MARCH 2020
• What's Wrong with Modern Money Theory? A Policy Critique
• Fighting Climate Injustice: A Proposal for a Differential Global Carbon Tax
• The American Corporation in Crisis

Professor Jayati Ghosh to Join PERI
PERI is extremely pleased to announce that Professor Jayati Ghosh, currently of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, India, will be joining both PERI and the UMass Amherst Economics Faculty in September 2020. Ghosh is a world-renown political economist whose work spans the fields of Development, Macroeconomics and Finance, Feminist and Gender Economics, and Inequality.
>> Read interview with Professor Ghosh.
PERI Welcomes Daniel Ellsberg
PERI is honored to welcome Daniel Ellsberg as a PERI Distinguished Research Fellow. Dr. Ellsberg’s PERI appointment coincides with the receipt by the UMass Amherst Library of his personal papers. Dr. Ellsberg received his Ph.D. in Economics at Harvard University in 1962 and published several seminal papers in the areas of decision theory and behavioral economics. Working as a high-level U.S. government war planner during the Vietnam War, Ellsberg risked a lifetime in prison to expose what became known as the Pentagon Papers, an act which was critical in strengthening the anti-war movement.
>> Read more about Ellsberg's appointment to PERI and UMass Amherst.
PERI Co-Hosts Macroeconomic Policy Event

PERI and the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Univ. of Texas-Austin hosted "Macroeconomic Policy in the Shadow of the Great Financial Crisis" which presented four new books that address macroeconomic theory and policy making. James Crotty's Keynes Against Capitalism: His Economic Case for Liberal Socialism, was presented by PERI's Robert Pollin, followed by James Galbraith's plenary address and then discussions on When Things Don't Fall Apart, by Ilene Grabel; All Fall Down, by Jane D'Arista; and The Political Economy of Central Banking, by PERI's Gerald Epstein.
>> Watch webcast of the event.
Cooperation and Conflict in the Patriarchal Labyrinth
This essay in Daedalus by PERI economist Nancy Folbre offers a new way of visualizing structures of collective power based on gender, emphasizing the role of social institutions in shaping women’s ability to bargain over the distribution of the gains from cooperation with men. Recognition of the importance of reproductive work helps advance the project of developing intersectional political economy.
>> Read essay
What's Wrong with Modern Money Theory? A Policy Critique
This book by PERI's Gerald Epstein assesses the validity of the "Modern Money Theory" (MMT) approach to macroeconomic policy. Whereas other studies have focused primarily on theoretical and doctrinal issues, this book focuses primarily on MMT's proposed monetary and fiscal policies. It draws on a vast institutional and empirical literature to assess the validity of MMT's policies with the goal of addressing an important question in the U.S. and elsewhere: Is MMT a good guide for progressive macroeconomic policy? What's Wrong with Modern Money Theory? explains why the answer to this question is no.
>> Read book
Fighting Climate Injustice: A Proposal for a Differential Global Carbon Tax
In a chapter for the book Handbook of Green Economics, PERI researcher Shouvik Chakraborty and Rohit Azad argue for a differential carbon tax across the globe to support a green energy transition. All countries would pay tax rates according to their respective shares in global emissions. With the global carbon tax at $46 per ton, Chakraborty and Azad estimate that the total "carbon compensation" made by the "payer" nations—those that, per capita, pollute more than average—comes to around $570 billion. These funds should then be channeled into financing the global energy transition in low-income countries.
>> Read more
The American Corporation in Crisis
In “The American Corporation in Crisis—Let’s Rethink It,” PERI researcher Lenore Palladino argues that, for decades, the concept of shareholder primacy in corporate organization has abandoned the idea that corporations’ employees should benefit when the corporations are succeeding. Over recent decades, the commitment to shareholder primacy has contributed to the persistent rise of inequality between workers versus their employers—i.e., top management and share owners. Palladino proposes approaches to create more egalitarian corporate structures. Thirteen leading analysts comment on Palladino’s proposals in a special Boston Review Forum, and Palladino responds to the commentators.
>> Read more
Shadow Networks: The Roots of Global Financial Disorder
In this book, PERI researcher Michael Ash and Francisco Louçã examine the root causes of the 2007 – 09 global financial crisis. They explore how finance became hegemonic in the capitalist system and what have been the social consequences of the rise of finance. They show how "shadow finance," or the non-regulated part of the financial system, is a crucial part of the operation of big banks and financial agencies. They also document how the broader "shadow economy" emerged through deliberate actions by government officials and other decision makers to advance a neoliberal capitalist order.
