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Robert Pollin Publishes Two Op-Eds in 'The Nation' on the Government Deficit and Green New Deal

Robert Pollin, Distinguished Professor of Economics.

Robert Pollin, Distinguished Professor of Economics, published two op-eds in The Nation on April 9, 2020: "The Deficit Is Exploding! And That’s a Good Thing" and "Wanted: Shovel-Ready Projects for a Green New Deal."

The first piece explores the deficit spending that is necessary to fund the economic stimulus package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lack of political animus in expanding the deficit for this cause. The second piece looks at the first types of projects that should be approached under the Green New Deal. 

Ina Ganguli is Part Of Campus Team Awarded NSF Grant to Develop Tool to Aid Workers

Ina GanguliA campus team led by research professor Beverly Woolf of the College of Information and Computer Science (CICS) recently received a one-year, $838,722 grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Convergence Accelerator Program to support their project to create a tool for workers to analyze their profiles and skills and identify training and education to aid their career paths.

Faculty team members in addition to Woolf are Andrew Lan and Shlomo Zilberstein, CICS, Tom Juravich, sociology, Andrew Cohen, psychological and brain sciences, and Ina Ganguli, economics. For this project, they will develop algorithms and software to help companies and workers be successful in an evolving workplace. 

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Léonce Ndikumana discusses his work shaping global policy with 'Times Higher Education'

Anti-corruption economist Léonce Ndikumana discusses his humble upbringing in Burundi, his five months in solitary confinement, and how his work is shaping global policy.

"In 1988, there was a protest where the local community demanded some changes, and the government sent in troops to quell the revolt, and they began killing people from my ethnic group, the Hutu," said Ndikumana. "At that time I was teaching at the University of Burundi as a junior lecturer, and we wrote open letters to the president to try to stop these indiscriminate killings. We were arrested and spent five months in solitary confinement."

Arindrajit Dube's report on the effects of minimum wages released by the UK Government

Arin DubeProfessor Arindrajit Dube’s report on the effects of minimum wages and the impact of the National Living Wage (NLW) in the UK has just been released by the UK Government. The report finds that “overall the most up to date body of research from US, UK and other developed countries points to a very muted effect of minimum wages on employment, while significantly increasing the earnings of low paid workers.” Read the full report here.

 

 

Deepankar Basu's Research on Hate Crimes Against Religious Minorities in India Reports 300% Increase

In a recent working paper published by the UMass Amherst Political Economy Research Institute, Deepankar Basu has linked the massive parliamentary victory of the BJP in 2014 with a 300% increase in the level of antiminority hate crimes.

The complete working paper, “Majoritarian Politics and Hate Crimes Against Religious Minorities in India, 2009-2018,” is available online via PERI’s website.

 

Juliet Schor to deliver 2019 Samuel Bowles Lecture on November 20, 2019 4pm in Gordon Hall

Juliet SchorJuliet Schor, professor of sociology at Boston College, will deliver the 2019 Samuel Bowles lecture on November 20th. Schor's talk is titled 'It's Beyond the Gig: Work and the Platform Economy.'

 Schor is also a member of the MacArthur Foundation Connected Learning Research Network. Schor’s research focuses on consumption, time use, and environmental sustainability. 

Arindrajit Dube Comments in 'The New York Times' about the Recent Socio-Political Attitude Shift about Labor Unions

Arindrajit Dube, economics professor"We as social scientists live in a society where clearly the general social and political environment affects the questions we ask,” said Arindrajit Dube, a labor economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

When Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016, his campaign was strikingly pro-labor. He proposed a $15-an-hour minimum wage, which was much further than most mainstream Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, were willing to go. He denounced a trans-Pacific trade deal that was anathema to many unions. He endorsed an organizing method, known as card check, that would allow workers to unionize without holding a secret-ballot election.

Capitalism, Conflict, and Cooperation: A Celebration of the Work of Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis

Columbia University Conference On October 4-5, 2019, a conference was organized at Columbia University, Department of Economics, to celebrate the illustrious careers of Sam Bowles and Herbert Gintis, UMass Amherst Emeritus Professors of Economics. The program featured presentations by scholars from around the world including friends, colleagues and former students of Sam and Herb on various topics around the theme “Capitalism, Conflict, and Cooperation”. 

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