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Political Economy Research Institute

Advancing a Green Transition in Michigan

Robert Pollin, Jeannette Wicks-Lim, Shouvik Chakraborty and Chirag Lala

The State of Michigan is committed to building a net zero emissions economy by 2050. PERI researchers Robert Pollin, Jeanette Wicks-Lim, Shouvik Chakraborty and Chirag Lala estimate that the state needs to invest about 2 percent of GDP every year until 2050 to build a clean energy infrastructure to supplant Michigan’s existing fossil fuel-dominant infrastructure. The clean energy investments will generate between 85,000 – 100,000 jobs, while about 350 fossil fuel workers per year will become unemployed. These fossil fuel sector workers need transitional support, including pension, employment, and income guarantees, along with retraining and relocation programs.

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Michigan report

Making Care Work

Nancy Folbre

PERI researcher Nancy Folbre explains in this book-length study how conventional economic accounting—including the GDP accounts—does not properly measure the value of caring for ourselves and others, especially children, the elderly and those experiencing illness or disability. Folbre reviews the long history of resistance to bogus claims that only paid work "counts" and that employees in care services are always paid what they deserve. Explaining why care providers remain economically vulnerable today, Folbre argues that more attention to the public benefits of care provision could help build the political coalitions needed to implement policies that put people first.

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Making Care Work cover

The Political Economy of Racism in the U.S.

Michelle Holder and Jeannette Wicks-Lim

Why does racial inequality persist in the United States? PERI researcher Jeannette Wicks-Lim and Michelle Holder address this question through the lens of stratification economics. Wicks-Lim and Holder describe the ways in which stratification economics offers an antidote to the hyper-focus, within conventional economics, on individuals and disregard for how politics shapes the economy. The book also fuses stratification economics with intersectional theory to illuminate how gender and ethnicity intertwine with racial oppression. They demonstrate why policy interventions spurred by effective social movements remain imperative for advancing racial and gender equity.

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Political Economy of Racism cover

The Crypto Chokehold

Gerald Epstein

Why do crypto currencies exist? Whose interests are served by the explosive expansion of crypto markets? What dangers do the huge swings in crypto market valuations create for the operations of financial markets and the overall economy? PERI researcher Gerald Epstein demonstrates that the main purpose of crypto currencies is the naked extraction of wealth by a small circle of crypto-capitalists, especially those with ties to Donald Trump and his family. Epstein also explains why cryptocurrencies increase the risks of a massive financial crisis, because they are both unregulated and highly vulnerable to hacking and manipulation.

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Crypto photo

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