>> Read more
Intra-City Inequalities, Neighborhoods and Economic Development
How do neighborhood characteristics and social cleavages within cities influence economic development? This study by PERI economist Vamsi Vakulabharanam and Sripad Motiram addresses these issues for the Indian cities of Hyderabad and Mumbai. The study conducts an inequality decomposition exercise to show that a substantial portion of intra-city income inequality is explained by social cleavages such as classes and social groups (caste and religion). The results show both that urban inequalities are stark, and that spatial co-existence of classes and social groups (a phenomenon that the authors term as “Grayness”) is pronounced, with Grayness exerting a strong positive impact on development.
>> Read more
The Case for Carbon Dividends
In his new book, PERI’s James Boyce shows that the key to tackling climate change in a just and feasible way is to put a limit on carbon emissions, thereby raising the price of fossil fuels and generating strong incentives for clean energy. But, how do we secure broad public support for a policy that increases fuel costs for consumers? Boyce argues that carbon pricing can be made just and politically durable only if linked to returning the revenue to the public as carbon dividends. Founded on the principle that the gifts of nature belong to us all, not to corporations or governments, this bold reform could spark a 21st century clean energy revolution.
>> Read more
Financing Green Growth
In a chapter for Handbook on Green Growth, PERI's Gregor Semieniuk and Mariana Mazzucato survey the current global state of financing for clean energy investments. They show that public sector funding has played a key role in supporting major industrial transitions. This includes recent energy-sector transitions, such as in Iceland (from fossil to geothermal energy), Norway (from mainly non-electricity energy to hydroelectricity), France (from oil to nuclear) and the U.S. (from conventional to shale gas). The paper concludes by examining the challenges and opportunities that will likely emerge in establishing public financing as a centerpiece of a global clean energy transition.
>> Read more
Green Economics and Decent Work: A Viable Unified Framework
In this review article for Development and Change, PERI's Robert Pollin evaluates the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) extensive 2018 World Employment and Social Outlook report Greening with Jobs. Pollin finds that, within the context of the extreme climate crisis, Greening with Jobs succeeds as an important contribution towards building a unified program for achieving climate stabilization, expanding decent job opportunities, and raising mass living standards for working people and the poor throughout the world. At the same time, Pollin’s review article also points out what are, in his view, some weaknesses and significant gaps in the study.
>> Read article

Additional Research
Explaining Turkey’s Current Economic Crisis
Ozgur Orhangazi, Erinc Yeldan
Neither Crowding In nor Out: Public Direct Investment Mobilizing Private Investment into Renewable Electricity Projects
Matteo Deleidi, Mariana Mazzucato, Gregor Semieniuk
A Three Class Predator-Prey Model with Financial Super Predators: The Financial Profit Squeeze
Jonathan Goldstein
Intra-City Inequalities, Neighborhoods and Economic Development
Sripad Motiram, Vamsi Vakulabharanam
Is Imperialism Passé in the 21st Century?
Rohit Azad, Shouvik Chakraborty
The Asset Management Industry in the United States
Gerald Epstein
Monetizing Public Debt in Japan: An Empirical Critique of Modern Money Theory
Junji Tokunaga
Government Policy’s Influence on Shadow Banking in China
Sara Hsu
Revisiting India's Growth Transitions
Deepankar Basu
International Trade and Capital Flight from Africa: Challenges for Governance
Melvin D. Ayogu
Magnitudes and Mechanisms of Capital Flight from Angola, Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa
James K. Boyce, Leonce Ndikumana
Modern Money Theory (MMT) in the Tropics: Functional Finance in Developing Countries
Matías Vernengo, Esteban Pérez Caldentey
The Political Economy of Central Banking: Contested Control and the Power of Finance
Gerald Epstein
The Revised U.S. Treasury Securities Standard System
Junji Tokunaga
Dominance of Majoritarian Politics and Hate Crimes Against Religious Minorities in India, 2009-2018
Deepankar Basu
Toxic 100 Names Top Climate, Air, and Water Polluters
James K. Boyce, Michael Ash
Competition and Monopoly in the U.S. Economy: What Do Industrial Concentration Data Tell?
