Professor Zhun Xu presented his research at the 14th International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) Conference in Istanbul.
News
10 ways that mass incarceration is an engine of economic injustice
Eric Seligman (JJay Economics MA ’22) and Brian Nam-Sonenstein write on the relationship between economic justice and mass incarceration.
“Money is power in the United States, and mass incarceration plays a major role in determining who can wield power and who can’t. As we’ve noted repeatedly over the years, it is no coincidence that the poorest and most vulnerable communities are also the most policed. The criminal legal system erects significant barriers to employment and the ballot box, economically and politically weakening entire communities. The criminal legal system erects significant barriers to employment and the ballot box, economically and politically weakening entire communities. Importantly, this arrangement impacts all workers: employers use this massive class of disadvantaged people to threaten all workers with replacement and increasingly risky unemployment if they dare to demand better wages and conditions. Mass incarceration also weaves a narrative that pits people with similar economic interests against one another, reducing systemic inequality to matters of individual choice. Fortunately, understanding mass incarceration as the wealthy’s preferred economic policy clarifies that ending it is necessary for all movements for justice and equality — all working people benefit from solidarity with criminalized people.”
Read the full article at the Prison Policy Initiative.
Professor Ozgur Orhangazi on the Turkish Economy and Falling Lira
“Since late 2021, the Turkish economy has been shattering conventional economic expectations. With deeply negative real interest rates, high inflation, a large and persistent current account deficit, an external debt stock exceeding 50 percent of GDP, and a central bank with net foreign exchange reserves estimated around -$50 billion, the economy has seemed permanently poised for crisis.
Just this past year, Turkey’s Central Bank raised interest rates from a low of 8.5 percent in June to as high as 42.5 percent in December. The sudden increase represented a dramatic reversal of course from previous policy. Throughout much of 2022, negative real interest rates had generated a flight away from the Turkish lira, resulting in rapid depreciation of the currency. Given the high level of imported inputs in production, the loss in the value of the Turkish lira meant increased production costs, which were quickly passed onto prices. Inflation spiraled out of control and by August 2022 hit 80 percent.
Despite the central bank’s policy tightening, Turkish inflation is still running above 60 percent. This is at a time when the unemployment rate is close to 10 percent, with more than half of employed workers earning roughly the minimum wage—itself brought below the poverty line as inflation has rapidly eroded purchasing power.
Behind the latest crisis, however, lie two decades of policy that have left Turkey with an increasingly narrow policy space, its economy depending on foreign capital inflows and imported inputs.1 The result has been a mountain of fragilities, including a large and persistent current account deficit and a high external debt stock.”
– Professor Orhangazi
Read the full article at Phenomenal World.
Professor Zhun Xu on Sustainability, Industrial Agriculture and the Case of North Korea
“It is fair to conclude that the lessons from North Korea, Cuba, and the other models of agriculture strongly suggest that industrial agriculture—though seemingly productive and even “scientific”—is unreliable and unsustainable. We must acknowledge that twentieth-century socialists have usually taken the industrial agriculture model for granted. This was clear in the vision of a future socialist society shared by Kim. Socialism, or any attempts to sustainably feed the working people, must move beyond the model of industrial agriculture.”
– Professor Zhun Xu
Read the full text at Monthly Review.
Professor Ian Seda on the Political Status of Puerto Rico
Northeastern Illinois University held a discussion panel on the question of US statehood or independence for Puerto Rico. Professor Ian Seda’s remarks begin around minute 51. A transcript can be found via the YouTube link.
Economist Magazine Quotes Professor Michelle Holder on Black Workers in Current Labor Market
“One reason that a strong labour market is valuable for black Americans is that many work in highly cyclical sectors such as freight delivery. That makes them vulnerable to recessions but also well placed during periods of growth (a similar dynamic exists for Hispanics). A tight labour market also blunts some of the discrimination that black applicants may face when looking for jobs. “During cyclical downturns employers can afford to pick and choose, but when workers are really needed, they are penalised for their biases,” says Michelle Holder, an economist at John Jay College, City University of New York.”
Read full article at: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/02/14/black-workers-are-enjoying-a-jobs-boom-in-america