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 2003
Production of Chlorofluorocarbons in Anticipation of the Montreal Protocol, Maximilian Auffhammer, Bernard J. Morzuch, and John K. Stranlund
Economic Integration, Cultural Standardization, and the Politics of Social Insurance, Samuel Bowles and Ugo Pagano
Inequality and Environmental Protection, James K. Boyce
A Tale of Two Clams: Policy Anticipation and Industry Productivity, Sylvia Brandt
Evaluating Tradable Property Rights for Natural Resources: The Role of Strategic Entry and Exit, Sylvia Brandt
Inward Foreign Direct Investment and Inter-Industry Wage Differentials In U.S. Manufacturing Industries, Minsik Choi
An Econometric Analysis of International Variations in Child Welfare, Nasrin Dalirazar
Alternatives to Inflation Targeting Monetary Policy for Stable and Egalitarian Growth: A Brief Research Summary, Gerald Epstein
Capital Management Techniques In Developing Countries: An Assessment of Experiences from the 1990's and Lessons For the Future, Gerald Epstein, Ilene Grabel, and Jomo K. S.
Rentier Incomes and Financial Crises: An Empirical Examination of Trends and Cycles in Some OECD Countries, Gerald Epstein and Dorothy Power
The New Face of Unequal Exchange: Low-Wage Manufacturing, Commodity Chains, and Global Inequality, James Heintz
Informalization, Economic Growth and the Challenge of Creating Viable Labor Standards in Developing Countries, James Heintz and Robert Pollin
The Impact of Reforming Wheat Importing State-Trading Enterprises on the Quality of Wheat Imported, Nathalie Lavoie
International Price-Fixing Cartels and Developing Countries: A Discussion of Effects and Policy Remedies, Margaret Levenstein, Valerie Suslow, and Lynda Oswald
A Meta-Analysis of Hypothetical Bias in Stated Preference Valuation, James J. Murphy, Geoffrey Allen, Thomas H. Stevens, and Darryl Weatherhead
Mechanisms for Addressing Third Party Impacts Resulting From Voluntary Water Transfers, James J. Murphy, Ariel Dinar, Richard E. Howitt, Erin Mastrangelo, Stephen J. Rassenti, and Vernon L. Smith
Is Cheap Talk Effective at Eliminating Hypothetical Bias in a Provision Point Mechanism?, James J. Murphy, Thomas Stevens, and Darryl Weatherhead
Capital Flows, Capital Account Regimes, and Foreign Exchange Rate Regimes in Africa, Léonce Ndikumana
The Economics of Civil War: The Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Léonce Ndikumana and Kisangani Emizet
Evaluating Living Wage Laws in the United States: Good Intentions and Economic Reality in Conflict?, Robert Pollin
Individual Country Technical notes For: Trends In The Rentier Income Share In OECD Countries, 1960-2000, Dorothy Power, Gerald Epstein, and Matthew Abrena
Trends In The Rentier Income Share In OECD Countries, 1960-2000, Dorothy Power, Gerald Epstein, and Matthew Abrena
Survey Instrument for Case Studies of Food Safety Innovation, Elisabete Salay, Julie A. Caswell, and Tanya Roberts
A Comparison of Cheap Talk and Alternative Certainty Calibration Techniques in Contingent Valuation, Mihail Samnaliev, Thomas Stevens, and Thomas More
A More or Less Unequal World? World Income Distribution in the 20th Century, Bob Sutcliffe
Information Policy and Genetically Modified Food: Weighing the Benefits and Costs, Mario F. Teisl and Julie A. Caswell
Social Conflict and Macroeconomics: what determines the effectiveness of aggregate demand policies?, Euclid Tsakalotos
Submissions from 2002
Who Lives on the Wrong Side of the Environmental Tracks? Evidence from the EPA's Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators Model, Michael Ash and T. Robert Fetter
Africa’s Debt: Who Owes Whom?, James K. Boyce and Léonce Ndikumana
