Areas of expertise
Macroeconomics • Globalization • Social insurance • Public investment
Biography
Josh Bivens is the director of research at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). His areas of research include macroeconomics, fiscal and monetary policy, the economics of globalization, social insurance, and public investment. He frequently appears as an economics expert on news shows, including the Public Broadcasting Service’s “NewsHour,” the “Melissa Harris-Perry” show on MSNBC, WAMU’s “The Diane Rehm Show,” American Public Media’s “Marketplace,” and programs of the BBC.
As a leading policy analyst, Bivens regularly testifies before the U.S. Congress on fiscal and monetary policy, the economic impact of regulations, and other issues. He has also provided analyses for the annual meeting of Project LINK of the United Nations and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Bivens is the author of Failure by Design: The Story behind America’s Broken Economy (EPI and Cornell University Press) and Everybody Wins Except for Most of Us: What Economics Really Teaches About Globalization (EPI). He is the co-author of The State of Working America, 12th Edition (EPI and Cornell University Press) and a co-editor of Good Jobs, Bad Jobs, No Jobs: Labor Markets and Informal Work in Egypt, El Salvador, India, Russia and South Africa (EPI).
His academic articles have appeared in the International Review of Applied Economics, the Journal of Economic Issues and the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Bivens has also provided peer-reviewed articles to several edited collections, including The Handbook of the Political Economy of Financial Crises (Oxford University Press), Public Economics in the United States: How the Federal Government Analyzes and Influences the Economy (ABC-CLIO), and Restoring Shared Prosperity: A Policy Agenda from Leading Keynesian Economists (AFL-CIO and the Macroeconomic Policy Institute).
Prior to becoming director of research, Bivens was a research economist at EPI. Before coming to EPI, he was an assistant professor of economics at Roosevelt University and provided consulting services to Oxfam America. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland at College Park.
Education
Ph.D., Economics, New School for Social Research
B.A., Economics, University of Maryland at College Park
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U.S. workers have already been disempowered in the name of fighting inflation: Policymakers should not make it even worse by raising interest rates too aggressively
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EPI’s top charts of 2021
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OSHA vaccine-or-test mandate is smart public policy
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Fiscal policy and inflation: A look at the American Rescue Plan’s impact and what it means for the Build Back Better Act
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The Build Back Better Act’s macroeconomic boost looks more valuable by the day
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Moral policy = Good economics: Lifting up poor and working-class people—and our whole economy
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How to boost unemployment insurance as a macroeconomic stabilizer: Lessons from the 2020 pandemic programs
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Abolish the debt ceiling before it commits austerity again: The GOP used the debt ceiling to force spending cuts in 2011. It can’t be allowed again.
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The stakes for workers in how policymakers manage the coming shift to all-electric vehicles
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The promise and limits of high-pressure labor markets for narrowing racial gaps
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Job and wage growth do not point to an economywide labor shortage
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Inflation—sources, consequences, and appropriate policy remedies
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A real ‘party of the working class’ wouldn’t attack the Affordable Care Act
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What to watch on jobs day: Missing expectations for job growth isn’t worrisome—yet
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What if it’s not a labor shortage, but just the return of tipping customers driving wage growth in restaurants?
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President Biden’s budget shows what true ‘fiscal responsibility’ means: Pushing the economy closer to full employment, reducing inequality, and measuring the debt burden more accurately
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The failure of automation and skill gaps to explain wage suppression or wage inequality
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Identifying the policy levers generating wage suppression and wage inequality
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Restaurant labor shortages show little sign of going economywide: Policymakers must not rein in stimulus or unemployment benefits
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The Biden-Harris administration’s first 100 days: How to assess progress for workers
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Today’s inflation data show zero sign of sustained economic overheating
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The American Jobs Plan’s tax provisions are valuable but not the limit on possible spending
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Next round of recovery spending is about meeting social needs, not filling macroeconomic gaps
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Projected state and local revenue shortfalls are shrinking, but the value of substantial federal aid to state and local governments is not
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The Biden relief and recovery proposal spends the right amount: Concerns over the pace of its spend-out make sense, but even these concerns are overstated and easy to address
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CBO analysis confirms that a $15 minimum wage raises earnings of low-wage workers, reduces inequality, and has significant and direct fiscal effects: Large progressive redistribution of income caused by higher minimum wage leads to significant and cross-cutting fiscal effects
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The Biden rescue plan is neither risky nor a distraction from structural issues
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A $15 minimum wage would have significant and direct effects on the federal budget
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The U.S. economy could use some ‘overheating’: Biden’s relief and recovery plan meets the scale of the economic crisis
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News from EPI › President-elect Biden’s relief and recovery proposal would be a lifeline to workers and their families