Robert Pollin, James Heintz, Heidi Garrett-Peltier and Jeannette Wicks-Lim show that since 2009, U.S. commercial banks and large nonfinancial corporations have been carrying huge cash hoards and other liquid assets, totaling $1.4 trillion. Small businesses, by contrast, have been locked out of...

In this research brief, Heidi Garrett-Peltier estimates the employment impacts of President Obama’s Better Buildings Initiative: a set of tax code changes, lending programs, and a competitive grant program, designed to incentivize private investment in energy-efficiency upgrades to commercial...

The authors look at the level of job losses that would be sustained if substantial cuts were made in federal spending on defense contracting in Massachusetts. They compares those impacts with potential cuts at a similar scale to education, healthcare, construction or clean-energy spending,...

The importance of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in combating poverty in our country by alleviating hunger was driven home anew during the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and the subsequent tepid economic recovery. The program is credited with preventing a dramatic increase in hunger...

As part of efforts to reduce urban emissions, major cities and states, including New York City, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, and California, are now requiring building owners and operators to measure and disclose building energy performance. Such policies are expected to expand...

Garrett-Peltier estimates the employment impacts of a low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) in the state of Minnesota. She develops three scenarios by which the demand for transportation fuels in the state could change by 2021, and further to 2035. Under each scenario, she estimates the number of jobs...

Pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure such as sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails, can all be used for transportation, recreation, and fitness. These types of infrastructure have been shown to create many benefits for their users as well as the rest of the community. Some of these benefits are...

This study focuses on the employment effects of military spending versus alternative domestic spending priorities, in particular investments in clean energy, health care and education. We first present some simple alternative spending scenarios, namely devoting $1 billion to the military versus...

This paper explores the intersections between the current trajectory of globalization, changes to the structure of employment, and policies for maintaining opportunities for decent employment. There are numerous outcomes of these interactions, including higher levels of open unemployment, growth...

This paper explores the institutional factors behind the crisis of capital accumulation in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. Because of its focus on institutional stability, the paper contributes to the literature on the existence of an apartheid social structure of accumulation in which...