ABOUT US

PUBLICATIONS

THE BLOGS

The Americas Blog Beat the Press CEPR Blog Director Watch Haiti: Relief & Reconstruction Watch theworldintransition

Blog postings by CEPR staff and updates on the latest briefings and activities at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Details
CEPR launched its newly designed website. New features include a growing library of radio and audio files (see Multimedia); an issue-by-issue list of our publications and commentaries (see Issues); and an RSS feed that enables subscribers to automatically receive our latest reports and op-eds. CEPR’s communications director Lynn Erskine led the hardworking web-transition team of Rozina Ali, Kathryn Bogel, Nihar Bhatt, and Rebecca Ray. Add a comment

Details
Supporting Families, our five-part briefing series held on Capitol Hill, came to a close yesterday in a session that was extremely informative and well-attended. At the briefing, Opportunities for Policymakers to Make a Difference, we were proud to host three influential speakers: Eileen Appelbaum, professor and director of the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University; Heidi Hartmann, director of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research; and Kate Kahan, director of Work and Family Programs at the National Partnership for Women and Families. Each speaker addressed a different vital policy opportunity: adopting the Work and Family Bill of Rights; passing the Healthy Families Act; and expanding the Family Medical Leave Act. Following these presentations, staff from the eight co-sponsoring offices (Sens. Obama, Clinton, Dodd, and Kennedy; and Reps. DeLauro, Maloney, Miller and Woolsey) highlighted their current work and family legislative priorities. Pictures and audio files from the event are available on our website. Add a comment

Details
Mark Weisbrot presented on the 25-year growth failure in developing countries, the protections included in so-called “free trade” agreements, and the downward pressure on U.S. wages, among other topics, at a discussion entitled "Globalization and Free Trade: Who Wins/Loses?" at American University’s Kay Spiritual Life Center. AU School of International Service faculty member Steve Cohen also presented. Over 140 students, faculty members, and others attended the event. Add a comment

Details
The elimination of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) was named one of the most censored stories of 2006. Project Censored, a media research group based in Sonoma State University, produces a list of 25 news stories each year that are overlooked, under-reported, or self-censored in the mainstream media. In their story about the SIPP (number four on their list), they explain that the elimination of the survey will create a knowledge deficit on the efficacy of the government’s social programs. The article highlights that the efforts to save the SIPP have been primarily spearheaded by Heather Boushey and the rest of the staff at the CEPR. Visit our page for more information on the progress to Save the SIPP. Add a comment

Details
Doughnut Hole Day -- the day millions of senior citizens would fall into the financial "Doughnut Hole" designed into the Medicare Part D plan -- brought thousands of meetings and demonstrations across the country to protest the design of the plan. As part of the campaign to raise awareness of the issue, Dean Baker spoke at a community meeting in Champaign, IL. He explained the inefficiencies that were designed into Medicare Part D and how the Doughnut Hole (designed in order to save the government money), is an unnecessary burden to millions of senior citizens. To learn more about the subject, see: "Waste in the Medicare Drug Benefit: Why the Doughnut Hole is Unnecessary." Add a comment

Details
CEPR economist John Schmitt spoke in Krakow, Poland, last week at a conference on the future of Europe, organized by the European Parliament and the Polish Parliament. John presented an extension of his CEPR paper "Is the U.S. a Good Model for Reducing Social Exclusion in Europe?", co-authored with CEPR research assistant Ben Zipperer. Other speakers at the conference included the President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, and academics and politicians from across Europe. Add a comment

Details

For our fourth Supporting Families briefing, CEPR was proud to host Ann Crittenden, award-winning journalist and author of If You've Raised Kids, You Can Manage Anything and The Price of Motherhood. Ms. Crittenden debunked the myth that since motherhood is a choice, employers should have no obligation to accommodate employees with children. Instead, she offered policy alternatives to address the needs of working parents. She suggested that policymakers who work to fill these needs could earn the support of millions of voting parents, regardless of political party. Materials and an mp3 recording of the briefing can be found here.

thumb_ann_crittenden

Ann Crittenden talks to Congressional staff about policies that support working parents.

