Climate policy can advance clean air and environmental justice, but policies must be designed with these goals explicitly in mind. In Green for All, PERI researchers Michael Ash and James Boyce, along with Bridget Diana, analyze alternative decarbonization pathways in the U.S. electric power sector. They find that policies narrowly focused on carbon reduction alone could forego potential health benefits and worsen air quality in predominantly minority and low-income communities. However, by incorporating these complementary goals in decarbonization policies, large-scale improvements in air quality and environmental justice can be attained at a reasonable cost.
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Job Creation through THRIVE Agenda: National and State-Level Impacts
PERI researchers Robert Pollin, Jeannette Wicks-Lim, Shouvik Chakraborty, Gregor Semieniuk, and Chirag Lala have produced a series of reports that estimate the job creation that would result throughout the U.S. and in 21 U.S. states if the U.S. Congress passes a national THRIVE Agenda. The agenda’s commitment is to “Transform, Heal and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy”—i.e. “THRIVE”—through a range of investments to rebuild the U.S. economy. The four major investment areas include: clean renewable energy and energy efficiency, infrastructure, agriculture/land restoration, and care economy/public health/postal system.
>> Read National THRIVE Agenda Report
>> Read State-level THRIVE Reports
Feminist Economics Perspectives on the COVID Pandemic
A newly published special issue of the journal Feminist Economics focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic includes 26 articles on a wide range of issues, with authors from all regions of the globe. PERI economists Nancy Folbre, Katherine Moos, Lenore Palladino and James Heintz are among the contributors to this volume. Their topics include ‘Workers and Care Penalties in the U.S,’ ‘Coronavirus Fiscal Policy in the U.S: Lessons from Feminist Political Economy,’ “Public Investment in Home Healthcare During the Pandemic: A Win-Win Strategy,’ and ‘Don’t Let Another Crisis Go to Waste: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Imperative for a Paradigm Shift.’
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Interview with Jeannette Wicks-Lim
PERI researcher Jeannette Wicks-Lim discusses her work on a range of issues, including living wages and minimum wages, the overall effects of instituting overtime pay for farmworkers, institutional racism and intersectionality in the U.S. labor market, and the economics of single-payer health care. Wicks-Lim also discusses her ongoing work with advocacy groups throughout the U.S. She says that “I value this work because it focuses my attention on policy proposals that have community support and some level of political momentum. This helps me stay in tune with economic questions that have a high level of social value.”
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