In these discussions between Robert Pollin and Paul Jay of the Real News Network, Pollin discusses the economic and political context of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. These interviews are the first installment of an ongoing partnership between PERI and the Real News Network to bring progressive economic thinking to a wide audience.

>> Watch Energy Efficiency Now Part 1: Massive investment in energy efficiency and public transport can drive economy
>> Watch Energy Efficiency Now Part 2: Double the number of busses and make them affordable will drive Detroit and the green economy
>> Watch Energy Efficiency Now Part 3: For developing countries going green doesn't mean slowing growth

>> Read more about PERI's new partnership with The Real News Network

In this study for the International Labour Organization, requested by the Liberian government, James Heintz undertakes a rapid assessment of the impact of the global economic crisis on Liberia, where years of civil war, conflict and instability have left the country’s 3.5 million people extremely vulnerable and the nation’s economy devastated. Heintz documents the effects of the crisis on employers and workers and considers the implications for the realization of the objectives of the Liberia Poverty Reduction Strategy. He finds the there have already been significant negative effects on Liberia’s ability to meet its goals, and recommends a set of concrete policy responses.

>> Download A rapid impact assessment of the global economic crisis on Liberia

In this Working Paper, James Crotty evaluates extensive data on compensation practices in investment banks and other important financial institutions, which show that the compensation of ‘rainmakers’ — key decision makers in these institutions — has been rising rapidly, is very large, and has properties that induce reckless risk-taking. Crotty reviews the literature on financial firm compensation practices in general and those of investment banks in particular, and demonstrates that the giant bonuses of the recent past are not efficient returns to human capital – they are unjustified rents. He asks: what is the source of rainmaker rents and how are they sustained over time? Answers to these questions can help guide debates over the appropriate regulation of financial markets.

>> Download “The Bonus-Driven “Rainmaker” Financial Firm: How These Firms Enrich Top Employees, Destroy Shareholder Value and Create Systemic Financial Instability”

>> Read Nancy Folbre’s New York Times “Economix” blog on this paper

Federal agencies and others have long used historical data to estimate the risks and potential costs from extreme weather events. Given the reality of climate change, these data may be increasingly unrepresentative of future conditions. As a result, government and private orgnizations may be underestimating the need for the investments that will make existing and newly constructed infrastructure resistant to the effects of changing climate. In this Working paper, Robert Repetto and Robert Easton play out just such a scenario, estimating the potential economic impacts of relatively intense hurricanes striking the New York City region.

>> Download “Cimate Change and Damage from Extreme Weather Events”

In this review written for India's Economic & Political Weekly, Robert Pollin explores the major themes of Prabhat Patnaik’s new book, The Value of Money. Pollin describes Patnaik's critique of monetarism, his concept of "propertyism" as a way to describe the Marx-Keynes-Kalecki tradition, and his understanding of the role of poor countries in supporting global capitalism. Despite some omissions--notably, a lack of discussion of financial markets or the role of the state, and few references to the relevant scholarly work of the past fifty years--Pollin describes this volume as "an original, surprising and highly stimulating synthesis of ideas."

>> Download "Roots of Capitalist Stability and Instability," a review of The Value of Money by Prabhat Patnaik

In this study, produced in collaboration with the Institute for Policy Studies, Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier update their 2007 analysis of the relative employment impacts of public investment in military versus other priorities, expanding their analysis to include clean energy investments and induced job creation. The authors compare the effects of a $1 billion investment in the military with the same investment in clean energy, health care, education, or individual tax cuts. They show that non-military investments create many more jobs across all pay ranges. With a large share of the federal budget at stake, Pollin and Garrett-Peltier make a strong case that non-military spending priorities can create significantly greater opportunities for decent employment throughout the U.S. economy than spending the same amount of funds with the military.

>> Download "The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities: An Updated Analysis"