Josh Bivens
Research and Policy Director
Areas of expertise
Macroeconomics • Globalization • Social Insurance • Public Investment
Biography
Josh Bivens joined the Economic Policy Institute in 2002. He is the author of Everybody Wins Except for Most of Us: What Economics Teaches About Globalization and has published numerous articles in both academic and popular venues, including USA Today, The Guardian, The American Prospect, Challenge Magazine, and Worth. He is a frequent commentator on economic issues for a variety of media outlets, including NPR, CNN, CNBC, Reuters and the BBC.
Education
Ph.D., Economics, New School for Social Research
B.A., Economics, University of Maryland at College Park
Publications by Josh Bivens
Blog
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May 21, 2013 | Apple’s advice on corporate tax reform: more tax breaks, please!
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May 2, 2013 | Winning the intellectual debate on austerity while losing the policy debate
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April 30, 2013 | Why do so many people want to only pursue the expensive ways to fix job-quality?
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April 26, 2013 | (Final?) Notes on the Reinhart/Rogoff saga
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April 26, 2013 | How far from full recovery are we, Part II: Housing to the rescue?
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April 23, 2013 | How far from full labor market recovery are we? Part I
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April 18, 2013 | More on missing downward price pressure (hint, blame corporate profits)
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April 17, 2013 | A slight bit of substance on the Reinhart and Rogoff 90 percent debt threshold
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April 16, 2013 | The Reinhart and Rogoff magical 90 percent threshold loses its magic?
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April 12, 2013 | Dark Age budgeting: Social Security back on the table
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April 8, 2013 | How to stomp on promising developments in the economy: Austerity
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March 22, 2013 | Manufacturing employment: Nothing to see here, move along…
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March 22, 2013 | Aggressively targeting a full recovery is the least risky thing you can do: Back to Work Budget edition
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Jan. 30, 2013 | Today’s teachable GDP moment: Slower government spending => slower GDP growth
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Jan. 25, 2013 | When and what kind of deficit reduction matters most: The danger of aggressive 10-year deficit targets in the current budget debate
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Jan. 18, 2013 | The congressional GOP has smothered a more rapid economic recovery
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Jan. 10, 2013 | With friends like these: The carbon tax edition
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Jan. 2, 2013 | More fiscal implications of a rising capital-share of income
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Jan. 2, 2013 | So the ‘fiscal cliff’ has been addressed. The next priority should be to address the fiscal cliff.
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Dec. 21, 2012 | The 15 worst economic ideas of 2012
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Dec. 18, 2012 | If you’re writing about the ‘fiscal cliff,’ you need to read The State of Working America
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Dec. 17, 2012 | Reading the tea leaves on financial markets and fiscal austerity
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Nov. 30, 2012 | A good first step, but full recovery would still be far, far away
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Nov. 28, 2012 | True deficit hawks would be worried with jobs and recovery first
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Nov. 27, 2012 | Inequality is not just about taxes and education
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Nov. 14, 2012 | Did NAFTA raise U.S. incomes? Not for most
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Nov. 9, 2012 | Congressional Budget Office confirms EPI’s findings on the fiscal obstacle course
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Nov. 2, 2012 | GOP senators to Congressional Research Service: Research? We don’t need no stinking research
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Nov. 1, 2012 | Worrying about the fiscal cliff just leads to victory dances from Keynesians…
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Oct. 26, 2012 | Robert Samuelson on government jobs: They exist, but people who recognize them are like flat-earthers
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Oct. 23, 2012 | Not dead yet: Currency management and the need for a more competitive dollar
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Oct. 22, 2012 | No, we don’t need China to finance budget deficits
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Oct. 22, 2012 | Notes for tonight’s debate: Faster growth without growing budget deficits requires a more competitive U.S. dollar
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Oct. 5, 2012 | ‘Generational’ accusations are nearly always wrong
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Sept. 28, 2012 | Multipliers, yet again
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Sept. 27, 2012 | Which candidate’s plans are more Keynesian?
