Episode 24: Dean Baker speaks with Suresh Naidu, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, about unions’ role in reducing inequality, how employer wage-setting power shapes labor markets, sectoral bargaining experiments in California and Minnesota, the problems with H-1B visa programs, and why Democrats shifted away from labor policy toward tax-and-transfer approaches in recent decades.

Episode Transcript

About Suresh Naidu

Suresh Naidu is professor of economics and international and public affairs at Columbia University. He teaches economics, political economy and development, and writes on the economic effects of political transitions, the economic history of slavery and labor institutions, and international migration.