ADVISORY / MEDIA AVAILABILITY
Topic: Commentary on the economic policies and legacy of Margaret Thatcher
Expert: Robert Pollin, professor of economics and director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst -- www.peri.umass.edu
Available: Via phone, email or via satellite for TV segments from on-campus studio in Amherst, Mass.
Contact: Jared Sharpe – 413-545-3809 / jsharpe[at]admin.umass.edu
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Robert Pollin, professor of economics and director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and author of the recent book Back to Full Employment, is available to discuss the various economic policies and the overall economic legacy of Margaret Thatcher.
Pollin’s quick take on Thatcher’s employment policy, for example:
The election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, and Ronald Reagan, the following year, marked a major historical turning point in terms of economic policy, not just in Britain and the U.S., but globally. It marked the reversal of the commitments governments had made coming out of World War II to focus on achieving full employment.Thatcher argued that creating employment opportunities was not the job of government--that it was rather a matter between a potential employer and employee to reach a mutually acceptable bargain on their own. Thus, Thatcher was the beginning of the ascendency of what we could either call free market economics or neoliberalism over Keynesianism.
More information about Pollin can be found at his website, backtofullemployment.org.
ABOUT ROBERT POLLIN
Robert Pollin's research centers on macroeconomics, conditions for low-wage workers in the U.S. and globally, the analysis of financial markets, and the economics of building a clean-energy economy in the U.S and globally.
His books include Back to Full Employment (2012); A Measure of Fairness: The Economics of Living Wages and Minimum Wages in the United States (co-authored, 2008); An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for Kenya (co-authored, 2008); An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for South Africa (co-authored, 2007); Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity (2003); and The Living Wage: Building A Fair Economy (co-authored 1998); and the edited volumes Human Development in the Era of Globalization (co-edited 2006); Globalization and Progressive Economic Policy (co-edited, 1998); The Macroeconomics of Saving, Finance, and Investment (1997); and Transforming the U.S. Financial System (co-edited 1993).
Most recently, he co-authored the studies “Green Recovery” (September 2008), “The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy” (June 2009), and “Green Prosperity” (June 2009) exploring the broader economic benefits of large-scale investments in building a clean-energy economy in the United States. His new book-length study “Green Growth” is due out this spring.
He has recently served as a consultant with the U.S. Department of Energy and the International Labour Organization on the economic analysis of clean-energy investments, and is currently directing a global project on this topic with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
Pollin is also currently a consultant and member of the Scientific Advisory Committee with the European Commission project on Financialization, Economy, Society, and Sustainable Development. He previously worked with the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa on policies to promote decent employment expansion and poverty reduction in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. He has also worked with the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and as a member of the Capital Formation Subcouncil of the U.S. Competitiveness Policy Council.
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For interview requests, please contact:Jared SharpeNews and Media Relations -- University of Massachusetts AmherstPhone: 413-545-3809 / Email: jsharpe[at]admin.umass.eduwww.umass.edu/newsoffice
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