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Sept. 17, 2012 | One year of Occupy Wall Street
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Sept. 14, 2012 | The value of Fed-talk
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Sept. 12, 2012 | Want to understand today’s inaction in solving economic problems? Read The State of Working America
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Sept. 6, 2012 | Elizabeth Warren on why
you should read State of Working Americatoo many American families are struggling to get ahead -
Aug. 22, 2012 | What do Social Security, Medicare and public investments have in common? They make us richer
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Aug. 20, 2012 | Bankrupt! No, not the U.S. economy, just the policy discussion about it
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July 27, 2012 | Potential failure
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July 17, 2012 | Inequality, exhibit A: Walmart and the wealth of American families
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July 12, 2012 | The ‘technology did it’ zombie has arisen
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July 9, 2012 | Robert Samuelson says the economy isn’t allowed to have the Keynesian cures it needs because of … Keynesians (from the 1960s)
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July 6, 2012 | Three years into recovery, just how much has state and local austerity hurt job growth?
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June 29, 2012 | David Brooks thinks that the ACA should be replaced with … lots of stuff already in the ACA
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June 28, 2012 | The mandate lives and conservatives weep that Americans don’t have to pay more for health coverage
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June 14, 2012 | Job chart in Romney’s economic plan
seems wrongstill funky -
June 7, 2012 | Claims about the efficacy of fiscal stimulus in a depressed economy are based on as-flimsy evidence as the Laffer Curve?! Seriously false equivalence
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June 5, 2012 | ‘Simplistic Keynesians’ still right about the economy
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May 25, 2012 | One more time: Public debt incurred when the economy is depressed does not damage the economy
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May 24, 2012 | Getting to a better Fed is about more than just Jamie Dimon
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May 24, 2012 | Does just arguing over the debt ceiling damage recovery? Maybe
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April 25, 2012 | Austerity in the UK — losing the argument and the economy
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April 20, 2012 | Cutting public investments to protect “the children” — or, when the cure is much worse than the malady
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April 17, 2012 | Did Greg Mankiw really just brandish his $170 textbook as evidence of the benefits of unfettered competition?
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April 12, 2012 | It’s true, the Buffett Rule won’t lower unemployment by itself (but it’s still worth doing)
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April 6, 2012 | Were some of ARRA’s jobs eaten by rising hours?
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April 5, 2012 | Unemployment rising too fast, then falling too fast … going forward, it should (unfortunately) be just right
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March 23, 2012 | Economists arguing that there is indeed such a thing as a free lunch … as long as people are willing to eat it
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March 21, 2012 | What’s good for Apple is … just good for Apple
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March 2, 2012 | Reagan, Keynes, government spending, jobs. Redux.
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Feb. 15, 2012 | Morals, money and book promotion
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Feb. 10, 2012 | More lessons from testifying: Must explain that one person’s income is another’s cost
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Feb. 10, 2012 | Lessons from testifying before the GOP House: Don’t assume people know basic economic principles
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Feb. 7, 2012 | Romer argues against ‘special treatment’ for U.S. manufacturing (gasp, somebody smart is wrong on the Internet!)
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Feb. 3, 2012 | Tracking GDP and jobs: When repeating the same thing over and over actually provides useful information
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Jan. 31, 2012 | Record low capacity utilization in electric sector inconsistent with “regulations kill jobs” mantra
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Jan. 27, 2012 | Maybe Reagan was onto something…
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Jan. 26, 2012 | The Fed’s longer-run goals: Defining success down?
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Jan. 24, 2012 | Apple execs (like everyone else) overlook global exchange rates
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Jan. 19, 2012 | Don’t blame the robots: It’s not productivity growth that’s holding job growth back
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Jan. 12, 2012 | Asking the wrong question about presidents and jobs
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Jan. 12, 2012 | Trade and jobs – why make it so hard?
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Jan. 3, 2012 | A happy (economic) 2012 is far from guaranteed
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Dec. 19, 2011 | Cleaner, safer air (and some jobs) coming soon: Final “air-toxics rule” still likely to be life-saver, not job-killer
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Dec. 12, 2011 | Same old, same old: One quick test for what’s serious in job creation proposals
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Dec. 8, 2011 | I still haven’t run a small business … but the case against regulation is still awfully weak
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Nov. 28, 2011 | Eurozone crisis: Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!
