR Co-Director, Dean Baker attended a panel discussion on the economics of inequality, on September 30, at the Institute for Policy Studies. Dean spoke about the 'financial crisis' and argued that a tightening of credit is normal in the context of a recession and that a bailout is uneccessary. His weekly columns on the economy can be found here. Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute and Barbara Ehrenreich  of the Institute for Policy Studies also spoke. The discussion was moderated by Chuck Collins, the Director of the Inequality and the Common Good Project at IPS.

October 1, 2008 

The Credit Squeeze Scare
by Dean Baker, TPM Café (Talking Points Memo)

September 30, 2008

Senior economist, John Schmitt and Research Assistant Hye-Jin Rho recently released a paper titled "The Reagan Question: Are You Better Off Now Than You Were Eight Years Ago?" The report is interactive and readers are encouraged to leave comments to which the authors respond.  

September 16, 2008

Dean Baker's Beat the Press column was listed in the Top 50 Economic Blogs (17th to be specific) by the Palgrave Econolog.  Congratulations Dean on reaching a wide audience!

September 12, 2008

The Center for American Progress and the Economic Policy Institute co-hosted a forum entitled "Corporate and High Income Tax Cuts and the Economy: The Economics, History, and Public Debate of Supply-Side Policies," which consisted of two panels.  In the first panel, "The Economics of Supply-Side," economists Lawrence Summers, Gene Sperling, and Jeffrey Frankel discussed the resounding denunciation of Supply-Side Economics (such as Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of Americans in an attempt to stimulate the economy) by the majority of professionals in the field, both from its theoretical perspective and from evidence over the past 60 years.  In the second panel, "The History and the Public's View," Jonathan Chait gave a synopsis of his new book, "The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics." Anna Greenberg, a leading polling expert, discussed American opinions on various tax issues, pointing out that most think the wealthy and corporations pay too little in taxes, but many are also in favor of tax cuts in order to stimulate the economy.
 

August 10, 2008

CEPR Co-Director, Dean Baker and journalist Bob Herbert, sat down with Bill Moyers to discuss the economic challenges facing the government and the American people. Video and audio clips of the interview can be found here.

July 21, 2008

We're delighted to announce that CEPR is this month's featured partner on the International Relations and Security Network (ISN) homepage. ISN provides an extensive network of free research materials for international relations scholars, as well as up-to-date current event analysis, conference listings and interactive educational content.


July 18, 2008

CEPR's Director of International Programs, Deborah James, is in Geneva where she will take part in meetings and events with trade ministers and civil society organizations related to the World Trade Organization "mini-ministerial" which begins July 21. CEPR expects the negotiations to face significant challenges due to the recent spike in food prices, and the limited gains projected for developing countries.

June 30, 2008

A recent article by MarketWatch on CEPR's latest report, "The Housing Crash and the Retirement Prospects of Late Baby Boomers," was among the ten most cited articles on their website, for the week of June 23-27.  The study, which was co-authored by Dean Baker and David Rosnick, analyzed the wealth holdings of families headed by people between the ages of 45 and 54 in 2004 and projected the wealth of families headed by people who will be in this age group in 2009. The findings are presented by income quintile under three scenarios- real house prices remain at current levels, real house prices fall by 10 percent, or real house prices fall by 20 percent. In all three scenarios, the vast majority of these families will have little or no housing wealth in 2009. Most importantly, this report should lead to a serious re-examination of policy proposals that would cut Social Security and Medicare for near retirees.

May 29, 2008

The Economic Policy Institute hosted a forum called Rising Economic Insecurity, focusing on instability of household income.  Jacob S. Hacker and Elisabeth Jacobs presented their paper, “The Rising Instability of American Family Incomes, 1969-2004.”  They showed that family income variance has approximately doubled over the time period and that the percentage of working-age Americans who have experienced a catastrophic drop (more than 50%) in their family income has steadily risen to about 10%.  They found that this volatility tends to come from male head of household income, not from changing patterns of women’s labor force participation.  More research is needed to determine the sources of the volatility, which may include the impact of globalization and labor unions.  Peter Gosselin of the Urban Institute also talked about his related paper “Trends in Income Volatility and Risk, 1970-2004.” He focused on a general shift of risk from the government and businesses to households. 

May 21, 2008

Dean Baker testified before the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, promoting his Subprime Borrower Protection Plan. The hearing, "Neighborhoods: the Blameless Victims of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis," focused on the effects of the meltdown of the mortgage market on neighborhoods and communities, particularly the increase in the number of vacant and abandoned properties due to foreclosures.

In an effort to provide greater housing security to families put at risk by the current crisis in the housing market, Congressman Raul Grijalva, (D-AZ) introduced a bill yesterday - with similar elements of the Subprime Borrower Protection Plan - that would allow homeowners of moderate-value homes who are facing foreclosure to remain in their homes as renters. See video of the full hearing.


