Senate Finance Committee Democrats are seeking evidence and proposals to shape health-care legislation. Their critique of insurers has merit, but reforms confined to insurance risk leaving hospitals, conglomerates, and much of the system’s extraction untouched, sets the stage for further disappointment.
Article | Government & Politics, Inequality & Distribution, Labor
Social Security and the Vanishing Paycheck
Social Security runs on the paycheck. But a growing share of American wealth now comes from profits, assets, and ownership. The program that ended old-age poverty was never built for an economy that pays people this way.
By Pia Malaney
Article | Government & Politics
Big Money and the Maine Election: Round 2
The upheaval in Maine’s Senate race has focused attention on candidates and party leaders. Less noticed is what the campaign finance data reveal about the state’s Democratic Party and its structural dependence on national organizations and large out-of-state donors.
By Thomas Ferguson, Paul Jorgensen, and Jie Chen
Article | Government & Politics
Big Money, the Maine Senate Race and US Party Competition: A Tale in Two Pictures
What can one Senate race reveal about the hidden machinery of American politics? In Maine, donor patterns expose how campaign finance can shape party competition, political narratives, and the choices voters are asked to make long before ballots are counted.
By Thomas Ferguson, Paul Jorgensen, Matthias Lalisse, and Jie Chen
Article | Macroeconomics
On the US-EU Debate: A Response to Paul Krugman
A response to Paul Krugman’s recent essay on U.S. and European productivity opens onto a broader question. If the standard metrics point in conflicting directions, perhaps the problem lies less with the economies than with the measures themselves.
Working Paper | Government & Politics, Health
By Phillip Alvelda and Thomas Ferguson
Article | Government & Politics, History, Inequality & Distribution, Labor
Happy Birthday, America. Our Best Tradition Is Taking on the Powerful.
Article | Macroeconomics
From Potential Output to Full Employment: A Paradigm Shift for Italian Fiscal Policy
Article | Finance
Sovereign Money is not Debt: Why Central bank Accounting Must Change
By Biagio Bossone and Massimo Costa
Article | Technology & Innovation
What if the AI future being sold to markets rests on claims that cannot survive scrutiny? From superintelligence to mass job loss, the loudest promises around generative AI begin to look less like foresight than hype dressed up as inevitability.
Article | Labor, Philosophy & Ethics, Technology & Innovation
Article | Laws
By Mark Glick, Gabriel Lozada, and Darren Bush
Working Paper | Government & Politics, Health
Senate Finance Committee Democrats have invited outside evidence and proposals for their next health-care agenda. Their critique of insurers has force, but the remedies leave most of the system untouched, risking further disappointment unless reform reaches hospitals and entire conglomerates.
By Phillip Alvelda and Thomas Ferguson
Working Paper | History, Philosophy & Ethics
As America marks 250 years of independence, Adam Smith is again being pressed into service as a founding myth. A deeper reading of The Wealth of Nations reveals a far richer thinker than today’s easy invocations of markets and liberty suggest.
Working Paper | Economics Profession, Government & Politics, Inequality & Distribution
Equality runs deeper than preference or policy fashion, rooted in human social instincts and reflected in outcomes across societies. It is time for economics and policy alike to reckon with how profoundly distribution shapes well-being and social stability.
By Mark Glick, Gabriel Lozada, and Darren Bush
Working Paper | Technology & Innovation
Beneath the grand claims and vast capital spending, AI is delivering weak productivity, mounting losses, and growing financial strain. If the boom cannot generate profits, jobs, or durable gains, how much longer can the bubble hold?
Working Paper | Laws
What should courts prioritize in determining antitrust cases: measurable welfare effects, or the protection of competitive rivalry itself? The Consumer Welfare Standard and the Protect Competition Standard offer different answers.
By Mark Glick, Gabriel Lozada, and Darren Bush
Working Paper | Finance, Government & Politics, Macroeconomics
As the Supreme Court’s unitary executive theory reaches the Federal Reserve, a deeper constitutional question comes into view: who holds the power to make money?
Dec 08, 2025
Webinars and Events
LEPC VII will bring together leading thinkers, practitioners, and policymakers to analyze the drivers behind this sub national success, and to chart actionable pathways for the future. Each session outlined explores a foundational dimension of India’s growth story, with attention to both policy diagnosis and on-the-ground innovation.
Dec 02, 2025
Webinars and Events
International Conference on Digitalisation, Market and Society is a cross-disciplinary plenary on how digital transformation is altering work, gender norms, and social institutions—and how society can respond inclusively.
Jul 24, 2025
Webinars and Events
The focus of this year’s monsoon school is on pluralistic approaches to research on inequality, bringing together perspectives from varied streams of economic thought. It will provide an interactive platform for advanced-level PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and scholars affiliated with Indian research institutes to engage with diverse concepts, debates, and methodologies related to inequality.
Jul 14, 2025
Webinars and Events
The urgency of the climate crisis cannot be overstated, particularly given its disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities in the Global South.
May 31, 2025
Webinars and Events
Four months of the Trump presidency have already changed the world as we knew it. How did we get here? What consequences have the tariffs had and will have? How will U.S.-European trade relations evolve? What about the confrontation with China?
Apr 10, 2025
Webinars and Events
with THOMAS FERGUSON, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INET
Jul 15, 2025
Jul 14, 2025
Jul 07, 2025
YSI projects are collaboratively organized by members of the community to explore topics in new economic thinking. Projects may be held virtually (discussions, webinars, reading groups) or in person (workshops, pre-conferences). Learn more about YSI here