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Nov. 15, 2011 | In the Beltway, the answer is always “faster deficit reduction!”
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Nov. 14, 2011 | The timing is right for construction-related environmental jobs
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Nov. 14, 2011 | Drawing all the wrong lessons from the Euro crisis
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Nov. 10, 2011 | Snapshot: CEOs distance themselves from the average worker
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Nov. 8, 2011 | It’s [not] the economy [that I recognize]
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Oct. 28, 2011 | Once again, the Great Recession explains why today’s economy is so bad
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Oct. 28, 2011 | Fast investment growth + slow employment growth = no puzzle
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Oct. 26, 2011 | CBO joins EPI in providing intellectual support to OWS
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Oct. 26, 2011 | Treasury analysis confirms hollowness of regulatory uncertainty claims
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Oct. 21, 2011 | Video: Seniors rapping about Social Security
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Oct. 21, 2011 | Quick clicks: Growing chorus wants the Fed to do more
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Oct. 18, 2011 | Uh-oh, the peasants are getting angry… time to lie to them about taxes!
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Oct. 17, 2011 | What should have been different this time? The policy response
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Oct. 11, 2011 | In bad times, borrowing from yourself doesn’t make you poor
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Oct. 7, 2011 | With friends like these…
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Oct. 6, 2011 | So’s your mother. And Reagan. And you’ve never run a business!
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Oct. 6, 2011 | Progressive counter-pressure for the Fed?
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Oct. 5, 2011 | “That’s where the money is”
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Oct. 4, 2011 | Truly shared sacrifice includes Wall Street
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Oct. 4, 2011 | The bad economy is not just a state of mind
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Sept. 28, 2011 | Are hedge-fund managers making my health insurance premiums expensive?
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Sept. 21, 2011 | Basic macroeconomics for Republican congressional leaders, part II
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Sept. 16, 2011 | Macroeconomics is not a religion
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Sept. 16, 2011 | When did the meltdown really begin?
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Sept. 14, 2011 | Payroll tax cuts – just how much bang for buck?
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Sept. 8, 2011 | Frantic about jobs? Really?
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Sept. 8, 2011 | Famous economists agreeing with us — the first in an occasional series
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Sept. 8, 2011 | Double-dip? It doesn’t really matter
Report
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April 30, 2013 | Dangerous targets: Why setting a specific deficit reduction target would worsen the economic and fiscal situation
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March 22, 2013 | Using standard models to benchmark the costs of globalization for American workers without a college degree
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Feb. 14, 2013 | From free-fall to stagnation: Five years after the start of the Great Recession, extraordinary policy measures are still needed, but are not forthcoming
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Dec. 6, 2012 | Green ‘sequester’ is already costing U.S. jobs: Job losses from ongoing clean-tech cuts will rival those from defense cuts
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Nov. 16, 2012 | Investing in America’s economy: A budget blueprint for economic recovery
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Nov. 15, 2012 | The ‘fiscal cliff’ and beyond: Principles for upcoming budget debates
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Nov. 14, 2012 | Navigating the fiscal obstacle course: Supporting job creation with savings from ending the upper-income Bush-era tax cuts
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Nov. 1, 2012 | More extraordinary returns: Public investments outside of “core” infrastructure
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Sept. 26, 2012 | Who would promote job growth most in the near term?: Macroeconomic impacts of the Obama and Romney budget proposals
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Sept. 18, 2012 | A fiscal obstacle course, not a cliff: Economic impacts of expiring tax cuts and impending spending cuts, and policy recommendations