May 19, 2008

Co-Director, Dean Baker, spoke to the Baltimore Sun in an extensive interview about where he thinks the housing market is headed. Dean, one of the first economists to write about the existence of the housing bubble in August 2002, warned that house prices are still falling rapidly and that housing wealth could decline by as much as forty percent before the worst is over. More of Dean's work on the housing crisis can be found here. Readers can also subscribe to CEPR's Housing Market Monitor which is published weekly and provides a breakdown of the latest indicators and developments in the housing sector.


May 13, 2008

"How bad could it get?" asked the editor of Challenge: the Magazine of Economic Affairs. Their current issue features articles on the topic of economic crisis. The good news: they've published Dean Baker and John Schmitt's recession prediction paper. The bad news: the recession is going to hurt mostly everyone.

May 9, 2008

Dean Baker was in Boston on May 1, presenting his paper "Financing Prescription Drug Research: What Are the Issues?" The paper was presented at the annual conference of the Sloan Foundation's Industry Studies group.

Previously, on April 22, Dean gave a presentation on the rise and demise of the housing bubble at Bucknell University. 

 
April 22, 2008

Last week, senior economist John Schmitt traveled to Amsterdam where he participated in a conference on low-wage work in Europe. The conference attracted some of the world's leading labor market economists and European policy makers who debated the meaning of the employment and wage differences between Europe and the United States.

The conference was organized to present the  findings of  research conducted over a four year period by teams in research institutions spanning five countries: the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, and the ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance, Oxford/Cardiff, (UK); Arhus School of Business, (Denmark); Institut for Arbeit und Qualifikation, Universitat Duisburg, (Germany); Universite de Paris-I Sorbonne-Pantheon and Paris X/Ecole Normale Superieure, (France); and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) at the University of Amsterdam and STZ Consultancy (Netherlands).

The analysis of 200 firm-level case studies showed stable rates of low pay employment of about 10 percent in Denmark and France, the rate in the Netherlands has stabilized at over 15 percent and in the United Kingdom at over 20 percent, with rapidly growing rates in Germany, which had low-wage employment rates almost as high as the 25 percent rate in the United States. However, researchers also found that low-wage workers in the European Union are generally significantly better off than their counterparts in the United States, primarily due to the social insurance provisions in the EU, including health care. The study was carried out with generous support from the Russell Sage Foundation as part of its Future of Work research program. John will be one of the editors of a volume summarizing the cross-country results of the multi-year project.

 
April 11, 2008

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs asked Dean Baker to testify at a hearing yesterday, "Turmoil in U.S. Credit Markets: Examining Proposals to Mitigate Foreclosures and Restore Liquidity to the Mortgage Markets". Also testifying were Lawrence Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, and representatives from the Center on Responsible Lending, the Brookings Institution and Lenders One, a national alliance of mortgage bankers.

Dean Baker argued that the situation in the housing market represents the largest economic crisis the country has faced since World War II. He went on to say that current legislation, while appropriate for some parts of the nation, will not address the needs of homeowners in bubble-inflated markets. You can read Dean's testimony here. 

April 3, 2008

The International Relations and Security Network (ISN) Publishing House, which is based in Zurich, Switzerland at the Center for Security Studies has chosen one of CEPR's latest publications as one of the editor's top picks. The paper, "An Empty Research Agenda: The Creation of Myths About Contemporary Venezuela," was written by co-director, Mark Weisbrot, as a response to a recent article in the March/April 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs that argued that Venezuela's poor have not benefited from the policies initiated byt the government of President Hugo Chávez. The ISN Publishing House is a repository of over 12,000 freely accessible policy briefs, research papers, government reports and journal articles covering a broad range of international relations and security-related topics.

 
March 25, 2008

Co-director Mark Weisbrot spoke at a panel discussion at the George Washington University Elliot School for International Affairs entitled “US Policy Toward Latin America in the Post-Bush Era”. The co-panelists included Greg Craig, a foreign policy advisor to Senator Barack Obama, Nora Lustig, a visiting professor at GWU and President of the Universidad de las Americas and Mark Schneider, the Senior Vice President and Special Advisor on Latin America at the International Crisis Group. All the participants agreed that supply-side counter-narcotics efforts in the Andes have failed. Nora Lustig discussed the possible effects of a US recession on the economies of Latin America, the topic of a recent CEPR report. Mark Weisbrot followed up on Mr. Schneider’s comments about economic inequality by underscoring the electoral consequences of Latin America’s dismal economic performance during the period of Washington-backed reforms. Recent economic policies, pursued independently of IMF advice, have lead to much higher economic growth, particularly in Argentina and Venezuela. The event was attended by an audience of over 100 policy makers, diplomats, academics, and students. A video of Mark's presentation can be viewed here.