Add a comment

Details
Dean took part in a conference in Geneva on measuring the cost to developing countries of TRIPS plus provisions of trade agreements. The conference was sponsored by the World Health Organization, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, and the World Bank Institute. Add a comment

Details
Heather Boushey spoke to a packed room at the New America Foundation on Life, Work, and Debt for Generations X and Y." (Video and audio) Add a comment

Details
Work and family balance issues are important to American families. For our third Supporting Families briefing, Phil Sparks, Co-Founder and Vice President, Communications Consortium Media Center, and Beth Shulman, author of The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans, discussed how advocates and policymakers can frame these issues to appeal to voters across party lines. Materials and an mp3 recording of the briefing can be found here. Add a comment

Details
Dean gave a talk on his new book, The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Get Rich and Stay Richer, at Demos in New York City. About 50 people attended the talk and gave positive feedback on Dean’s ideas. Add a comment

Details
In a welcome break from the DC heat, CEPR Economist Heather Boushey and Domestic Outreach Assistant Liz Chimienti skipped town for two very productive days in Minnesota. In three meetings organized by our Minnesota state partners, Heather met with over a dozen researchers and advocates to introduce them to the Bridging the Gaps project and get invaluable feedback on our initial findings.

On Thursday morning, the Minnesota Policy Research & Analysis Network invited Heather to present updated findings from her paper "Are Mothers Opting Out? Debunking the Myth" to a receptive audience of over 30 people (including State Senator Ellen Anderson). Diane Cushman, Director, Office on the Economic Status of Women, MN Legislature, and Steve Hine, Research Director, Labor Market Information Office, MN Department of Employment and Economic Development, responded to her findings. The fabulous and thought-provoking discussion was recorded by a reporter from NPR, so Minnesotans, don't touch that dial! Add a comment

Details
Last night, Dean spoke at a packed SALSA workshop (Social Action and Leadership School for Activists, a program of the Institute for Policy Studies). The event, Housing Bubbles and DC Development discussed the basics of housing bubbles – what they are and specifically how they are affecting Washington, DC. David Haiman from ONE DC discussed how gentrification is affecting residents in the Shaw neighborhood, and what can be done about the changes. The audience generated many important questions, and Dean’s comments were well-received.

In other housing-related news, Dean spoke at the 17th annual National Fair Housing Alliance conference earlier in the day. The conference featured speakers such as Sen. Paul Sarbanes (MD); Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Theodore Shaw, Director-Counsel and President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; James Carr, Senior Vice President of the Fannie Mae Foundation; and Sharon Arkin, Senior Partner at Arkin and Glovsky. Dean spoke on the panel, Unequal Gains in the U.S. Economy: The Evolving Role of African-Americans and Latinos. The panel was moderated by Kelvin Boston, of Boston Media LLC and Moneywise (PBS). He discussed wage inequality and the shift in income distribution from wages to profits over the last quarter century. Add a comment

Details
Mark Weisbrot presented at a Congressional briefing organized by Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch and sponsored by Representatives Duncan Hunter and Tim Ryan. At the briefing, which examined the projected gains from the completion of the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations, Mark pointed to findings from economists at the World Bank that showed the gains would be largely negligible. Mark was joined by fellow panelists Yvette Pena Lopes, Legislative Representative for the Teamsters, Dave Frengel of Manufacturers for Fair Trade, and Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. Over thirty staffers and journalists attended the briefing. This meeting took place at a critical time: as the WTO convened an “emergency” mini-ministerial in a “moment-of-truth” effort to salvage negotiations that failed in December. The Doha Round negotiations have stalled during the last two ministerial meetings – in Cancún and Hong Kong - on several major issues. Add a comment

