Political Economy Research Institute - PERI

The State of Michigan is committed to building a net zero emissions economy by 2050. PERI researchers Robert Pollin, Jeanette Wicks-Lim, Shouvik Chakraborty and Chirag Lala estimate that the state needs to invest about 2 percent of GDP every year until 2050 to build a clean energy infrastructure to supplant Michigan’s existing fossil fuel-dominant infrastructure. The clean energy investments will generate between 85,000 – 100,000 jobs, while about 350 fossil fuel workers per year will become unemployed. These fossil fuel sector workers need transitional support, including pension, employment, and income guarantees, along with retraining and relocation programs.

The Prospects for Expanding Clean Energy Investments and Job Opportunities under the “MI Healthy Climate Plan” In 2022, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) published the MI Healthy Climate Plan. A centerpiece of the MI Healthy Climate Plan is its commitment for Michigan to…

Thursday, April 30 at 12pm EDT, Join Nancy Folbre, Jane Humphries & Joya Misra for a discussion of "Making Care Work: Why Our Economy Should Put People First."
Register for free webinar.: bit.ly/MakingCareWork

Nancy Folbre: “Making Care Work” Webinar & Panel Discussion Register for Zoom Webinar: bit.ly/MakingCareWork In her new book, “Making Care Work: Why Our Economy Should Put People First” feminist economist Nancy Folbre provides a historical and economic account of care…

2026 Philip Gamble Memorial Lecture: The Political Economy of Affordability Jared Bernstein was most recently the Chair of President Biden's Council of Economic Advisers. He also served as chief economist to Vice-President Biden in the Obama Administration. Bernstein has worked at various think tanks in DC, including the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget an...

PERI’s Nancy Folbre discusses how cuts in government spending and deportation threats against the workforce have sent costs soaring in daycare, eldercare, and long-term medical care.

“The price of purchased care services is rising much faster in the United States than the overall rate of inflation, intensifying the affordability crisis for those paying for the care of others as well as themselves.”

The U.S. Care Affordability Crisis Cuts in government spending and deportation threats against the workforce have sent costs soaring in daycare, eldercare, and long-term medical care.

New report by Robert Pollin and Jeannette Wicks-Lim estimates the affects of the city of Santa Fe's considered proposal to raise the minimum wage. The find that "the adjustments that Santa Fe’s business firms will make to adjust to the increased living wage minimum to $17.50 an hour will be minimal, either within the firms’ operations or in the prices they charge to their customers" College of Social & Behavioral Sciences UMass Amherst UMass Amherst Economics Department Labor Center at UMass Amherst Institute for New Economic Thinking

Economic Analysis of the 2025 Santa Fe, New Mexico Living Wage Proposal The City of Santa Fe, New Mexico is considering a proposal to increase the citywide living wage minimum from its current level of $15.00 per hour to $17.50 per hour. This would be a 17…

Robert Pollin: "the Fed’s rate cut is likely to have little impact on mortgage interest rates."
The Fed Versus Trump: How Much Does it Matter for Interest Rates Overall? https://www.dollarsandsense.org/the-fed-versus-trump-how-much-does-it-matter-for-interest-rates-overall/ College of Social & Behavioral Sciences UMass Amherst UMass Amherst Economics Department

The Fed Versus Trump: How Much Does it Matter for Interest Rates Overall? The Fed’s rate cut is likely to have little impact on mortgage interest rates. The reason is straightforward but rarely recognized in the abundant flow of commentary on Fed policy.

EVENT: Lecture and Book Talk:
Lenore Palladino: Rapid Changes in Corporate Governance and Finance

Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 4pm ET / Gordon Hall 3rd Floor Conf. Room / UMass Amherst

Lenore Palladino: Rapid Changes in Corporate Governance and Finance Lenore Palladino is Associate Professor of Economics at UMass Amherst and author of Good Company: Economic Policy After Shareholder Primacy. She testified before Congress on the impacts of shareholder…

PERI's Nancy Folbre: "The bill was cleverly designed to both obfuscate its intention and divide opposition to tax cuts for the rich."

Read: Medicaid Kayfabe: Fake Wrestling, on the Dollars & Sense Left Hook Policy Forum .

Medicaid Kayfabe: Fake Wrestling The features of the bill that are likely to help ordinary people were catchy and easy to understand—reduced taxes on tips and overtime pay and a higher standard deduction for the elderly on income taxes. Yet these projected revenue losses are tiny compared to those incurred by the super rich.