March 21, 2008

Co-director, Dean Baker spoke at two conferences this past week. On Tuesday, he was part of a panel at the Take Back America 2008 conference which was held in Washington, DC. His co-panelists were: Albert Meyerhoff, who has practiced for more than 30 years in labor, civil rights and environmental law; Lisa Ransom who is the Vice President of Federal Affairs for the Center for Responsible Lending, and Theresa Di Martino, an activist and consumer who was ensnared by a predatory home lender. Video of the panel discussion can be seen here. Then, on Thursday, Dean traveled to Sacramento, CA where he spoke at the annual conference of the California Budget Project on the bursting of the housing bubble and the challenges it presents to homeowners in California and across the country. More of Dean's research on the housing bubble can be found here.

March 12, 2008

Senior Research Associate, David Rosnick traveled last week to New Haven, CT, where he participated in a conference on Venezuela, "The Popular Sectors and the State in Chavez's Venezuela." The conference was held at Yale University where David presented a paper titled, "Illiteracy Revisited:  What Ortega and Rodriguez Read in the Household Survey." The paper was a rebuttal to Daniel Ortega and Francisco Rodriguez's argument that they had shown econometrically that the Robinson literacy program likely had no impact on reducing illiteracy in Venezuela.

February 19, 2008

Sponsored by the Center for American Progress (CAP), The Future Direction of US International Economic Policy brought several distinguished experts together to discuss a recent report, “Virtuous Circles: Strengthening Broad-Based Global Progress”, part of CAP’s Progressive Growth  series on the next administration’s economic policy.  The report’s lead author, Richard Samans focused the discussion on what the future of US international trade policy should be given the current context of slowing US economic growth, a constrained middle class and dramatic changes in the world economy, particularly the rapid increase of China and India’s involvement and the corresponding growth in the international labor pool.  His three-pronged approach incorporated trade, development, and monetary policy.  The effects that information-communication technology, policy regulation, capital mobility, and global labor supply are having on different countries’ living standards were incorporated into Saman’s outline of key steps toward fostering stable growth and economic equality in the United States as well as abroad.

February 1, 2008

Discussing his new book, Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism, Economics Professor at the University of Cambridge (UK) and CEPR Senior Research Associate, Ha-Joon Chang, took aim at the popular orthodoxy that in order to develop, countries need to prescribe to a strict "free trade" agenda.  Chang argued that the "developed" world, by pushing countries to pull themselves out of poverty by cutting tariffs, privatizing industries, and opening up to global competition, has perpetrated one of the greatest historical about-faces in economic history.  This engaging and provocative discussion was co-sponsored by the New America Foundation and the Center for Economic and Policy Research. If you missed this crowded event, you can watch the C-SPAN BookTV video online.

January 30, 2007

 
January 17, 2008

Dean Baker discussed his Subprime Borrower Protection Plan with state legislators on a call organized by the Progressive States Network. Other speakers included Assemblyman James Brennan (NY), Representative Joe Mullery (MN), and Austin King, ACORN.

January 9, 2008

Today, CEPR released the Housing Market Monitor, a new weekly analysis by co-director Dean Baker. With worries of recession and a mortgage crisis, this Monitor will provide an incisive breakdown of the latest indicators and developments in the housing sector. To receive the Monitor by e-mail, sign-up here.

January 5, 2008

Dean took part in three panels at the ASSA (Allied Social Sciences Association) annual meeting, including a presentation at a plenary session sponsored by the Association for Social Economics on "Democracy, Inequality, and Economics." A written version of the talk is available on our website. One of the panels he attended was an American Economics Association session devoted to the subprime crisis. All four panelists were at least as pessimistic about the housing market as Dean. They also all agreed with his point that the problem is not subprime mortgages, but declining house prices, and the worst is yet to come.

December 3, 2007

Dean Baker spoke at a conference in Amsterdam called "In Search of Progressive America." The conference was organized by the Wiardi Beckman Foundation, which is the Dutch Labor Party think-tank. At the conference, Dean discussed current globalization policy and the prospects of significant changes in a future Democratic administration. Other speakers at the conference included Wouter Bos, the vice prime minister and leader of the Labor Party and Bert Koenders, the Netherland's minister for international cooperation and development.

November 15, 2007

The current issue of the British Journal of Industrial Relations (BJIR) contains a revised version of an April 2006 CEPR briefing paper, "Changing Patterns in the Relative Economic Performance of Immigrants to Great Britain and the U.S., 1980-2000," (subscription required) that was written by CEPR economist John Schmitt and Jonathan Wadsworth. In the paper, they compare the relative labour market performance of immigrants in the USA and in Britain over the period 1980–2000, when the stocks of immigrants were rising in both countries alongside differential shifts in demand and changes to labor market institutions.

