Center for Economic and Policy Research

The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) is an economic policy think-tank based in Washington, D.C. that was co-founded in 1999 by economists Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot.[2] CEPR contributors include Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences recipients Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Solow. Politically, it has been described as both progressive[3] and left-leaning.[4][5][6] In November 2020, the center's Revolving Door Project recommended the incoming Biden administration, in the name of public interest, clean house of Trump loyalists.[7][8]

Not to be confused with Centre for Economic Policy Research.
Center for Economic and Policy Research
AbbreviationCEPR
Formation1999 (1999)
TypeEconomic policy think tank
Headquarters1611 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, D.C., United States
Co-directors
Dean Baker
Mark Weisbrot
Revenue (2016)
$2,073,053[1]
Expenses (2016)$1,960,944[1]
Websitewww.cepr.net

History

The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), founded in 1999, is a think tank which concentrates on economic research and public education. CEPR has focused on topics that affect people's lives, in order to contribute to public debate in the United States (social security, healthcare, the national budget), and internationally (global economy, International Monetary Fund, and Latin America policy).[9]

Policy positions

CEPR has been described as both progressive[3] and left-leaning.[4][10][6] CEPR is based in Washington, DC.

Affordable Care Act

CEPR supports the Affordable Care Act stating that it is "a family-friendly policy" and that the policy "has allowed thousands of workers to voluntarily reduce their work hours to care for children or elderly parents, or to explore new opportunities". Despite the increase in the percentage of workers employed on a part-time basis, CEPR concluded that such statistics were not sufficient to make any overall judgments on the health of the labor market.[11][12]

Employment

CEPR backs alongside the Economic Policy Institute the Full Employment Caucus, a group on United States House officials that advocate for full employment in the United States.[13]

Minimum wage

A 2014 study by CEPR shows that 13 states that increased their minimum wage had an average payroll of 0.99% compared to 0.68% in other states, though the CEPR stated the analysis was "far from scientific".[14]

Taxes

In a 2014 report in Fortune, CEPR co-founder Dean Baker suggested that according to poll findings, many citizens of the United States did not notice a 2% increase in their Social Security tax.[15]

Haiti

The CEPR created a blog called "Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch" on their website to keep watch on what has been taking place in Haiti following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[16]

Elsewhere in Latin America

In 2008, Brazilian Foreign Secretary Celso Amorim cited CEPR's work to explain why Brazil had no interest in signing a free trade agreement with the United States. He said that the CEPR report concluded that the most severe impacts from the 2008 Global Financial Crisis will be suffered by those economies most integrated to United States, those that have free trade agreements with the US.[17]

CEPR and its founder, Mark Weisbrot, has analysed and often written about economic situation in Venezuela. In October 2012, Weisbrot wrote an op-ed for The New York Times that stated in part, "[a]lthough some media have talked of Venezuela’s impending economic collapse for more than a decade, it hasn’t happened and is not likely to happen."[18] Later, in a July 2014 article titled "How to fix Venezuela's troubled exchange rate" written for Fortune magazine, Weisbrot attributed many of Venezuela's economic problems to their monetary policies such as the government's exchange rate system.[19] In a June 2016 article titled "A U.S. Policy of Non-intervention in Venezuela Would Be a Welcome Change" written for the New York Times, Weisbrot blamed the U.S. for many of Venezuela's economic problems: "Washington has caused enormous damage to Venezuela in its relentless pursuit of 'regime change' for the last 15 years."[20]

in 2019, CEPR criticized the Organization of American States (OAS)'s audit of the 2019 Bolivian general election, which concluded that the results of the elections should be voided because there were "drastic and hard-to-explain change in the trend of the preliminary results after the closing of the polls". Co-Director Mark Weisbrot contended that the report "provides absolutely no evidence — no statistics, numbers, or facts of any kind — to support this idea", and called on the OAS to retract its press release.[21] CEPR asked researchers at the MIT Election Data and Science Lab to independently verify their work on the 2019 Bolivian election.[22] The MIT researchers published a statistical analysis on 27 February 2020 confirming the results of the CEPR study and finding that there was no "statistical evidence of fraud that we can find — the trends in the preliminary count, the lack of any big jump in support for Morales after the halt, and the size of Morales’s margin all appear legitimate. All in all, the OAS's statistical analysis and conclusions would appear deeply flawed" and that "it is highly likely that Morales surpassed the 10-percentage-point margin in the first round" as originally presented.[23]

