EPI in the news

• Transportation Infrastructure: Use Other People’s Money

  Josh Bivens, research and policy director of the Economic Policy Institute, added that investing $18 billion a year into transportation infrastructure could create more than 200,000 jobs in just the first year and a $29 billion rise in GPD. In addition, private companies may also work more efficiently and complete projects much faster than public agencies. And according to Arcadis’ 2016 Global Infrastructure Investment Index, the U.S. is one of the top targets for business and others looking to invest in infrastructure.

  Forbes | November 11, 2016
• ‘Those jobs are gone and they’re not coming back’

  “It will encourage importers to switch to other countries — Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia,” says Robert Scott, a trade economist at the Economic Policy Institute. Tariffs are “a very ineffective weapon. It would be very costly and it would not do a very good job of rebuilding manufacturing.”

  CNN Money | November 11, 2016
• Trump’s path to boosting infrastructure is full of potholes

  But financing construction projects through tax credits might minimize the benefits, said Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. This is because the credits often improve the profit margins for existing projects while failing to help projects in impoverished communities that are less likely to generate a sizeable return. “You run the risk of using the money to provide a windfall to people who would have been building anyway,” Bivens said.

  The Associated Press | November 11, 2016
• Here’s exactly how Donald Trump could hurt the middle class — and how to fight back

  Trump did exceptionally well with the white working class, by some counts pulling in 49% of voters in union households. But while Trump and labor are aligned on one of his most oft-cited policies regarding trade, said Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the left-leaning nonprofit Economic Policy Institute, workers would have plenty to fear in a Trump administration. One concern has to do with funding for the Labor Department, Bivens said, which might be weakened — and therefore less powerful as a tool for fighting on behalf of workers… “There’s the broad concern that Trump is running on an absolutely enormous tax cut, and anytime you do that there’s going to be a reduction in benefits,” Bivens said. “Enforcement in the Labor Department has never been a priority among Republicans.”

  Mic | November 11, 2016
• Trump’s Infrastructure Fix: Let Somebody Else Spend $1 Trillion

  It’s a great investment, especially in an age of low interest rates: Putting just $18 billion a year into roads, bridges, and waterways could create a $29 billion jump in GPD and more than 200,000 jobs in the first year, says Josh Bivens, research and policy director of the Economic Policy Institute…There’s another potential problem. “With privatized infrastructure, you can run the risk of giving the private asset holders weirdly too-much power over future investment decisions,” says Bivens, at the Economic Policy Institute. “Think of the privatized parking meters in Chicago, with the holders of the meter rights suing to prevent, say, construction of parking lots elsewhere in the city.”

  WIRED | November 10, 2016
• Trump gets his chance to be ‘greatest jobs president’

  Josh Bivens, director of research and policy for the Economic Policy Institute, said infrastructure spending could help. “In the campaign, Trump spoke (vaguely)  about wanting to spend on infrastructure, so that would, all else equal, boost growth and job creation,” Bivens said in an email. “If he pays for this infrastructure boost by gutting spending elsewhere, he’ll ruin the job creation impact, however.” Although infrastructure spending might help at home, it won’t bring back any jobs from overseas.

  USA Today | November 10, 2016
• It’s the one thing Trump and Clinton agree on — and it’s probably a fantasy

  And not all economists agree with Perry. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has argued that trade is the culprit for lost manufacturing jobs, not technology. Autor has suggested that perhaps the sluggish economy and lower demand for manufactured goods has played a role.

  The Washington Post | November 8, 2016

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