November 9, 2007

"The Housing Bubble: We Were Warned"
Dean Baker was be the keynote speaker at the 24th annual meeting of the JOBS NOW Coalition on Friday, November 9th. The meeting ran from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Lakes & Plains Regional Council of Carpenters and Joiners, 710 Olive St., St. Paul, MN. For more information, please visit the JOBS NOW website.

November 6, 2007

The D.C. Employment Justice Center organized a rally in support of The Paid Sick and Safe Days Act of 2007 (B17-0197). The bill would require employers operating in Washington, DC to provide 10 days of paid leave to their employees for the purposes of tending to physical or mental illness, preventive medical care, family care, parental leave, and absences associated with domestic violence or sexual violence. Speaking at the event on behalf of the legislation were several DC council members, a small business owner, several employees of locally operated businesses, as well as Ed Lazere of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. The speakers depicted the legislation as invaluable for the health and well being of DC working people in addition to being advantageous to the interests of business.  Domestic Intern Joshua Lanier was in attendance.

November 4, 2007

Senior economist, John Schmitt traveled to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he attended a conference on Wealth Inequality and the Eroding Middle Class. He spoke on a panel titled: Rising Wealth Inequality: Why We Should Care. The panel discussed domestic and global wealth inequality patterns and their implications. It was moderated by Lisa Keister, Professor of Sociology at Duke University and included Joel Handler (UCLA); Lingxin Hao (Professor, Johns Hopkins University); Mark Rank (Professor, Washington University in St. Louis), and Alan Reynolds (Senior Fellow, Cato Institute).

November 3, 2007

Director of International Programs, Deborah James spoke on a panel on comparative constitutional reform in Latin America at the National Lawyers Guild Convention in Washington, D.C.

October 16, 2007

Heather Boushey spoke on a panel that explored the trend of media stories that show working mothers as either leaving their careers or dreaming of doing so. The discussion was moderated by E.J. Graff, a senior researcher at Brandeis University, and also included Joan Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California; Ellen Bravo, author of Taking On the Big Boys: Why Feminism Is Good for Families and Business and the Nation; and Linda Hirshman, lawyer and professor emeritus at Brandeis University. 

October 9, 2007

Dean Baker live-blogged the Republican presidential debate for the New York Times, along with two other economists - Russell Roberts, professor of Economics at George Mason University, and William Niskanen, with the Cato Institute. 

September 17, 2007

While in London, Mark Weisbrot gave another talk titled "The Venezuelan Social Economy: The Optimistic Scenario" at Canning House, which is home to the Foreign Office, Latin American embassies and business journalists. More details on Mark's trip - including his time in Madrid, Spain - to come.

September 15, 2007

Mark Weisbrot went to London, England where he spoke at the Annual General Meeting of Compass. Mark was on a panel with Neal Lawson, the founder of Compass and John Crudass, a Labor MP, and he spoke on issues including the lessons of economic progress and political change in Latin America, and the prospect for progressives in the forthcoming US Presidential election.

 
September 5, 2007

Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman wrote a commentary in the journal "Capitalism and Society" praising Dean Baker and John Schmitt's work in a co-authored piece, "Are Protective Labor Market Institutions at the Root of Unemployment? A Critical Review of the Evidence".

August 31, 2007

John Schmitt, Dean Baker, Mark Weisbrot, David Rosnick and Ben Zipperer contributed CEPR publications to a new book, "Neoliberalism, Globalization and Inequalities: Consequences for Health and Quality of Life". Chapter titles include:

• "Is Globalization Undermining the Welfare State? The Evolution of the Welfare State in Developed Capitalist Countries"
• "The Scorecard on Development: 25 Years of Diminished Progress"
• "Economic Efficiency versus Social Equality? The U.S. Liberal Model versus The European Social Model"
• "Is the United States a Good Model for Reducing Social Exclusion in Europe?"
• "Labor Markets and Economic Inequality in the United States Since the End of the 1970s" 

August 20, 2007

Dean Baker went to Charleston, West Virginia to talk with several members of the state House and Senate about the advantages of a state-run system of voluntary retirement accounts similar to the one that Washington State is implementing. Dean also testified before the U.S. Senate pension committee on the topic. In the evening, he spoke to an overflow crowd at a local bookstore about his book, The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer.

August 3, 2007

A new book, Bad Samaritans, by CEPR Senior Research Associate and Cambridge University professor Ha-Joon Chang sparked a debate on development and macroeconomic policies on the Financial Times website. Economists including Edmund Phelps, Nobel laureate in Economics, Anne Krueger, former First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, and others wrote responses to a book review by Martin Wolf, Financial Times Chief Economics Commentator. Chang responded as well.

July 31, 2007

Mark Weisbrot spoke on freedom of the press in Latin America as part of a panel at a National Press Club event that included journalists from Mexico and Venezuela and representatives from the Due Process of Law Foundation and the Washington Office on Latin America.  

