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Political Economy Research Institute

“No” to Financial Bailouts Under Trump

Gerald Epstein and Aaron Medlin

PERI researcher Gerald Epstein and Aaron Medlin argue that the Trump administration’s radical financial de-regulation project, including mainstreaming crypto currencies, is greatly increasing the risks of a financial crash and consequent pressures on the Federal Reserve for financial bailouts. Epstein and Medlin contend that the emerging “Money View” perspective, while offering valuable perspectives, is in danger of providing a “seal of approval” for such bailout operations. In both the Global North and South, policies should insulate financial markets from these likely upheavals by resisting greater integration into this unregulated, U.S.- dominated global crypto eco-system.

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Socially Necessary Green Development in India

Rohit Azad and Shouvik Chakraborty

Focusing on India, PERI researcher Shouvik Chakraborty and Rohit Azad challenge the assumption that rising inequality of emissions correlates positively with rising socio-economic inequality. They argue that an egalitarian redistribution of income may lead to higher per capita emissions. But this outcome is avoidable because, while energy is necessary for egalitarian development, the energy could be provided increasingly from clean renewable sources rather than fossil fuels. Their proposed green development program promotes developing a renewable energy-dominant infrastructure, an expansion of socially necessary consumption through state-led expenditure and a contraction of elite consumption through aggressive taxation.

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Ranking the Largest U.S. Polluting Companies

The 2025 edition of Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index, produced by PERI researchers Michael Ash and James Boyce along with Rich Puchalsky, ranks companies by their direct emissions of greenhouse gases from U.S.-based facilities. The three largest polluters—Vistra Energy, Southern Company, and Duke Energy—each released more than 70 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent as of the most recent 2023 data. The other seven of the 10 most heavily polluting firms include Energy Capital Partners, Berkshire Hathaway, American Electric Power, ExxonMobil, the U.S. government, NextEra Energy, and Xcel Energy.

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Interstate Highways and Urban Blight

Thomas Walter

Thomas Walter examines how the proximity of housing units to interstate highways impacts conditions in these housing units. He finds that housing units within one kilometer of an Interstate are 50% more likely to report being near abandoned buildings, 43% more likely to report serious crime in their neighborhood, and 21% more likely to be deemed inadequate. Residents of these Interstate-proximate units are also, respectively, 53% and 41% more likely to report dissatisfaction with their neighborhood and housing unit. These results provide new evidence on how the location of Interstate highways contributes to urban blight.

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