This study by PERI researchers Robert Pollin, James Heintz, Peter Arno, Jeannette Wicks-Lim and Michael Ash presents a comprehensive analysis of the prospects for a Medicare for All health care system in the United States. The most fundamental goals of Medicare for All are to significantly improve health care outcomes for everyone living in the United States while also establishing effective cost controls throughout the health care system. The authors conclude that these two purposes are both achievable. Medicare for All could reduce total health care spending in the U.S. by nearly 10 percent while creating stable access to good care for all U.S. residents.
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The Care Economy in Developing Economies
This paper by PERI economist Nancy Folbre reviews recent research on unpaid care work in the Global South. The projects that Folbre reviews use a range of research methods to compare women’s unpaid care burdens in several developing countries. The results show that programs designed to increase women’s opportunities to earn income are typically hampered by inadequate provision for child care, leading to increased economic stress and longer work days. This research supports arguments that developing countries should invest more heavily in social and physical infrastructure to improve the productivity of unpaid work and reduce the burden placed on women as family caregivers.
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The Curse of Finance in the United Kingdom
This study by PERI Co-Director Gerald Epstein and co-authors Andrew Baker and Juan Montecino suggests that the total cost of lost growth potential for the UK caused by 'too much finance' between 1995 and 2015 is in the region of £4.5 trillion. This total figure amounts to roughly 2.5 years of the average GDP across the period. The paper's findings suggest that the UK suffers from a form of 'finance curse': a development trajectory of financial over-dependence involving a crowding out of other sectors and a skewing of social relations, geography, and politics.
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Why Labor Markets Are Failing Women
Recent progress in narrowing gender gaps in education, health, and political representation is not matched by similar improvements in labor market outcomes for women, or more broadly, women’s economic empowerment. This paper by PERI economist James Heintz addresses the complex links between factors that shape women’s labor market participation and their economic empowerment. It reviews and synthesizes research findings from the Growth and Economic Opportunity Program to shed light on why development gains have yet to translate into more and better employment for women in some regions, and why employment gains seen in others have failed to empower women.
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