Leila E. Davis, Ozgur Orhangazi
Industry Concentration and Technological Progress in U.S. Industries
Armagan Gezici
Unpaid Family Caregiving and Retirement Savings
Christian Weller, Michele Tolson
Why Do Firms Impose Vertical Restraints: Evidence from Franchise Contracts
Brian Callaci
Structured Conflict: Changes in Federal and State Labor Laws and Strike Activity, 1950 to 2017
Mark Stelzner, Eric Hoyt, Toushita Ramchurn
Keynes Against Capitalism: His Economic Case for Social Liberalism
James Crotty
Effects of Carbon Mitigation on Co-pollutants at Industrial Facilities in Europe
Klara Zwickl, Simon Sturn, James K. Boyce
American Radical Economists in Mao's China: From Hopes to Disillusionment
Isabella Weber, Gregor Semieniuk
Structural Change in India and China: External Sustainability and the Middle-Income Trap
Suranjana Nabar-Bhaduri, Matias Vernengo
A Multidimensional Approach to the Gender Gap in Poverty: An Application for Turkey
Hasan Tekguc, Bengi Akbulut
The Persistence of Racial Inequality: The Earnings Gap Among Women from 1979-2016
Jeannette Wicks-Lim
Informality, Inequality, and Feminization of Labor
Adem Elveren, Ceyhun Elgin
A Green Growth Program for Colorado
Robert Pollin, Jeannette Wicks-Lim, Shouvik Chakraborty, Tyler Hansen
From the Classical to Empiricists: A Review of the Terms of Trade Controversy
Shouvik Chakraborty, Prabirjit Sarkar
Economics for People and the Planet
James K. Boyce
PERI Commentary
Freedom from Fossil Fuels Is Good for Your Health
James K. Boyce
Women Outnumber Men in the U.S. Workforce–What Does it Mean?
Katherine Moos
Does the UK Need the EU? An Interview With Malcolm Sawyer
C.J. Polychroniou
Modeling Medicare-for-All: How Design Options Affect Predictions
Robert Pollin
Is Universal Health Care Economically Viable?
Robert Pollin
Medicare for All Resolutions Webinar
Jeannette Wicks-Lim
A Green New Deal for Greece: Interview with Robert Pollin
Eurydice Bersi
Neoliberalism and Climate Change: The Green New Deal as an Anti-Neoliberalism Program
Robert Pollin / Dollars & Sense
Carbon Dividends and the Green New Deal
James K. Boyce / American Prospect
How Do We Pay for a Zero Emissions Economy?
Robert Pollin / American Prospect
Economists Explain How Medicare for All Will Save Money
Jeannette Wicks-Lim
Memo on Carbon Pricing for House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
James K. Boyce
Robert Pollin Answers Key Questions on the Emerging Divide Between Sanders and Warren on Medicare for All
Robert Pollin
Can Carbon Pricing Address Climate Justice?
James K. Boyce, Manuel Pastor / The Nation
Central Bank Independence Is a Myth. They Need to Be Democratized.
Gerald Epstein
Congressional Testimony on Stock Buybacks
Lenore Palladino
Whom Should the Corporation Serve?
Lenore Palladino
If We Want a Future, Green New Deal Is Key: Interview with Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin
Noam Chomsky, Robert Pollin / Truthout
A Case for Carbon Dividends: Interview with James Boyce
James K. Boyce
The U.K. May Overhaul Shareholder Rules. Companies Are Not Happy.
Lenore Palladino
A Case for a Differential Global Carbon Tax
Rohit Azad, Shouvik Chakraborty
The Making of China's Economic Reforms
Isabella Weber
Can Equitable Distribution of Energy Meet Green Concerns?
Rohit Azad, Shouvik Chakraborty
A Reality Check on India’s Renewable Energy Capacity
Shouvik Chakraborty
Comprehensive Study on Medicare for All Refutes Criticism by Centrist Democrats & GOP
Robert Pollin
PERI Researchers Compile Lists of 100 Worst Polluters
Michael Ash, James K. Boyce
A Plan for Earth's Survival that Can Survive U.S. Politics?
James K. Boyce
Keeping the Oil in the Soil
James K. Boyce
Let's Pay Every American to Reduce Emissions
James K. Boyce
We Need a Green New Deal to Defeat Fascism and Reverse Inequality
Robert Pollin / Truthout
Unpaid Caregiving Increases Risk of Poverty in Retirement
Christian Weller
Germany's Exit from Coal by 2038 Is a Major Transition
Robert Pollin
Climate Change is Devastating India with Heat Waves and Water Shortages
Shouvik Chakraborty
The Right to Energy & Carbon Tax: A Game Changer in India
Rohit Azad, Shouvik Chakraborty
The Environmental and Economic Challenge of Our Time
James K. Boyce
Why Millenial Pessimism on Social Security Could Be a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Peter Arno
The Disconnect Between Economics and Climate Science
James K. Boyce, Tyler Hansen
2020's Big Proposals
Jeannette Wicks-Lim
Boomers and Millennials Unite
Peter Arno, Ann Beaudry / The American Prospect
Modern Monetary Theory: A Debate Between Gerald Epstein and Randall Wray
Gerald Epstein
Medicare for All Viability
Jeannette Wicks-Lim
Unemployment Is Down - Why Aren't Wages Up?
Gerald Epstein

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