July 30, 2007

Mark Weisbrot was invited to speak by the Heinrich Böll Foundation as part of the foundation's Summer School on Gender and Macroeconomics . He discussed the role of international financial institutions (IFI's) in the long-term economic failure of developing countries.

July 24, 2007

Dean Baker debated C. Eugene Steuerle, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, on the questionable urgency of Social Security reform. The event, hosted by the Urban Institute, was very well attended and the two discussed such topics as spousal benefits, the role of health care costs, and increasing the age of retirement. Both agreed to promoting honesty and accuracy in the Social Security debate.

July 19, 2007

Over 30 DC-area residents (and some of their children) attended a screening of "The Motherhood Manifesto" co-sponsored by CEPR. Steffany Stern, National Partnership for Women and Families, introduced the film and gave an overview of proposed state and national legislation to set a minimum number of paid sick days for workers. After the film, Liz Chimienti moderated a discussion with Karen Minatelli, DC Employment Justice Center, on local campaigns to improve work/family balance, including the Paid Sick and Safe Days Act of 2007.

July 15-22, 2007

The Russell Sage Foundation has asked John Schmitt to join a group of researchers from five European countries who have been looking at low-wage work in Europe. John will be participating in a week of project meetings in New York City with the goal of producing a book-length report of the main findings, including possible lessons for the United States.

July 11, 2007

Heather Boushey spoke to U.S. Census Bureau staff on the Bridging the Gaps project and methodology. The final project will be released this fall.

July 9, 2007

Heather Boushey testified in front of the DC City Council Workforce Development and Government Operations Committee on the impact of the Paid Sick and Safe Days Act of 2007, which would require employers to provide paid sick days to all workers in the District.

June 29-30, 2007

At the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) in Copenhagen, Denmark, John Schmitt gave a talk on low-wage employment in the United States. The workshop he participated in, sponsored by the Russell Sage Foundation, compared low-wage work in the United States with the situation in Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Over 500 academics from Europe and the United States took part in the SASE conference.

June 29, 2007

June 8, 2007 

Dean Baker gave a presentation on Corporate Taxes and Double Standards at the Taming the Giant Corporation conference organized by the Center for the Study of Responsive Law. He discussed how corporations and the wealthy have devised ways to avoid paying taxes and have changed the tax rules to their benefit — resulting in more taxes for everyone else. He was joined on his panel by Katie Redford, Co-Founder and US Office Director of EarthRights International, and Lucy Komisar, Founder of the Komisarscoop.com and co-chair of Tax Justice Network-USA. 

June 4, 2007

Mark Weisbrot presented on a panel entitled Globalization: Understanding the Debate for the World Affairs Journalism Fellowships Orientation, sponsored by the International Center for Journalists. In his presentation, Mark discussed the importance of accuracy in reporting on economic issues and talked about some common misperceptions and biases in media reports on the global economy. He was joined by fellow panelist Joseph Quinlan, Fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Toby McIntosh, Managing Editor of the Daily Report for Executives, moderated the panel. 

June 1, 2007

CEPR hosted two events with Pablo Solón Romero Oroza, Plenipotentiary Representative for Integration and Trade Issues, Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Relations. CEPR sponsored a press breakfast on May 31 and a public presentation on June 1, on foreign investment in Bolivia. Much of the discussion focused on Bolivia’s precedent-setting move to withdraw from the investment dispute settlement arm of the World Bank, the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). CEPR co-Director Mark Weisbrot introduced Ambassador Solón at both events and also provided background information on some of the issues.

The right of investors to sue governments directly, including for governmental regulatory actions that may diminish their profits, is a recent phenomenon, which the vast majority of such cases having been filed in just the last five years. It was a significant shift of power from governments to corporations, and one that some of the new democracies in Latin America seek to reverse, as they reclaim control over their natural resources and respond to the demands of their voters.

Among those attending the press breakfast were reporters from the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, Washington Trade Daily, the Spanish News Agency EFE, and by phone from South America, Bloomberg News and CNN.

Pablo Solón Romero Oroza (at right) sits down with journalists to discuss the investment climate in Bolivia, May 31, 2007.  At left is CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot.

May 24, 2007

Over 400 social scientists signed a letter urging Congress to continue funding the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The President's FY08 budget would eliminate funding for the survey. The SIPP provides critical information on the effectiveness of Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps, unemployment insurance and other programs. CEPR coordinated the sign-on letter. 

May 22, 2007

Dean Baker was in the San Francisco Bay Area to talk about his two recent books, The United States Since 1980 and The Conservative Nanny State. 

May 16, 2007

CEPR co-hosted a conference on The 10th Anniversary of the Asian Financial Crisis with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Mark Weisbrot spoke about the links between globalization and the financial crisis; John Schmitt chaired a panel on the global economy. Watch the video > 

Mark Weisbrot discusses the lessons learned from the Asian Financial Crisis, May 16, 2007.

