The Political Economy of International Finance in an Age of Inequality is a new volume of 11 research papers edited by PERI Co-Director Gerald Epstein.  Epstein introduces the book by observing that neoliberal financial policies are presently ascendant globally, a decade after the system survived the 2007-09 financial crisis only through a massive series of government bailouts. The contributors to this volume develop a unique range of perspectives on institutions and power relations as well as economic forces in illuminating the experiences, constraints and opportunities facing emerging market economies in the contemporary global financial system.

In The Economy's Other Half, PERI's James Heintz examines the various ways through which gender inequalities interact with macroeconomic policies to produce distinct outcomes for men and women. Heintz considers that women are overrepresented in some occupations, such as teaching and nursing, and underrepresented in others, such as construction. Women also tend to do more unpaid household work and childrearing than men, while men frequently have more decision-making authority within families. Heintz also explains how GDP and other macroeconomic indicators exclude much of the unpaid work that women do, creating hidden biases in formulating macro policies.

The recent pattern of high growth in India has been both inequitable and ecologically destructive. Rohit Azad and Shouvik Chakraborty propose an Energy Policy with Equity (EPE), which transitions India toward a 100 percent reliance on clean renewable energy sources while also guaranteeing universal access to energy for the entire population. This is accomplished by, first, taxing carbon to control CO2 emissions. A part of the revenue thus generated is then used to finance the renewable energy transition. The other share of revenue is used for in-kind transfers of free electricity to lower-income households.