The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) promotes human and ecological well-being through our original research. Our approach is to translate what we learn into workable policy proposals that are capable of improving life on our planet today and in the future. In the words of the late Professor Robert Heilbroner, we at PERI “strive to make a workable science out of morality.”
Established in 1998, PERI is an independent unit of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with close ties to the Department of Economics. PERI staff frequently work collaboratively with faculty members and graduate students from the University of Massachusetts, and other economists from around the world. Since its founding, PERI has become a leading source of research and policy initiatives on issues of globalization, unemployment, financial market instability, central bank policy, living wages and decent work, and the economics of peace, development, and the environment.
Submissions from 2008
Keynesian Models of Deflation and Depression Revisited: Inside Debt and Price Flexibility, Thomas I. Palley
The Backward Bending Phillips Curves: A Simple Model, Thomas I. Palley
The Relative Income Theory of Consumption: A Synthetic Keynes-Duesenberry-Friedman Model, Thomas I. Palley
Financial Globalization and Labor: Employee Shareholding or Labor Regression?, Nacho Álvarez Peralta and Bibiana Medialdea García
Considerations on Interest Rate Exogeneity, Robert Pollin
Is Full Employment Possible under Globalization?, Robert Pollin
Wage flexibility or Wage Coordination? Economic Policy Implications of the Wage-Led Demand Regime in the Euro Area, Englebert Stockhammer
Credit Access, the Costs of Credit and Credit Market Discrimination, Christian E. Weller
Can Progressive Taxation Contribute to Economic Development?, Christian E. Weller and Manita Rao
Prudent Investors: The Asset Allocation of Public Pension Plans, Christian E. Weller and Jeffrey B. Wenger
The Interplay between Labor and Financial Markets: What are the Implications for Defined Contribution Accounts?, Christian E. Weller and Jeffrey B. Wenger
Desperate vs. Deadbeat: Can We Quantify the Effect of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005?, Christian Weller, Bernard J. Morzuch, and Amanda Logan
Submissions from 2007
Forensic Accounting: Hidden Balance of Payments of the Philippines, Edsel, Jr Beja
Unchained Melody: East Asia in Performance, Edsel, Jr. L. Beja
External Shocks, Structural Change, and Economic Growth in Mexico, 1979–2006, Robert A. Blecker
Is Inequality Bad for the Environment?, James K. Boyce
Cap and Dividend: How to Curb Global Warming While Protecting the Incomes Of American Families, James K. Boyce and Matthew Riddle
Options for Revenue Generation in Post-Conflict Environments, Michael Carnahan
Current Global Imbalances and the Keynes Plan, Lilia Costabile
U.S. Debt and Global Imbalances, Jane D’Arista
An EU Sky Trust: Distributional Analysis for Hungary, Viola Ferjentsik and Michael Ash
Do Surges in Less-Skilled Immigration Have Important Wage Effects? A Review of the U.S. Evidence, David R. Howell
Uprooting Diversity? Peasant Farmers’ Market Engagements and the on-Farm Conservation of Crop Genetic Resources in the Guatemalan Highlands, S, Ryan Isakson
The Correlates of Rentier Returns in OECD Countries, Arjun Jayadev and Gerald Epstein
Emigrant or Sojourner? Migration Intensity and Its Determinants, Florian Kaufmann
U.S., China, and the Unraveling of Global Imbalances, Minqi Li
The Meaning of Poverty Questions of Distribution and Power, Arthur MacEwan
Wage Share, Globalization, and Crisis: The Case of the Manufacturing Industry in Korea, Mexico, and Turkey, Özlem Onaran
Financialization and Capital Accumulation in the Non-Financial Corporate Sector: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation of the U.S. Economy: 1973-2003, Özgür Orhangazi
Financialization: What it is and Why it Matters, Thomas I. Palley