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April 18, 2012 | Public investment: The next ‘new thing’ for powering economic growth
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March 2, 2012 | Macroeconomic effects of regulatory changes in economies with large output gaps: The ‘toxics rule’ as an example
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Feb. 7, 2012 | The ‘toxics rule’ and jobs: The job-creation potential of the EPA’s new rule on toxic power-plant emissions
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Nov. 8, 2011 | Method memo on estimating the jobs impact of various policy changes
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Oct. 26, 2011 | Occupy Wall Streeters are right about skewed economic rewards in the United States
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Sept. 2, 2011 | Putting America back to work: Policies for job creation and stronger economic growth
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July 11, 2011 | A protection, not a windfall: Proposed change to Social Security COLA would further erode retirees’ financial security
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July 6, 2011 | Historically deep job loss, but not an unusual recovery
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June 14, 2011 | A lifesaver, not a job killer: EPA’s proposed “air toxics rule” is no threat to job growth
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April 6, 2011 | Abandoning what works (and most other things, too): Expansionary fiscal policy is still the best tool for boosting jobs
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March 9, 2011 | Why do some states have higher unemployment rates?: The new Chamber of Commerce report doesn’t provide the answer
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Feb. 17, 2011 | Recovery Act’s green investments create or save nearly one million jobs
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Sept. 14, 2010 | Down-Payment on Economic Recovery
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Aug. 3, 2010 | Putting Public Debt in Context
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July 26, 2010 | Government Debt and Economic Growth
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May 27, 2010 | Keeping Teachers on the Job Costs Less Than Advertised
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May 18, 2010 | Cheaper Than You Think—Why Smart Efforts to Spur Jobs Cost Less Than Advertised
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May 11, 2010 | The Class of 2010
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April 26, 2010 | Budget Deficits and Interest Rates
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March 31, 2010 | For job seekers, no recovery in sight—Why prospects for job growth and unemployment remain dim
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Feb. 4, 2010 | Jobs and Wages Tax Cut Should be Part of a New Jobs Package
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Feb. 4, 2010 | An analysis of Transportation for America’s Jobs Proposals
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Jan. 6, 2010 | Budgeting For Recovery—The Need to Increase the Federal Deficit to Revive a Weak Economy
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Dec. 11, 2009 | House health care bill is right on the money: Taxing high incomes better than taxing high premiums
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Oct. 29, 2009 | How we know the recovery package is helping
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July 30, 2009 | Should I play or should I pay?: The success of health care reform may come down to how we frame that pivotal decision
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July 30, 2009 | The health care free ride
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July 22, 2009 | Tri-Committee Bill Scores Big for Small Business
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July 22, 2009 | Health Care Reform—Big Benefits for Small Businesses
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April 7, 2009 | Transportation investments and the labor market: How many jobs could be generated and what type?
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April 7, 2009 | Green investments and the labor market: How many jobs could be generated and what type?
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April 7, 2009 | Tools for Assessing the Labor Market Impacts of Infrastructure Investment
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Feb. 13, 2009 | Squandering the blue-collar advantage
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Dec. 9, 2008 | A Feeble Recovery: The fundamental economic weaknesses of the 2001-07 expansion
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July 29, 2008 | Obama health plan outperforms McCain plan in coverage and efficiency
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May 6, 2008 | Trade, jobs, and wages
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Dec. 12, 2007 | The marketing of economics history: Inflating the importance of trade liberalization
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Dec. 12, 2007 | The gains from trade: How big and who gets them?
