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PERI in the News“Job Opportunities for the Green Economy” strikes a chord in the regional mediaJune 4, 2008 The release of PERI’s report “Job Opportunities for the Green Economy,” received widespread attention in the media, and continues to reverberate throughout the internet. Coverage was particularly intense in regions with a high concentration of manufacturing jobs. Less than one week after its release, the report has been coverage in almost fifty media outlets. Read media coverage in: Cap-and-dividend policy options enter the debateJune 9, 2008 In the context of the Congressional debate over cap-and-trade policies, the media is exploring broader options, including the cap-and-dividend policy first explored in this PERI Working Paper. Toxic 100 Index in the MediaPERI's Toxic 100 Index, which identifies the top U.S. air polluters among the world's largest corporations, has recently been updated and refined to include foreign-owned corporations. This index is widely used by activist shareholders, socially-conscious investment firms, researchers, and individuals wanting to make informed, ethical, financial decisions. Follow the links below to see samples of how the Toxic 100 have been received in the online and traditional media: >> SocialFunds "The Wages of Peace" in The NationMarch 2008 "There is no longer any doubt that the Iraq War is a moral and strategic disaster for the United States. But what has not yet been fully recognized is that it has also been an economic disaster. To date, the government has spent more than $522 billion on the war, with another $70 billion already allocated for 2008," wrote Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier in the March 13, 2008 edition of The Nation. What might we have done, instead of waging war, with those resources? Must the economy be bolstered with military spending, or might we be better off spending that money on teachers, healthcare, energy conservation measures, or improving mass transportation? Pollin and Garrett-Peltier explore the impacts of these alternatives on employment and our economy in general. >> Read "The Wages of Peace" in The Nation The Economic Policies of the Candidates in Dollars & SenseMarch 13, 2008 In this month's Dollars & Sense, Robert Pollin examines the expressed and impled economic policies of the three remaining presidential candidates: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain. Pollin looks at the explicit policies mentioned in their campaign speeches and considers who they are using as economic advisors--those individuals who are most like to formulate policy in their candidate's administration. >> Read "It's Still the Economy, Stupid" in Dollars & Sense Cap-and-Dividend in the New York TimesJanuary 2, 2008 In this two-part article in the New York Times' 'Dot Earth' blog, Peter Barnes is interviewed by Andrew Revkin about how a cap-and-dividend policy for carbon permits would work. Barnes' policy is based on the research presented in James Boyce and Matthew Riddle's Working Paper, "Cap and Dividend: How to Curb Global Warming while Protecting the Incomes of American Families." >> Read the interview with Barnes on the New York Times website James Boyce interviewed on Natural AssetsDecember 10, 2007 How can we ensure that natural assets are distributed equitably across groups? And how can the distribution of natural assets affect poverty and social equity? In this interview with C.S. Soong on his radio show, "Against the Grain," James Boyce discusses natural assets and his book of the same name. >> Download the mp3 or podcast of "Against the Grain" PERI's work on macroeconomic policy in Africa in the African pressNovember 26, 2007 Robert Pollin, James Heintz, and Mwangi wa Githinji recently travelled to Kenya to release PERI's full-length study, "An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for Africa" to policymakers, media, and the public. The report was sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme. The Kenya press took note of the release; below is a sample of the coverage. >> Read "Working, but still living in poverty" in Business Daily Africa A few weeks earlier, James K. Boyce, director of PERI's program on development, peacebuilding, and the environment, and Leonce Ndikumana, director of PERI's African economies project, presented a keynote address on the linkages between capital flight and external borrowing to a senior policy seminar on capital flight from sub-Saharan Africa in Pretoria, South Africa. The seminar was hosted by the South African Reserve Bank h, in conjunction with the Association of African Central Bank Governors, the African Development Bank, the Bank of England, the Belgium Development Cooperation Agency and the World Bank. Their paper for the meeting documents that in recent decades Africa has been a "net creditor" to the rest of the world: the continent's private external assets exceed its public external debts. >> Read "Corruption Rises as Africa Gains from Oil" (Reuters) James Boyce on "Against the Grain"September 4, 2007 James Boyce, Director of PERI's Development, Peacebuilding & the Environment Program, spoke with C.S. Soong on Pacifica Radio's "Against the Grain" on the relationship between income disparity and environmental degradation. >> Download the audio file (this is 48M file, so it might take some time) Robert Pollin on microcredit in "Foreign Policy in Focus"June 21, 2007 The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Mohammad Yunus, for founding the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1976, and leading a worldwide movement to provide credit in small amounts and other financial services to poor people and communities. But, within a larger context of predominant neoliberal economic policies throughout the developing world, can microcredit stand on its own as an effective tool for fighting global poverty? PERI Co-Director Robert Pollin addresses this issue in a new article for Foreign Policy in Focus. Pollin also debates Sam Daley-Harris, Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, on the effectiveness of microcredit as a poverty-fighting tool. Robert Pollin interviewed about microcredit on "Against the Grain"July 3, 2007 Listen to Robert Pollin elaborate on the pros and cons of microcredit as a poverty-fighting tool, in this interview with C.S. Soong on Pacifica Radio's "Against the Grain." >> Download the audio file (this is a 49M file, so it might take some time) The Sky Trust in Newsweek OnlineNewsweek columnist Jonathan Alter, in his online column, promotes the idea of a 'Sky Trust.' This concept, developed in two PERI working papers combines practical emmissions reductions policy with the fundamental idea of a shared public 'commons.' Read the Newsweek column here, or read the original working papers: Robert Pollin on the Minimum Wage in the L.A. TimesJanuary 14, 2007 As the U.S. Congress debates the first increase in the federal minimum wage in ten years, Robert Pollin explains in the L.A. Times that the $7.25 wage under consideration merely puts working Americans almost exactly where they were in 1997 (after adjusting for inflation through 2009, when the wage hike would be implemented). This is not only a lack of real progress, but it flies in the face of dramatic increases in productivity. >> Read the full op-ed Ripple Effects in Business WeekIn preparation for a likely national minimum wge increase, the November 27 Business Week looks at "ripple effects"-- the increased wages seen by workers higher up the wage ladder, in response to a minimum wage hike. The article refers to PERI economist Jeannet Wicks-Lim's research on ripple effects, and is based in part on extensive conversations with her. Wicks-Lim's research is available as a PERI working paper and as an article in Dollars & Sense magazine. >>"More Ammo For A Higher Minimum" in Business Week South Africa's media covers PERI's Alternative Economic ProgramPERI's Robert Pollin, Leonce Ndikumana, and James Heintz are spending much of October travelling in South Africa and Kenya, talking with policy makers, NGO officials, and bankers about alternative, pro-poor economic plans for their countries. The South African media is paying attention, and recent coverage has a number of articles in South Africa's Business Day and an op ed in the Mail & Guardian, South Africa's largest newspaper, among others. >> Review of An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for South Africa in Business Day >> Read more about An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for South Africa |