A Scheme to Coordinate Monetary and Fiscal Policies in the Euro Area, Carlo Panico and Marta Vàzquez Suàrez
The Employment Effects of Downsizing the U.S. Military, Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier
The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities, Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier
Gender, Distribution, and Balance of Payments Constrained Growth in Developing Countries, Stephanie Seguino
Engendering Human Development: A Critique of the UNDP’s Gender-Related Development Index, Elizabeth A. Stanton
The Human Development Index: A History, Elizabeth A. Stanton
Some Stylized Facts on the Finance-Dominated Accumulation Regime, Engelbert Stockhammer
Promoting Group Justice: Fiscal Policies in Post-Conflict Countries, Frances Strewart, Graham Brown, and Alex Cobham
Have Differences in Credit Access Diminished in an Era of Financial Market Deregulation?, Christian E. Weller
Changes in Homeowners’ Financial Security during the Recent Housing and Mortgage Boom, Christian Weller and Kate Sabatini
Patterns of Adjustment under the Age of Finance: The Case of Turkey as a Peripheral Agent of Neoliberal Globalization, Erinc Yeldan
Submissions from 2006
Social Models, Growth and the International Monetary System: Implications for Europe and the United States, Lilia Costabile and Roberto Scazzieri
Monetary Policy and Financial Sector Reform For Employment Creation and Poverty Reduction in Ghana, Gerald Epstein and James Heintz
This paper explores the relationship between economic growth and the welfare state. We argue that: Postcommunist Mortality Crisis, Lawrence King, David Stuckler, and Patrick Hamm
Why Racial Stereotyping Doesn’t Just Go Away: The Question of Honesty and Work Ethic, Elaine McCrate
Corruption and Pro-Poor Growth Outcomes: Evidence and Lessons for African Countries, Léonce Ndikumana
External Contradictions of the Chinese Development Model: Export-led Growth and the Dangers of Global Economic Contraction, Thomas I. Palley
The Fallacy of the Revised Bretton Woods Hypothesis: Why Today’s System is Unsustainable and Suggestions for a Replacement, Thomas I. Palley
Accounting for Inequality: A Proposed Revision of the Human Development Index, Elizabeth Stanton
Risk Aversion and Compliance in Markets for Pollution Control, John K. Stranlund
Price-Based vs. Quantity-Based Environmental Regulation under Knightian Uncertainty: An Info-Gap Robust Satisficing Perspective, John K. Stranlund and Yakov Ben-Haim
Mandated Wage Floors and the Wage Structure: New Estimates of the Ripple Effects of Minimum Wage Laws, Jeanette Wicks-Lim
Submissions from 2005
Land Reform and Sustainable Development, James K. Boyce; Peter Rosset; and Elizabeth A, Stanton
A Chinese Sky Trust? Distributional Impacts of Carbon Charges and Revenue Recycling in China, Mark Brenner, Matthew Riddle, and James K. Boyce
Certification Systems as Tools for Natural Asset Building: Potential , Experience to Date, and Critical Challenges, Michael E. Conroy
The Effects of Neoliberal "Reforms" on the Post-Crisis Korean Economy, James Crotty and Kang-Kook Lee
Landowner Driven Sustainable Forest Management and Value-Added Processing, David T. Damery
Central Banks as Agents of Economic Development, Gerald Epstein
Exchange Market Pressure, Monetary Policy, and Economic Growth: Argentina in 1993-2004, Clara Garcia and Nuria Malet
Interaction Between Food Attributes in Markets: The Case of Environmental Labeling, Gilles Grolleau and Julie A. Caswell
Employment, Poverty, and Gender in Ghana, James Heintz
The Work Environment Index: Technical Background Paper, James Heintz, Jeannette Wicks-Lim, and Robert Pollin
Market Power in Direct Marketing of Fresh Produce: Community Supported Agriculture Farms, Daniel A. Lass, Nathalie Lavoie, and T. Robert Fetter
Neoliberalism, Global Imbalances, and Stages of Capitalist Development, Minqi Li and Andong Zhu