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Oct. 10, 2007 | Globalization and American Wages: Today and Tomorrow
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Sept. 6, 2007 | Globalization, American Wages, and Inequality: Past, Present, and Future
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June 19, 2007 | Marketing the Gains from Trade
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Sept. 25, 2006 | China Manipulates Its Currency—A Response is Needed
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June 14, 2006 | The Wal-Mart debate: A false choice between prices and wages
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June 14, 2006 | Wrestling with Wal-Mart: Tradeoffs between profits, prices, and wages
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March 13, 2006 | Trade deficits and manufacturing job loss: Correlation and causality
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Jan. 31, 2006 | Note to Fed: Don’t Base the Rate Hike on Capacity Utilization
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Oct. 25, 2005 | Reclaiming an economic future through democracy: A new direction for economic policy in the Americas
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Aug. 1, 2005 | Truth and consequences of offshoring: Recent studies overstate the benefits and ignore the costs to
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April 25, 2005 | Social Security’s fixable financing issues: Shortfall in funds is not inevitable
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Dec. 14, 2004 | Debt and the dollar: The U.S damages future living standards by borrowing…
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April 8, 2004 | Shifting blame for manufacturing job loss: Effect of rising trade deficit shouldn’t be ignored
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Aug. 1, 2003 | Updated Employment Multipliers for the U.S. Economy
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July 24, 2003 | The benefits of the dollar’s decline
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April 17, 2003 | Rights make might: Ensuring workers’ rights as a strategy for economic growth
Economic snapshot
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April 11, 2013 | Deficit reduction lost and found in the President’s 2014 budget
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March 21, 2013 | Back to Work—sooner rather than later
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Feb. 21, 2013 | Policymakers shouldn’t assume that a full recovery is four years away (and always will be)
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Oct. 24, 2012 | The rise of the top 1 percent—not the same everywhere
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Aug. 30, 2012 | A lost decade of income growth for working-age families
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May 10, 2012 | Taxes have fallen furthest for those at the very top
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April 5, 2012 | Public-sector job losses: An unprecedented drag on the recovery
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Nov. 9, 2011 | CEOs distance themselves from the average worker
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Oct. 27, 2011 | Three-fifths of all income growth from 1979-2007 went to the top 1%
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June 15, 2011 | Lack of jobs, not lack of skills, explains underemployment rate
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April 7, 2011 | Money well spent
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July 22, 2010 | Another consequence of the recession: Rising federal budget deficits
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Jan. 27, 2010 | Worst economic crisis since the Great Depression? By a long shot.
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Jan. 13, 2010 | Private sources of spending cannot sustain job growth
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April 29, 2009 | Unusually bad and getting worse
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Feb. 25, 2009 | Unions do not undermine international competitiveness
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Oct. 29, 2008 | American consumers shopped but have now dropped
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Sept. 10, 2008 | Not just gasoline: The sneakier squeeze on family budgets
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May 20, 2008 | The 21st Century G.I. Bill and short-sighted ‘deficit hawks’
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March 19, 2008 | As consumption goes, so goes the American economy
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Nov. 14, 2007 | GDP-per-worker comparisons around the world
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July 25, 2007 | Homeowners losing purchasing power
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April 4, 2007 | Current recovery great for profits, poor by most other measures
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Jan. 31, 2007 | GDP Picture, January 31, 2007
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Dec. 20, 2006 | A Plunging Dollar? How Far and Relative to What?
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Aug. 2, 2006 | Inflation: whose fault is it, anyway?
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May 10, 2006 | Critiquing misleading White House statements about the economy, part 3: International comparisons of economic growth
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May 4, 2006 | Critiquing misleading White House statements about the economy, part 2: International comparisons of employment growth
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April 26, 2006 | The Importance of Manufacturing in Balancing the U.S. Trade Deficit
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March 30, 2006 | Gross domestic income: profit growth swamps labor income
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Nov. 30, 2005 | Trade deficits and manufacturing employment
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Nov. 2, 2005 | Washington Consensus leads to productivity stagnation in South America
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Oct. 28, 2005 | GDP Picture: October 28, 2005
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Feb. 17, 2005 | Removing the Social Security earnings cap virtually eliminates funding gap
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Jan. 26, 2005 | Privatization fix for Social Security is worse than doing nothing
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Nov. 18, 2004 | Social Security and income
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July 28, 2004 | Growing ‘‘informalization’’ of employment in the developing world
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June 2, 2004 | IT software demand exceeds previous peak, employment still lags
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May 27, 2004 | When do workers get their share?