Bargaining Power and Foreign Direct Investment in China: Can 1.3 Billion Consumers Tame the Multinationals?, Elissa Braunstein and Gerald Epstein
Measuring the Impact of Living Wage Laws: A Critical Appraisal of David Neumark's How Living Wage Laws Affect Low-Wage Workers and Low-Income Families, Mark D. Brenner, Jeannette Wicks-Linn, and Robert Pollin
The Lighthouse and the Potato: Internalizing the Value of Crop Genetic Diversity, Stephen B. Brush
An International Index of Child Welfare, Nasrin Dalirazar
Employment-Oriented Central Bank Policy in an Integrated World Economy: A Reform Proposal for South Africa, Gerald Epstein
Capitalism, Carol E. Heim
Global Labor Standards: their impact and implementation, James Heintz
Globalization and the Transition to Egalitarian Development, Robert Pollin
Securities Transaction Taxes for U.S. Financial Markets, Robert Pollin, Dean Baker, and Marc Schaberg
Global Apparel Production and Sweatshop Labor: Can Raising Retail Prices Finance Living Wages?, Robert Pollin, Justine Burns, and James Heintz
Agricultural Globalization in Developing Countries: Rules, Rationales and Results, J. Mohan Rao and Servaas Storm
Capacity Utilization, Income Distribution, and the Urban Informal Sector: An Open-Economy Model, Kendall K. Schaefer
Stock Market Liquidity and Economic Growth: A critical appraisal of the Levine/Zervos model, Andong Zhu, Michael Ash, and Robert Pollin
Submissions from 2001
Empowerment Through Risk-Related Information: EPA's Risk Screening Environmental Indicators Project, Nicolaas Bouwes, Steven M. Hassur, and Mark D. Shapiro
Shifting from the Home to the Market: Accounting for Women's Work in Taiwan, 1965-95, Elissa Braunstein
Threat Effects and the Internationalization of Production, James Burke and Gerald Epstein
Threat Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Labor Union Wage Premium, Minsik Choi
Can Advocacy-Led Certification Systems Transform Global Corporate Practices? Evidence and Some Theory, Michael E. Conroy
Economic Performance in Post-Crisis Korea: A Critical Perspective on Neoliberal Restructuring, James Crotty and Kang-Kook Lee
Democratizing Global Economic Governance: A PERI Symposium, Jane D'Arista, Keith Griffin, Lisa Jordan, James Crotty, Eva Paus, and J. Mohan Rao
The Sanctity of Property Rights in American History, Gerald Friedman
China's Urban Unemployement: Exposed "Disguised Unemployment" or Insufficient Aggregate Demand?, Minqi Li
Financial Markets and Economic Development in Africa, Léonce Ndikumana
Two Different Export-Oriented Growth Strategies under a Wage-led Accumulation Regime, Özlem Onaran and Engelbert Stockhammer
Building Social Capital to Protect Natural Capital: The Quest for Environmental Justice, Manuel Pastor
Globalization and the Fiscal Autonomy of the State, J. Mohan Rao
Defending the Public Domain: Pollution, Subsidies and Poverty, Paul H. Templet
Submissions from 2000
Redressing Ecological Poverty Through Participatory Democracy: Case Studies from India, Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain
Globalization and Redistribution: Feasible Egalitarianism in a Competitve World, Samuel Bowles
Let Them Eat Risk? Wealth, Rights, and Disaster Vulnerability, James K. Boyce
Reclaiming Brownfields: From Corporate Liability to Community Asset, K. A. Dixon
Threat Effects and the Impact of Capital Mobility on Wages and Public Finances: Developing a Research Agenda, Gerald Epstein
Problems of Poverty and Marginalization, Keith Griffin
Problems of Poverty and Marginalization, Keith Griffin
Globalization, Inequality and Financial Instability: Confronting the Marx, Keynes and Polanyi Problems in Advanced Capitalist Economies, Robert Pollin