Publications

Economic Crisis and Recovery

High Drug Prices and the Refusal to Talk Seriously About Debt and Deficits

How can someone who claims to be concerned about the burden of the government debt on our children, ignore the burden, in the form of higher prices, created by government-granted patent and copyright monopolies?

Dean Baker / October 03, 2021

Article Artículo

Was the G.I. Bill of Rights a Safety Net Bill? Talking About the Democrats’ Big Bill

It is unlikely that many reporters at the time described the GI Bill of Rights as a “safety net” plan. They shouldn’t describe the Democrats’ package this way either.

Dean Baker / October 01, 2021

Article Artículo

Affordable Care Act

Health and Social Programs

United States

Young Men Need More Medicaid

Much more needs to be done to ensure that all adolescents, regardless of gender, have stable, continuous health insurance during and after the transition to adulthood.

Shawn Fremstad, Clara Wilson and Anaïs Goubert / September 29, 2021

Article Artículo

Colombia

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Special Drawing Rights

First Available Data Shows Countries Are Using Special Drawing Rights to Stabilize Their Economies and Address the Pandemic

Based on the IMF’s accounting of SDR holdings as well as media reporting on member countries, we can get a preliminary sense of what countries immediately used the additional allocation of SDRs and for what purposes.

Andrés Arauz and Kevin Cashman / September 29, 2021

Article Artículo

Big Pharma Fights Back

Naturally, no one expects to be able to get $50 billion a year out of the hide of a huge industry without a serious fight. The pharmaceutical companies surely have all their lobbyists working overtime courting members of Congress.

Dean Baker / September 29, 2021

report informe

Argentina

Brazil

Latin America and the Caribbean

IMF Surcharges

IMF Surcharges: Counterproductive and Unfair

This report finds that International Monetary Fund (IMF) surcharges are inappropriate and unjustifiable, particularly during a pandemic combined with a very uneven recovery from a pandemic-driven world recession.

Andrés Arauz, Mark Weisbrot, Joe Sammut and Christina Laskaridis / September 28, 2021

report informe

Argentina

Latin America and the Caribbean

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Las sobretasas del FMI: injustas y contraproducentes

Este informe considera que los sobrecargos del FMI son inapropiados e injustificables, sobre todo en medio de la recesión mundial causada por la pandemia y en la recuperación muy desigual entre países.

Andrés Arauz, Mark Weisbrot, Joe Sammut and Christina Laskaridis / September 28, 2021

Article Artículo

Economic Growth

Government

Winning the Tax Game: Tax Stock Returns

Making stock returns the basis for the corporate income tax is a game where everyone but the tax cheats win.

Dean Baker / September 28, 2021

Article Artículo

Budget

Government

United States

Joe Biden Could Be Tempted to Reach for the Platinum Coin

Other than Denmark, our country is alone in the world in having a self-imposed limit on the amount of money it can borrow. In other countries, legislatures approve spending and taxes, and governments borrow to cover any gaps.

Dean Baker / September 28, 2021

Article Artículo

Paul Krugman, Going Green in China, and the Which Way Is Up Problem in Economics

Spending money on greening the economy is a great way to keep people employed.

Dean Baker / September 26, 2021

Article Artículo

Sickening Indeed: A Review of Sickening, by John Abramson

The book is indeed useful in documenting the failures of the pharmaceutical industry, but it comes up painfully short in the remedies.

Dean Baker / September 26, 2021

Article Artículo

Inequality

Health and Social Programs

The US and China: A Productive Path Forward

Instead of wasting resources in military competition, and bottling up technologies in trying to gain economic advantage, we can look to have a path where we try to maximize cooperation between the superpowers.

Dean Baker / September 24, 2021

Article Artículo

Haiti

US Foreign Policy

US Envoy to Haiti Resigns, Citing Political Intervention and “Inhumane” Deportation Policy

In his resignation letter, Foote connects the broader migration crisis to US policy in Haiti.

Jake Johnston / September 23, 2021

Article Artículo

COVID-19

Inequality

United States

Even During COVID-19 Recession, Temporary Assistance Does Little to Reduce Child Poverty

The failure of TANF to address the needs of poor families shows that we need strong federal programs to help needy families.

Algernon Austin / September 22, 2021

Article Artículo

COVID-19

Technology

Biden Can Transfer mRNA Technology and Leave the Legal Burdens with Moderna and Pfizer

The Biden administration could find ways around the legal weapons that Moderna and Pfizer might use to block the transfer of the technology they use to produce mRNA vaccines.

Dean Baker / September 22, 2021

Article Artículo

Evil Doers: The Pharmaceutical Industry and the Pandemic

The question is whether there are better ways to get these drugs and vaccines. There is good reason for thinking there is.

Dean Baker / September 20, 2021

Article Artículo

Inequality

Roger Lowenstein on Share Buybacks: What About Taxes?

Even if buybacks are not the great evil that some have claimed, there is no reason for the government to be encouraging them with its tax policy.

Dean Baker / September 18, 2021

Article Artículo

Special Drawing Rights