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CRF Scholars In The News: March 2013

M.V. Lee Badgett, past CRF Scholar (’04-‘05), Professor of Economics, and Director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, discusses the economic impact of allowing same-sex marriage. She says federal tax implications for couples can add up to millions of dollars over the lifetime of the two people. In addition, Badgett says, legalizing same-sex couples right to marry does have economic consequences related to spending on weddings and celebrations, which create revenue for state and localities and health insurance coverage. (ABC NewsWashington PostPolitico, 3/27/13)

M.V. Lee Badgett was interviewed by Bloomberg TV about the U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing oral arguments on a case involving California’s law overturning same-sex marriage. Badgett says denying same-sex couples the right to marry does have economic consequences related to spending on weddings and celebrations as well as tax implications for couples. (Bloomberg TV, 3/26/13)


Nancy Folbre, past CRF Scholar (’07-’08) and Professor of Economics, writes in the Economix blog about efforts to craft and pass federal legislation aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions. She says a tax-and-dividend system, where 60 percent of the proceeds would be given back to consumers, may be a politically viable way to proceed. (New York Times, 3/25/13)


In one of the earliest experiments using a humanoid robot to deliver speech and physical therapy to a stroke patient, Past CRF Scholar Yu-kyong Choe (’10-’11) saw notable speech and physical therapy gains and significant improvement in quality of life. Over the course of the experiment, the 72-year-old client made “notable gains in the frequency and range of the upper-limb movements,” Choe says. (FierceHealthIT.comInnovation Toronto.com, Health Daily Digest, Health Business Blog, 3/22/13; CNET.com, 3/21/13)


Nancy Folbre writes in the Economix blog about what an unregulated global labor market might look like. She says there are some online markets such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, which allow employers to post jobs for a global, on-demand, 24/7 work force. She says while some people say this is the wave of the future, others believe it is just another way to drive down wages. (New York Times, 3/18/13)


In her Economix blog, Nancy Folbre says it may be too early to see what long-lasting impact the policies of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chaez have had on ordinary citizen of his country. What can be understood, she says, is that he used his nation’s oil wealth to invest in the human capabilities of his people and now we have to wait to see if it worked they way he intended. (New York Times, 3/11/13)


M.V. Lee Badgett says some employers in the U.S. have joined the fight to secure rights for married same-sex couples as a way to help retain their workers. She says this also because of the fact that employers in the U.S. tend to be responsible for health insurance coverage. (The Economist, 3/8/13)


M.V. Lee Badgett explains how theapproval of same-sex marriage in Illinois would generate up to $103 million in spending to the state and local economy. (Windy City Media GroupChicago PhoenixChicago.gopride.com, 3/6/13)


Nancy Folbre writes in the Economix blog about why raising the minimum wage should be considered a family-friendly act and shouldn’t simply be viewed from the point of view of economic theory. (New York TimesYahoo! Singapore Finance, 3/4/13)