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

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Over 400 social scientists signed a letter urging Congress to continue funding the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The President's FY08 budget would eliminate funding for the survey. The SIPP provides critical information on the effectiveness of Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps, unemployment insurance and other programs. CEPR coordinated the sign-on letter. Add a comment

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Dean Baker was in the San Francisco Bay Area to talk about his two recent books, The United States Since 1980 and The Conservative Nanny State. Add a comment

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CEPR co-hosted a conference on The 10th Anniversary of the Asian Financial Crisis with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Mark Weisbrot spoke about the links between globalization and the financial crisis; John Schmitt chaired a panel on the global economy. Watch the video >

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Mark Weisbrot discusses the lessons learned from the Asian Financial Crisis, May 16, 2007.

johnschmitt10thasianJohn Schmitt moderates a panel with Nelson Barbosa from the Brazilian Ministry of Finance; Ilene Grabel from the University of Denver; and Worapot Manupipatpong of ASEAN.

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Mark Weisbrot is in New York today participating in the Cornell Global Labor Institute conference, A North American Labor Assembly on Climate Crisis. He's speaking on the panel, A Question of Balance: Work Styles, Working Hours and a Low-Carbon Future. Add a comment

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The Center for Economic and Policy Research has had a busy year so far! Check out the latest CEPR Update for highlights of our activities since January. Add a comment

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John Schmitt traveled to London to present at the European Low-Wage Employment Research Network (LoWER) Workshop on Migration, at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) of the London School of Economics.  Together with CEP's Jonathan Wadsworth, he will lead an "Institutions and Immigration" session, and speak at a "Women and Immigration" session.  Click here pdf to see the conference's program. Add a comment

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Audio and video files are now available for two events on the IMF and World Bank hosted by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. See: Five Years of Extraordinary Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction in Argentina (Felisa Josefina Miceli and Mark Weisbrot) and Global Imbalances, Power Shifts and the Future of Multilateralism (Joseph Stiglitz, José Antonio Ocampo and Mark Weisbrot).

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Nobel Laureate economist and CEPR Advisory Board member Joseph Stiglitz speaks at CEPR's panel discussion on global imbalances, April 12, 2007

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Edmund Andrews, José Antonio Ocampo, Mark Weisbrot and Joseph Stiglitz respond to audience questions.

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Dean Baker discussed the current state of international lending and international financial institutions (IFI’s) as part of an opening panel at the Inaugural North American IFIWatchers meeting in Washington, DC. He was joined on the panel by Smitu Kothari, Intercultural Resources and Princeton University, and Bruce Rich of Environmental Defense. Manish Bapna, Executive Director of the Bank Information Center, moderated the discussion, which was attended by over 40 representatives of organizations working on IFI issues. Add a comment

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Heather Boushey and Liz Chimienti met with a dozen researchers in Seattle to discuss the methodology and initial findings for the Bridging the Gaps project. The meeting was coordinated by our project partner, Seattle Jobs Initiative. The Washington state report will be released this summer. Add a comment

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The Bridging the Gaps project is picking up steam in New York. Working with the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI), Heather Boushey and Liz Chimienti presented the project's research goals and received helpful feedback from over 30 researchers and advocates in Albany and New York City. In addition, FPI's Deputy Director James Parrott arranged for Heather and Liz to brief the staff of New York City's Center for Economic Opportunity on the project — and the possibility of generating specific data for New York City. Given the large population of city, Bridging the Gaps researchers believe it may be feasible to get that level of detail (with relatively large standard errors). Over the next few weeks, the Bridging the Gaps team will incorporate recent feedback and finalize the New York state research. The Fiscal Policy Institute will work with its allies to determine when and how the New York state report will be released.

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In response to President Bush's trip to Latin America, CEPR's international team -- Dan Beeton, Jeremy Bigwood, Belen Cadena, Luis Sandoval and Mark Weisbrot -- has been busy providing analysis and commentary on the Latin American economy. See press interviews and other resources on our Latin America webpage. Add a comment

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In a presentation at the 23rd Annual Washington Economic Policy Conference, Dean Baker discussed the effects that the housing bubble has on mortgages and potentially will have as prices return to historically-standard levels. Other members of the panel were Douglas Ducan, Chief Economist, Mortgage Bankers Associaiton of America, and Anthony Yezer, Professor of Economics at the George Washington University. The panel was moderated by Carl Tannenbaum, Chief Economist, LaSalle Bank. The National Association for Business Economics and the Association for University Business and Economic Research hosted the conference. Add a comment

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Mark Weisbrot spoke at the fifth annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Crystal City, VA, on the economic and political changes taking place in Latin America. Over 1,000 international faith leaders and activists were part of the four-day event. Add a comment

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Mark Weisbrot spoke at a briefing on the World Trade Organization (WTO) for Congressional staff. He discussed the shrinking gains from trade that are to be expected from a successful Doha Round of WTO negotiations, and weighed them against the potential losses to developing countries. Mark pointed out that - according to the World Bank's research - developing countries have very little to gain from the further trade liberalization that would be required under the Doha Round, while they would meanwhile have to make costly changes, including adopting new rules and tariff reductions that would limit their development options. Add a comment

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Dean Baker discussed his book, The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer, at the Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco. Add a comment

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As part of CEPR's Bridging the Gaps initiative, the Chicago-based organization Heartland Alliance released its 2007 Report on Illinois Poverty. The report describes income gains for poor and middle-income Illinois families, including eligibility gap findings for food stamps, housing support and TANF. Bridging the Gaps is a partnership of state and national groups that measures how much it costs for families to make ends meet -- and examines how they are coping. The partner states are Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington and the District of Columbia. Add a comment

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CEPR is expanding! We are excited to announce a new partnership with Inclusion. Through policy papers, research, op-eds and a blog, Inclusion advances a progressive long-term vision for producing a fairer, more sustainable world -- including improved wages, job quality, benefits, opportunities and more. Inclusion co-founders Shawn Fremstad, Rachel Gragg and Margy Waller have, between them, worked for the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Clinton Administration, Senator Paul Wellstone, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Brookings Institution and the Center for Community Change. Add a comment

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CEPR is pleased to welcome a new Senior Research Associate, economist Roberto Frenkel. He is Principal Research Associate at the State and Society Research Center (Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad—CEDES) and Professor at the University of Buenos Aires (Universidad de Buenos Aires) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today, CEPR released his article, Argentina: The Central Bank in the Foreign Exchange Market. The original article (in Spanish) was published in La Nación on December 31, 2006. For more information on Roberto Frenkel, see his biography or his full CV (in Spanish). Add a comment

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Heather Boushey moderated a panel on work/family class issues at a Barnard College conference, The Work/Family Dilemma: A Better Balance. The event featured a variety of speakers discussing low-income working women, the difficulties they face in supporting their families, and future policy proposals. Add a comment

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Dean Baker submitted testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee hearing, The Causes of Economic Hardship for the Middle Class. Dean argues that the upward redistribution of wealth over the last 25 years was primarily the result of policy changes and not simply the natural workings of the market. He discusses four policy areas that should be improved: trade and immigration, Federal Reserve Board, labor-management, and corporate governance.

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After a year of drafting letters and organizing researchers to oppose the elimination of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we are pleased that Congress has fully funded the SIPP for another year. More on the SIPP can be found at http://www.ceprdata.org/savesipp/index.php. Add a comment
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