Personnel

CEPR's staff includes Ha-Joon Chang[24] and Eileen Appelbaum.[25][26] Other staff members include John Schmitt, Deborah James and Alexander Main.[27][28]

CEPR contributors include Advisory Board Members Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Solow.[29]

As of 2017, CEPR's Board of Directors includes:[30]

Julian Bond served as CEPR's Board Chair in the past.[31]

References
  1. "Center for Economic and Policy Research" (PDF). Foundation Center. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  2. "About CEPR". Center for Economic and Policy Research. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  3. Dolny, Michael (March 2008). "The Incredible Shrinking Think Tank". Fair. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  4. Rosenberg, Tina (4 November 2007). "The Perils Of Petrocracy". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2014. … Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning Washington policy group.
  5. Sussman, Anna Louie (7 September 2015). "Are Women the New Face of Organized Labor?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  6. Fox, Maggie (24 July 2013). "Obamacare won't slash workers' hours, report finds". NBC News. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  7. "To Prevent 'Active Sabotage' of His Agenda, Biden Urged to Clean House of Trump Loyalists on Day One". Common Dreams. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  8. Dayen, David (2020-11-23). "Biden Can Echo Trump's Favorite Phrase: 'You're Fired'". The American Prospect. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  9. K.S., Jomo; Weisbrot, Mark; James, Deborah (15 April 2011). "The Scorecard on Development, 1960-2010: Closing the Gap?" (Video). Center for Economic and Policy Research.
  10. Sussman, Anna Louie (7 September 2015). "Are Women the New Face of Organized Labor?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  11. Hiltzik, Michael (2 October 2014). "Obamacare at one year: a birthday assessment". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  12. Verhage, Julie (August 7, 2015). "Dean Baker: There's a Big Economic Benefit to Obamacare That Isn't Getting Much Attention". Bloomberg. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  13. Marans, Daniel (18 September 2015). "Senior Democrat Has A New Plan To Trim Unemployment". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  14. Davisdson, Paul (7 July 2014). "Study: States that raised minimum wage had stronger job growth". USA Today. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  15. Baker, Dean (30 September 2014). "The tax hike that almost nobody noticed". Fortune. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  16. "Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch". CEPR. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  17. "Diversified markets have cut Brazil's exposure to US crisis". MercoPress. 4 April 2008.
  18. Weisbrot, Mark (2012-10-09). "Opinion | Why Chávez Was Re-elected". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  19. "How to fix Venezuela's troubled exchange rate". Fortune. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  20. "How to save Venezuela". New York Times. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  21. Beeton, Dan. "OAS Should Retract Its Press Release on Bolivian Election, CEPR Co-Director Says | Press Releases | CEPR". cepr.net. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  22. Williams, Jack. "Analysis of the 2019 Bolivia Election". Center for Economic and Policy Research. CEPR. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  23. Curiel, John; Williams, Jack R. (27 February 2020). "Bolivia dismissed its October elections as fraudulent. Our research found no reason to suspect fraud". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  24. "Ha-Joon Chang". CEPR. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  25. "Eileen Appelbaum". CEPR. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  26. "Eileen Appelbaum". Russell Sage. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  27. "Deborah James". Global Exchange. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  28. "Staff". CEPR. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  29. "Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Solow". CEPR. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  30. "Board of Directors". Center for Economic and Policy Research. March 2017. Archived from the original on 2008-03-10. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  31. "Center for Economic and Policy Research - GuideStar Profile". www.guidestar.org. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
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