John Schmitt moderates a panel with Nelson Barbosa from the Brazilian Ministry of Finance; Ilene Grabel from the University of Denver; and Worapot Manupipatpong of ASEAN.

May 7, 2007

Mark Weisbrot is in New York today participating in the Cornell Global Labor Institute conference, A North American Labor Assembly on Climate Crisis. He's speaking on the panel, A Question of Balance: Work Styles, Working Hours and a Low-Carbon Future.

April 30, 2007

The Center for Economic and Policy Research has had a busy year so far! Check out the latest CEPR Update for highlights of our activities since January.

April 20-21, 2007

John Schmitt traveled to London to present at the European Low-Wage Employment Research Network (LoWER) Workshop on Migration, at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) of the London School of Economics.  Together with CEP's Jonathan Wadsworth, he will lead an "Institutions and Immigration" session, and speak at a "Women and Immigration" session.  Click here  to see the conference's program. 

April 18, 2007

Audio and video files are now available for two events on the IMF and World Bank hosted by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. See: Five Years of Extraordinary Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction in Argentina (Felisa Josefina Miceli and Mark Weisbrot) and Global Imbalances, Power Shifts and the Future of Multilateralism (Joseph Stiglitz, José Antonio Ocampo and Mark Weisbrot).

Nobel Laureate economist and CEPR Advisory Board member Joseph Stiglitz speaks at CEPR's panel discussion on global imbalances, April 12, 2007

Edmund Andrews, José Antonio Ocampo, Mark Weisbrot and Joseph Stiglitz respond to audience questions.

April 17, 2007

Heather Boushey testified today before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on work/family policies. She discussed the need for policies that help workers address their family demands, such as child care or paid time off, but we need Congressional action to make employers adapt. Read her testimony at: Perspectives on Work/Family Balance

April 5, 2007

Dean Baker discussed the current state of international lending and international financial institutions (IFI’s) as part of an opening panel at the Inaugural North American IFIWatchers meeting in Washington, DC. He was joined on the panel by Smitu Kothari, Intercultural Resources and Princeton University, and Bruce Rich of Environmental Defense. Manish Bapna, Executive Director of the Bank Information Center, moderated the discussion, which was attended by over 40 representatives of organizations working on IFI issues. 

March 28, 2007

Heather Boushey and Liz Chimienti met with a dozen researchers in Seattle to discuss the methodology and initial findings for the Bridging the Gaps project. The meeting was coordinated by our project partner, Seattle Jobs Initiative. The Washington state report will be released this summer.

March 21-22, 2007

The Bridging the Gaps project is picking up steam in New York. Working with the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI), Heather Boushey and Liz Chimienti presented the project's research goals and received helpful feedback from over 30 researchers and advocates in Albany and New York City. In addition, FPI's Deputy Director James Parrott arranged for Heather and Liz to brief the staff of New York City's Center for Economic Opportunity on the project — and the possibility of generating specific data for New York City. Given the large population of city, Bridging the Gaps researchers believe it may be feasible to get that level of detail (with relatively large standard errors). Over the next few weeks, the Bridging the Gaps team will incorporate recent feedback and finalize the New York state research. The Fiscal Policy Institute will work with its allies to determine when and how the New York state report will be released.

March 13, 2007

In response to President Bush's trip to Latin America, CEPR's international team -- Dan Beeton, Jeremy Bigwood, Belen Cadena, Luis Sandoval and Mark Weisbrot -- has been busy providing analysis and commentary on the Latin American economy. See press interviews and other resources on our Latin America webpage. 

March 11, 2007

March 10, 2007

Mark Weisbrot spoke at the fifth annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Crystal City, VA, on the economic and political changes taking place in Latin America. Over 1,000 international faith leaders and activists were part of the four-day event.

February 23, 2007

Mark Weisbrot spoke at a briefing on the World Trade Organization (WTO) for Congressional staff. He discussed the shrinking gains from trade that are to be expected from a successful Doha Round of WTO negotiations, and weighed them against the potential losses to developing countries. Mark pointed out that - according to the World Bank's research - developing countries have very little to gain from the further trade liberalization that would be required under the Doha Round, while they would meanwhile have to make costly changes, including adopting new rules and tariff reductions that would limit their development options.

February 21, 2007

Dean Baker discussed his book, The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer, at the Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco.

February 15, 2007

As part of CEPR's Bridging the Gaps initiative, the Chicago-based organization Heartland Alliance released its 2007 Report on Illinois Poverty. The report describes income gains for poor and middle-income Illinois families, including eligibility gap findings for food stamps, housing support and TANF. Bridging the Gaps is a partnership of state and national groups that measures how much it costs for families to make ends meet -- and examines how they are coping. The partner states are Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington and the District of Columbia.