Inspections to Avert Terrorism: Robustness Under Severe Uncertainty, L. Joe Moffitt, John K. Stranlund, and Barry C. Field
A Laboratory Investigation of Compliance Behavior under Tradable Emissions Rights: Implications for Targeted Enforcement, James J. Murphy and John Stranlund
An Investigation of Voluntary Discovery and Disclosure of Environmental Violations Using Laboratory Experiments, James J. Murphy and John K. Stranlund
Heterogeneity and Common Pool Resources: Collective Management of Forests in Himachal Pradesh, India, Sirisha C. Naidu
Social Attitudes, Labor Law, and Union Organizing: Toward A New Economics of Union Density, Thomas I. Palley and Robert M. LaJeunesse
Comments on Aaron Yelowitz, "Santa Fe's Living Wage Ordinance and the Labor Market", Robert Pollin and Jeannette Wicks-Lim
Inflation and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Non-linear Analysis, Robert Pollin and Andong Zhu
What Motivates Common Pool Resource Users? Experimental Evidence from the Field, Maria Alejandra Vélez, John K. Stranlund, and James J. Murphy
Submissions from 2004
Levels, Differences and ECMs – Principles for Improved Econometric Forecasting, P. Geoffrey Allen and Robert Fildes
Natural and Cultural Assets and Participatory Forest Management in West Africa, Kojo Sebastian Amanor
Hypothetical Bias in Dichotomous Choice Contingent Valuation Studies, Michael Ash, James J. Murphy, and Thomas H. Stevens
Air Pollution and Per Capita Income, Rachel A. Bouvier
A Future for Small Farms? Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture, James K. Boyce
Declining Corporate Income Taxes in the 1990s: A State-by-State Analysis of Effective Tax Rates, Elissa Braunstein
The Economic Impact of Living Wage Ordinances, Mark D. Brenner
Rising Foreign Outsourcing and Employment Losses in U.S. Manufacturing, 1987-2002, James Burke, Gerald Epstein, and Minsik Choi
Enforcing Transferable Permit Systems in the Presence of Transaction Costs, Carlos A. Chavez and John K. Stranlund
Was the IMF's Imposition of Economic Regime Change in Korea Justified? A critique of the IMF's economic and political role before and after the crisis, James Crotty and Kang-Kook Lee
An Economic Valuation of Recreational Shellfishing On Cape Cod, David T. Damery and P. Geoffrey Allen
Extractive Reserves: Building Natural Assets in the Brazilian Amazon, Anthony Hall
International Environmental Justice: Building the Natural Assets of the World’s Poor, Krista Harper and S. Ravi Rajan
Elements of an Employment Framework for Poverty Reduction in Ghana, James Heintz
Equitable Carbon Revenue Distribution Under an International Emissions Trading Regime, Nathan Hultman and Daniel M. Kammen
The Blessing of Commons: Small Scale Fisheries, Community Property Rights, and Coastal Natural Assets, John Kurien
Pricing-to-Market: Price Discrimination or Product Differentiation?, Nathalie Lavoie and Qihong Liu
Exploring the Demographic Factors Affecting Passage of Living Wage Ordinances, Oren M. Levin-Waldman
Another Distortion of Adam Smith: The Case of the "Invisible Hand", Michael Meeropol
Direct and Market Effects of Enforcing Emissions Trading Programs: An Experimental Analysis, James J. Murphy and John K. Stranlund
Deepening Divides in the U.S. Economy, 2004: Jobless Recovery and the Return of Fiscal Deficits, Robert Pollin
Review (for Challenge Magazine) of The Roaring Nineties: A New History of the World’s Most Prosperous Decade by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Robert Pollin
Compensation for Environmental Services and Rural Communities: Lessons from the Americas, Herman Rosa, Deborah Barry, Susan Kandel, and Leopoldo Dimas
Attitudes Towards Alternative Management Policies For Public Recreation Lands, Mihail Samnaliev, Thomas Stevens, and Thomas More
The Economics of Implementing Traceability in Beef Supply Chains: Trends in Major Producing and Trading Countries, Diogo M. Souza-Monteiro and Julie A. Caswell