Publications

Want Vaccines Fast? Suspend Intellectual Property Rights

United States

World

Otherwise, there won’t be enough shots to go around, even in rich countries.

Dean Baker, Achal Prabhala and Arjun Jayadev / December 07, 2020

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Beating Up on Finance

It is true that I haven’t beaten up on the financial sector for a while, and with Biden now putting together his administration, this would be a great time to take a few shots.

Dean Baker / December 07, 2020

Article Artículo

Journalism Lesson for Ron Elving at NPR’s Weekend Edition: You Don’t Know What Republican Members of Congress “Think” About Aid to State and Local Governments

I'm not sure why it is so hard for reporters to just tell us what politicians say and do, instead of telling us what they think and believe.

Dean Baker / December 05, 2020

Jobs Byte Artículo

Economy Adds 245,000 Jobs in November, Unemployment Falls to 6.7 Percent

Contrary to normal patterns, the workweek has actually gotten longer in the pandemic recession.

Dean Baker / December 04, 2020

Article Artículo

Government

Honduras

Latin America and the Caribbean

World

As Private Cities Advance in Honduras, Hondurans Renew Their Opposition

Efforts to develop semi-privately governed jurisdictions called Economic Development and Employment Zones (ZEDEs) in Honduras have recently emerged anew.

Beth Geglia December 03, 2020

Article Artículo

Globalization and Trade

Lessons for Steve Rattner from Folks Who Actually Remember the 1990s

Many progressives have better memories than Rattner, which is why they are determined to not have the Biden presidency be a repeat of the Clinton presidency.

Dean Baker / December 02, 2020

Jobs Byte Artículo

PREVIEW: What to Look for in the November Jobs Report

Economic Growth

United States

The resurgence of the pandemic is likely to be the biggest factor driving labor market performance in November, especially in a context where most of the CARES Act supports have ended.

Dean Baker / December 02, 2020

Article Artículo

Repeal Section 230 and Never Again Have to Worry About What Mark Zuckerberg Thinks About Anything

The net effect would be to make Facebook much smaller, so what Mark Zuckerberg chose to favor or ban would not make much difference to anyone.

Dean Baker / December 02, 2020

Article Artículo

Another Slow Recovery from Economic Disaster

The lesson learned from the Great Recession was that the initial stimulus was far too small. The subsequent austerity during the recovery directly obstructed a return to full employment.

Dean Baker / November 30, 2020

Article Artículo

Haiti

Latin America and the Caribbean

US Foreign Policy

Protests, Repression Mark Police Chief’s First Week

Jake Johnston and Kira Paulemon / November 30, 2020

Article Artículo

NYT Wants to Talk About Higher Wages, but Doesn’t Want to Talk About the Real Reasons Wages are Low

The bigger problem is the assertion that the failure of pay to keep pace with productivity growth over the last four decades is due to higher profits.

Dean Baker / November 29, 2020

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

More Bad News About the Pandemic Recession: Longer Hours

One way of dealing with this reduction in employment opportunities is to have shorter work weeks/work years. Unfortunately, it seems we are now headed in the wrong direction.

Dean Baker / November 28, 2020

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Why are the Free Traders All Protectionists? Vaccines and Sharing Knowledge (Fun for Thanksgiving)

But the fact remains, protection for manufactured goods is universally derided in outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Atlantic. Protectionism in the form of patent and copyright monopolies, which is hugely more costly, is never even

Dean Baker / November 25, 2020

Article Artículo

News for Bill Gates: Capitalism Is Still Capitalism Without Patent Monopolies

Gates apparently is not aware that the U.S. government paid for Moderna's research and testing costs for its vaccines.

Dean Baker / November 23, 2020

Article Artículo

Budget

Fighting Disinformation: Maybe Reporters Can Try Putting Big Budget Numbers in Contexts that Make Them Understandable

If reporters are really interested in countering the nonsense thrown out by the right, writing big numbers in ways that actually provide information to their audience would be a big help.

Dean Baker / November 22, 2020

Article Artículo

How Many Lives Would Have Been Saved if We Had Collaborated on Vaccines With China?

It makes sense to cooperate in areas of mutual benefit. Developing vaccines and treatments against the pandemic would have been an obvious example.

Dean Baker / November 21, 2020

report informe

Universal Lessons from Illinois’s Fair Tax Failure: How a Rich Minority Wins the Majority Vote

United States

By looking at what happened in Illinois, we can distill broader political factors that are applicable across the country.

Sepideh Jessica Vasseghi / November 19, 2020

Article Artículo