February 15, 2007

CEPR is expanding! We are excited to announce a new partnership with Inclusion. Through policy papers, research, op-eds and a blog, Inclusion advances a progressive long-term vision for producing a fairer, more sustainable world -- including improved wages, job quality, benefits, opportunities and more. Inclusion co-founders Shawn Fremstad, Rachel Gragg and Margy Waller have, between them, worked for the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Clinton Administration, Senator Paul Wellstone, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Brookings Institution and the Center for Community Change.

February 7, 2007

CEPR is pleased to welcome a new Senior Research Associate, economist Roberto Frenkel. He is Principal Research Associate at the State and Society Research Center (Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad—CEDES) and Professor at the University of Buenos Aires (Universidad de Buenos Aires) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today, CEPR released his article, Argentina: The Central Bank in the Foreign Exchange Market. The original article (in Spanish) was published in La Nación on December 31, 2006. For more information on Roberto Frenkel, see his biography or his full CV (in Spanish).

February 2, 2007

Heather Boushey moderated a panel on work/family class issues at a Barnard College conference, The Work/Family Dilemma: A Better Balance. The event featured a variety of speakers discussing low-income working women, the difficulties they face in supporting their families, and future policy proposals.

January 31, 2007

Dean Baker submitted testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee hearing, The Causes of Economic Hardship for the Middle Class. Dean argues that the upward redistribution of wealth over the last 25 years was primarily the result of policy changes and not simply the natural workings of the market. He discusses four policy areas that should be improved: trade and immigration, Federal Reserve Board, labor-management, and corporate governance.

January 30, 2007

After a year of drafting letters and organizing researchers to oppose the elimination of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we are pleased that Congress has fully funded the SIPP for another year. More on the SIPP can be found at http://www.ceprdata.org/savesipp/index.php.

January 29, 2007

Mark Weisbrot participated in a Financial Times online chat on Venezuela with FT's Latin America editor Richard Lapper and economist Francisco Rodríguez (includes transcript).

January 24, 2007

CEPR Board Member Peter Barnes, co-founder of Working Assets, came to Washington, DC this week to discuss his new book, Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons. At the bookstore cafe Busboys and Poets, he talked about his vision for fixing capitalism to protect the commons and share resources for environmental and social goods.

CEPR Director of Finance and Administration Nicole Woo presents Peter Barnes with a CEPR t-shirt.

January 24, 2007

At a press breakfast in Washington, DC, Mark Weisbrot discussed the state of U.S.-Latin American relations with Dr. Riordan Roett, Director of Western Hemisphere Studies for the Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). They examined how a new wave of Latin American leaders is changing the face of the region and its relations with the U.S., multilateral institutions, international financial markets, and foreign investors, while at the same time, U.S. influence in the region has waned significantly under the Bush administration. Audio files available.

January 22-24, 2007

CEPR's Heather Boushey and Liz Chimienti joined John Quinterno from the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center to discuss the Bridging the Gaps project with researchers and advocates in Raleigh, Charlotte and Asheville, NC. Heather presented initial findings on the number of people eligible and receiving six public work supports in North Carolina. She also received feedback on the project from several of the governor’s staff. The trip was covered in the Asheville Citizen-Times.

January 9, 2007

Dean Baker and Heather Boushey traveled to Chicago last week to participate in the Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) conference. Heather gave two presentations. In the first, she joined Randy Albelda from the University of Massachusetts-Boston to present the initial findings of the Bridging the Gaps project: Bridging the Gaps: Can Single Mothers Package Earnings and Government Benefits to Make Ends Meet? Heather's second talk, The Wage-Curve: Cognitive Ability, Schooling, Race, Unemployment Probabilities and the Black-White Wage Gap, was presented with William M. Rodgers, III from Rutgers University and William E. Spriggs from Howard University.

January 5, 2007

For the next six weeks, John Schmitt will be working for CEPR from Barcelona, where he will be teaching at the Pompeu Fabra University. John has been a visiting professor there since 1999. This year he'll be giving two courses, one on political economy and another on labor markets.

December 14,  2006

Thanks to Public Citizen for hosting our annual holiday party, and to CEPR's friends and supporters for helping us celebrate!

December 8, 2006

Dean Baker spoke at a Center for American Progress lunch panel on The Economic and Policy Implications of the Housing Bubble (includes video and transcript). Excerpt from Dean's remarks: "I know everyone talks about housing -- the American dream -- and if you’re running for office you’d better say that, but...what we want to have is, on the one hand, people to have good, decent, safe, and secure housing. That can be done through rent. Secondly, we want people to be able to save for their retirement, for their kids’ education, or whatever it might be. Obviously one way to do that is through homeownership, but that’s not the only way to do that."