Details
CEPR’s second briefing in the work and family series was held this afternoon. The event, Struggling to Care: Is the market failing working families? was again given to a standing-room-only crowd, and featured Bob Drago, professor of Labor Studies and Women’s Studies, Pennsylvania State University, and co-founder, Take Care Net; and Danielle Ewen, director, Child Care and Early Education Policy at the Center for Law and Social Policy. Speakers’ presentations are available online. Add a comment

Details
CEPR hosted its first work and family briefing this afternoon. The event, Finding the Time: Challenges facing working families online is the first in a series of five briefings that will explore the challenges facing working families in the United States. Heather Boushey spoke at the opening event, along with Ellen Bravo, former director of 9to5 and National Association of Working Women, and current coordinator of the Multi-States Working Families Consortium. The series is generously funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and aims to develop policy solutions to help working families. The full schedule, along with presentations and materials from this briefing are available. Add a comment

Details
Heather Boushey participated in a roundtable discussion at the Brookings Institution on the Census Bureau’s plan to eliminate the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The roundtable began with David Johnson (Chief, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, Census Bureau) explaining the Census’ plan to replace the SIPP with a new survey: the Dynamics of Economic Well-Being (DEWB). Heather, along with Don Oellerich, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Dept. of Health and Human Services; and Howard Iams, Office of Policy, Social Security Administration, provided critiqued response to the plan. Heather pointed out that while the SIPP may have its problems (with nonreponse rates, etc.), by eliminating it as early as September 2006, researchers and social scientists will lost up to six years of valuable data on the participation rates of government social welfare programs that is necessary to measure the effectiveness of these vital programs. The event provided an essential forum for researchers and Census staffers to debate the plan. Click here to read more about the background of the proposed SIPP elimination and for CEPR’s efforts to save the SIPP. Add a comment

Details
This afternoon, Heather Boushey spoke at forum organized by the National Consumers League: “The High Cost of Cheap Goods: Measuring the Impact of Big Box Retailing on Workers, Consumers, and Communities.” Her panel, “Impact on Consumers and Workers: How Bottom Line Economics Play Fast and Loose with Standards and Protections” was moderated by Beth Myers, Executive Director of STITCH. Heather spoke on labor issues associated with “Big Box Retailing;”  Kathleen Russell, Consultant, Stop Hurting Our Kids, discussed product safety; and Penny Arhar, Business Agent, Teamsters Local 311 and former Costco and Drug Mart worker spoke about the worker’s perspective. Add a comment

Details
Mark Weisbrot presented on a panel entitled Globalization: Understanding the Debate for the World Affairs Journalism Fellowships Fellowship Orientation, sponsored by the International Center for Journalists. In his presentation, Mark discussed the importance of accuracy in reporting on economic issues and talked about some common misperceptions and biases in media reports on the global economy. He was joined by fellow panelist Joseph Quinlan, Chief Marketing Strategist and Managing Director for Wealth and Investment Management at Bank of America. Toby McIntosh, Managing Editor of the Daily Report for Executives, moderated the panel. Add a comment

Details

cns_home

Many of you already know, but to those who haven’t noticed the announcement on our website: Dean Baker’s newest book has been released! The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer is available online as a free e-book (in PDF and HTML versions) and in paperback for $6.91 (the cost of production). The book has been getting lots of note in the blogosphere as well as on the radio waves. Click here to read Salon.com’s review.

Add a comment

Details
Mark Weisbrot was a featured speaker at a conference in Chicago co-hosted by the Global Studies Association and the DePaul University International Studies Program. The conference, Alternative Globalizations, focused on options for globalization that extend beyond the traditional neoliberal model. Other participants included Mehren Lauredee, DePaul University; Edward Kolodziej, Director Center of Global Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana; Ron Baiman, University of Illinois, Chicago; and Yiching Wu, University of Chicago. Add a comment
subscribe today!
support the underdog DONATE