Dean Baker

You can get the latest data on how the U.S. measures up in mandated vacation time and holidays in this new paper by CEPR researcher Rebecca Ray and economist John Schmitt. –Dean Baker

A NYT article on the opposition to independence among immigrants to Quebec, tells readers that “economists say Quebec has little choice but to embrace the immigrants because of a plummeting native birthrate that would otherwise reduce economic growth.” It then cites an economist with the Conference Board of Canada as saying that any growth in […]

That’s what policy experts say, according to the Washington Post. The context is the proposals that have been put forward to ensure that food products that we import from China and other countries are safe for us and our pets. The point that the article makes is that improved regulation will hurt many importers and […]

The Washington Post had another editorial in which it argued that without immigration, we would face “a critical shortage of low-skilled labor in construction, landscaping, hospitality and other industries.” While I have pointed out the flaws in this reasoning before, clearly the Post’s editorial board is not going to listen to me. So, Beat the […]

I was very impressed last week when the Post managed to discuss the trade debate in Congress without once referring to the propsective trade pacts as “free trade” agreements. Unfortunately, the turn to more accurate and neutral descriptions of trade deals has not carried through to other articles. In today’s piece on the immigration deal […]

Someone should ask the Post’s editorial board that question. The Post’s editorial on the new immigration bill comments on the “annual flow of 400,000 to 600,000 low-skilled workers needed to satisfy the demand for labor.” Wages in the jobs typically filled by these immigrants (custodians, restaurant workers, nannies) have been stagnant or declining over the […]

The NYT is apparently on a crusade to tell people that mothers are opting out of the workforce. Three weeks ago it ran an oped by Linda Hirshman warning of the dangers of this trend. Today’s paper includes a column that talks about the need for employers to accommodate the growing number of women who […]

USA Today treated its readers to a story about the crisis that is coming due to a shortage of utility line workers. According to the article, utility companies won’t be able to keep the juice flowing because there aren’t enough workers to maintain and repair electricity lines. Well, in the United States, we have what […]

I would not suggest that anyone start a hunger strike holding out until the Washington Post prints a column critical of Clinton-Bush trade agenda. Yes, the paper has yet another column pushing this trade agenda today, this one from David Broder, the dean of the Washington press corp. Broder wants people to move “beyond the […]

Fareed Zakaria, Robert Samuelson’s fellow columnist at Newsweek, joins the choir of trade damage deniers. Zakaria’s line is that everything is fine, so why would anyone worry about trade. To make his case, he tells readers that in the last twenty years “per capita GDP has roughly doubled.” (Measured in 2000 dollars, per capita GDP […]