December 6, 2006

The Center for Economic and Policy Research is celebrating our 7th anniversary this month. Thanks to all our colleagues, friends and funders for supporting us through the years. For a list of our activities since September, check out the latest CEPR Update.

November 6, 2006

CEPR launched its newly designed website. New features include a growing library of radio and audio files (see Multimedia); an issue-by-issue list of our publications and commentaries (see Issues); and an RSS feed that enables subscribers to automatically receive our latest reports and op-eds. CEPR’s communications director Lynn Erskine led the hardworking web-transition team of Rozina Ali, Kathryn Bogel, Nihar Bhatt, and Rebecca Ray.

October 12, 2006

Supporting Families, our five-part briefing series held on Capitol Hill, came to a close yesterday in a session that was extremely informative and well-attended. At the briefing, Opportunities for Policymakers to Make a Difference, we were proud to host three influential speakers: Eileen Appelbaum, professor and director of the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University; Heidi Hartmann, director of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research; and Kate Kahan, director of Work and Family Programs at the National Partnership for Women and Families. Each speaker addressed a different vital policy opportunity: adopting the Work and Family Bill of Rights; passing the Healthy Families Act; and expanding the Family Medical Leave Act. Following these presentations, staff from the eight co-sponsoring offices (Sens. Obama, Clinton, Dodd, and Kennedy; and Reps. DeLauro, Maloney, Miller and Woolsey) highlighted their current work and family legislative priorities. Pictures and audio files from the event are available on our website.

September 27, 2006

Mark Weisbrot presented on the 25-year growth failure in developing countries, the protections included in so-called “free trade” agreements, and the downward pressure on U.S. wages, among other topics, at a discussion entitled "Globalization and Free Trade: Who Wins/Loses?" at American University’s Kay Spiritual Life Center. AU School of International Service faculty member Steve Cohen also presented. Over 140 students, faculty members, and others attended the event.

September 22, 2006

The elimination of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) was named one of the most censored stories of 2006. Project Censored, a media research group based in Sonoma State University, produces a list of 25 news stories each year that are overlooked, under-reported, or self-censored in the mainstream media. In their story about the SIPP (number four on their list), they explain that the elimination of the survey will create a knowledge deficit on the efficacy of the government’s social programs. The article highlights that the efforts to save the SIPP have been primarily spearheaded by Heather Boushey and the rest of the staff at the CEPR. Visit our page for more information on the progress to Save the SIPP.

September 22, 2006

Doughnut Hole Day -- the day millions of senior citizens would fall into the financial "Doughnut Hole" designed into the Medicare Part D plan -- brought thousands of meetings and demonstrations across the country to protest the design of the plan. As part of the campaign to raise awareness of the issue, Dean Baker spoke at a community meeting in Champaign, IL. He explained the inefficiencies that were designed into Medicare Part D and how the Doughnut Hole (designed in order to save the government money), is an unnecessary burden to millions of senior citizens. To learn more about the subject, see: "Waste in the Medicare Drug Benefit: Why the Doughnut Hole is Unnecessary."

September 22, 2006

Washington, DC: In a lively discussion, Mark Weisbrot was invited by the Inter-American Foundation’s Ramón Daubón to present his paper titled Latin America: The End of An Era, followed by a discussion with retired Inter–American Development Bank and World Bank official Jacques Kozub.  The event was hosted by the Esquel Group, which is directed by Mr. Daubón and held at the IFES office and was well-attended by some 50 representatives of several NGOs, think tanks and government officials from USAID, the State Department and Inter-American Foundation. Foreign government and press were also present.

September 11 - 13, 2006

CEPR economist John Schmitt spoke in Krakow, Poland, last week at a conference on the future of Europe, organized by the European Parliament and the Polish Parliament. John presented an extension of his CEPR paper "Is the U.S. a Good Model for Reducing Social Exclusion in Europe?", co-authored with CEPR research assistant Ben Zipperer. Other speakers at the conference included the President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, and academics and politicians from across Europe.

September 8, 2006

For our fourth Supporting Families briefing, CEPR was proud to host Ann Crittenden, award-winning journalist and author of If You've Raised Kids, You Can Manage Anything and The Price of Motherhood. Ms. Crittenden debunked the myth that since motherhood is a choice, employers should have no obligation to accommodate employees with children. Instead, she offered policy alternatives to address the needs of working parents. She suggested that policymakers who work to fill these needs could earn the support of millions of voting parents, regardless of political party. Materials and an mp3 recording of the briefing can be found here.

Ann Crittenden talks to Congressional staff about policies that support working parents.

July 31 - August 1, 2006

Dean took part in a conference in Geneva on measuring the cost to developing countries of TRIPS plus provisions of trade agreements. The conference was sponsored by the World Health Organization, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, and the World Bank Institute.

Archive

December 2005 - July 2006