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March 15, 2004 | Lack of domestic demand is not the cause of manufacturing’s woes
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March 10, 2004 | Increase in hi-tech investment obscures weakness in overall manufacturing
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Feb. 11, 2004 | Wage and salary income yet to share in growth
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Dec. 10, 2003 | Fast growth for profits, slow growth for wages and benefits
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Nov. 19, 2003 | U.S. economy still showing signs of slack
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Aug. 20, 2003 | Defense spending skews economic growth estimates
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June 11, 2003 | Falling dollar, rising economy
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April 21, 2003 | U.S. may be on verge of deflationary spiral
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April 21, 2003 | Globalization disarms developing nations
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March 7, 2003 | Why we need stimulus: Symptoms of a defective economy
Economic Indicators
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April 26, 2013 | At 2.5 percent, U.S. GDP’s growth rate signals that a robust recovery has yet to take hold
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Jan. 30, 2013 | Economy’s contraction does not signal return to recession, but does signal that policymakers should target faster growth
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Oct. 26, 2012 | Inadequate GDP growth continues in the third quarter
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July 27, 2012 | Sluggish GDP growth continues in second quarter
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Jan. 27, 2012 | GDP growth disappointing in last quarter of 2011
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Oct. 27, 2011 | Best GDP growth in a year still not good enough
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July 29, 2011 | Slow economic growth raising unemployment rate
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April 28, 2011 | GDP Picture: First quarter growth dips, suggesting higher unemployment to come
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Jan. 28, 2011 | Fourth quarter growth data sends mixed message about economy’s health
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Oct. 29, 2010 | GDP Picture: A long, slow climb out of the recession
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July 30, 2010 | Slowing growth shows need for renewed policies to boost jobs and incomes
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April 30, 2010 | Growth is good, but faster growth needed to address unemployment
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Jan. 29, 2010 | Inventory blip boosted growth but won’t last
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Oct. 29, 2009 | GDP Picture, October 29, 2009
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July 31, 2009 | More than 500 days of recession
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April 29, 2009 | Upside surprise in consumption spending doesn’t stem sharp decline in economic growth
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Jan. 30, 2009 | Worse Than It Sounds: Largest GDP contraction since 1982 actually understates economy’s weakness
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Oct. 30, 2008 | Consumption spending falls for first time in 17 years: Economy shrinks two of last four quarters
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April 30, 2008 | GDP Picture, April 30, 2008
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Oct. 31, 2007 | Economy sees strong growth in the face of housing implosion
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July 27, 2007 | GDP Picture, July 27, 2007
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April 27, 2007 | GDP Picture, April 27, 2007
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Jan. 31, 2007 | GDP Picture, January 31, 2007
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Oct. 27, 2006 | GDP Picture, October 27, 2006
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July 28, 2006 | GDP Picture, July 28, 2006
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Jan. 27, 2006 | GDP Picture, January 27, 2006
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Oct. 28, 2005 | GDP Picture: October 28, 2005
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April 28, 2005 | GDP Picture: April 28, 2005
Testimony
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Feb. 8, 2012 | Testimony before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power, for a hearing on “The American Energy Initiative”
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Feb. 16, 2011 | The Stimulus: two years later
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Feb. 9, 2011 | Monetary policy as macroeconomic stabilizer during the Great Recession
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July 14, 2010 | An Assessment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Book
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Jan. 7, 2011 | Failure by Design: The Story Behind America’s Broken Economy
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Nov. 13, 2008 | Everybody wins, except for most of us: What economics teaches about globalization
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March 1, 2005 | Good Jobs, Bad Jobs, No Jobs: Labor Markets and Informal Work in Egypt, El Salvador, India, Russia, and South Africa

Commentary
June 13, 2012 | It’s OK to add to debt to grow jobs
Dec. 22, 2011 | Payroll tax cut helps, but it’s a limited tool
May 13, 2011 | Macroeconomic Advisors, supply-side suspicions and false symmetry
March 9, 2011 | A bad answer to the wrong question
Feb. 16, 2011 | An investment that worked: The Recovery Act two years later
Nov. 16, 2010 | Fiscal commissioners’ proposal would cost millions of jobs
July 30, 2010 | Slowing growth shows need for renewed policies to boost jobs and incomes
Feb. 19, 2010 | A stark before-and-after picture
Oct. 29, 2009 | Recovery Act spurs genuine growth
Sept. 14, 2009 | Finishing strong
Sept. 9, 2009 | Health care reform: The endgame
Aug. 24, 2009 | Reform we can afford
July 29, 2009 | GDP Preview: The parachute deploys as Recovery Act takes hold
July 27, 2009 | Seeing the big picture on health reform and cost containment
July 16, 2009 | Looking for health care dollars in all the right places
June 27, 2003 | Zoellick’s Zealotry
June 23, 2003 | The War’s Other Shoe | EPI Viewpoints