The Economic Policy Institute is out with a new paper that once more pounds the drum for higher taxes on the wealthy, as a way to avoid dragging down the recovery and to keep long-term deficits in check. Those kind of tax increases, Josh Bivens and Hunter Blair contend, would also finance what they believe is important spending on issues like health care and battling income inequality.
Politico
November 15, 2016
“I think this election in many ways was a referendum on the negative consequences of globalization and the failure of Democrats and Republicans to come up with effective policies to hold working people harmless,” said Robert Scott, senior economist and director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
The Plain Dealer
November 14, 2016
Robert Scott, senior economist and director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the Economic Policy Institute. (@RobScott_epi)
On Point
November 14, 2016
Josh Bivens, research and policy director of the Economic Policy Institute, added that investing $18 billion a year into transportation infrastructure could create more than 200,000 jobs in just the first year and a $29 billion rise in GPD. In addition, private companies may also work more efficiently and complete projects much faster than public agencies. And according to Arcadis’ 2016 Global Infrastructure Investment Index, the U.S. is one of the top targets for business and others looking to invest in infrastructure.
Forbes
November 11, 2016
“It will encourage importers to switch to other countries — Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia,” says Robert Scott, a trade economist at the Economic Policy Institute. Tariffs are “a very ineffective weapon. It would be very costly and it would not do a very good job of rebuilding manufacturing.”
CNN Money
November 11, 2016
But financing construction projects through tax credits might minimize the benefits, said Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. This is because the credits often improve the profit margins for existing projects while failing to help projects in impoverished communities that are less likely to generate a sizeable return. “You run the risk of using the money to provide a windfall to people who would have been building anyway,” Bivens said.
Associated Press
November 11, 2016
Trump did exceptionally well with the white working class, by some counts pulling in 49% of voters in union households. But while Trump and labor are aligned on one of his most oft-cited policies regarding trade, said Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the left-leaning nonprofit Economic Policy Institute, workers would have plenty to fear in a Trump administration. One concern has to do with funding for the Labor Department, Bivens said, which might be weakened — and therefore less powerful as a tool for fighting on behalf of workers… “There’s the broad concern that Trump is running on an absolutely enormous tax cut, and anytime you do that there’s going to be a reduction in benefits,” Bivens said. “Enforcement in the Labor Department has never been a priority among Republicans.”
Mic
November 11, 2016
It’s a great investment, especially in an age of low interest rates: Putting just $18 billion a year into roads, bridges, and waterways could create a $29 billion jump in GPD and more than 200,000 jobs in the first year, says Josh Bivens, research and policy director of the Economic Policy Institute…There’s another potential problem. “With privatized infrastructure, you can run the risk of giving the private asset holders weirdly too-much power over future investment decisions,” says Bivens, at the Economic Policy Institute. “Think of the privatized parking meters in Chicago, with the holders of the meter rights suing to prevent, say, construction of parking lots elsewhere in the city.”
WIRED
November 10, 2016
Josh Bivens, director of research and policy for the Economic Policy Institute, said infrastructure spending could help. “In the campaign, Trump spoke (vaguely) about wanting to spend on infrastructure, so that would, all else equal, boost growth and job creation,” Bivens said in an email. “If he pays for this infrastructure boost by gutting spending elsewhere, he’ll ruin the job creation impact, however.” Although infrastructure spending might help at home, it won’t bring back any jobs from overseas.
USA Today
November 10, 2016
And not all economists agree with Perry. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has argued that trade is the culprit for lost manufacturing jobs, not technology. Autor has suggested that perhaps the sluggish economy and lower demand for manufactured goods has played a role.
The Washington Post
November 8, 2016