February 04, 2021
Spirit Rosenberg from Great.com interviewed CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot as part of their “Great.com Talks With…” podcast. This series seeks to provide an antidote to negative news stories and aims to shed light on organizations and experts whose work is making a positive impact on the world.
The interview examines the question of how research can be misrepresented in the major media, or ignored altogether, with enormous implications for public education and debate about some of the biggest policy choices affecting people’s lives. Sometimes, as with the field of economics, concepts and information are presented in a way intended to be inaccessible to people lacking advanced education. In this episode, CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot explains how CEPR works to demystify economics, and engages listeners about the importance of generating democratic debate through engagement with economic and policy research.
The Power of Research in the Fight against Climate Change
In 2006, a CEPR study found that carbon emissions produced by Western Europe were 25 percent less than those put out by the United States. The report, and a follow-up in 2013, examined the US model of longer work hours, less vacation time, and production and consumption of more consumer goods, versus the Western European model of fewer work hours, less “stuff,” and more leisure time. Mark Weisbrot emphasized the importance of research to gauge the severity of human-induced climate-altering activity and demonstrate the role of policy choices in generating climate change. Mark explained how CEPR is working to expand the debate about whether these are the policy choices that American workers would actually prefer.
Listen to the whole interview to also learn about CEPR’s work for a global COVID response; and the important role CEPR has played in debunking myths of Social Security insolvency, helping to move the policy debate from “how to cut” Social Security to “how to expand” it. “With two Nobel Laureates and other renowned economists on their advisory board, CEPR’s impact in the world of policy and economics is incredibly relevant,” Great.com says.
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