|
|
|
|
Up From Poverty: Funding Solutions that Work
Three members of our Economics Disparities research cluster, Rucker Johnson, Hilary Hoynes, and Henry E. Brady, sat down to talk about solutions to poverty that actually help low income families and individuals, and how they lift people out of poverty. Much of the discussion centered on entitlement programs, such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit).
There are many factors to consider when thinking about how the programs were designed, how they actually work, and who truly benefits from them. However, measuring their impacts is not always easy. Hoynes notes that in order to evaluate a program, good data is needed, but it can be difficult to obtain. Johnson noted that without research to map the progress and impact of these programs, it is easy to want to defund them if information about their effectiveness is not readily available. Another challenge to analyzing the efficacy of the programs is the fact that although the money for these programs is provided up-front, many of the impacts are long-term in additional to short term relief. Watch the video.
|
|
 Housing Segregation Undergirds Nation’s Racial Inequities
Haas Institute Senior Fellow Richard Rothstein examines a case in Yuma, Arizona that uses a Supreme Court decision that was influenced by an amicus brief submitted by the Haas Institute last June. In that decision, the opinion of the court—offered by Justice Anthony Kennedy—noted that the intent to not discriminate need not be overt to actually discriminate with respect to the Fair Housing Act. Rothstein noted, "Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion concluded that housing policies must be avoided that have the effect of reinforcing segregation, regardless of policymakers’ provable intent, unless an agency enacting such a policy can show that there was no reasonable alternative to segregation as a way to accomplish legitimate housing objectives." Rothstein added, "Because of entrenched patterns attributable to government policy, seemingly race-neutral policies could have the effect of reinforcing the segregation that government had helped put in place." Rothstein explores how the logic that Justice Kennedy referenced in the opinion of the court is used for the housing case in Yuma. Read the blog post.
|
|
The Power Paradox: Gaining Power without Coercion
 Dacher Keltner, a Haas Institute Religious Diversity cluster member, wrote a new book about the power paradox, a term he uses to describe how "being nice" can actually grant someone more power than exhibiting coercive power over others. Social intelligence and and collaborative power can be used in conjunction to have a greater, and more positive, effect on both leaders and followers. Keltner is an expert on emotions, and much of his recent work centers on feelings such as awe and empathy. His work has been successfully used to shape media such as emojis used on social media and the Pixar movie Inside Out, which focuses on the emotions of a little girl. Keltner is the Founding Director of the Greater Good Science Center, and a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley. His book, The Power Paradox, is out May 17.
|
|
|
|
 Released May 2016, the Haas Institute's Fall 2015 newsletter features articles on "Voting Rights for the Incarcerated & Immigrants," "Race and Literature in 2015," and "Women & STEM: It's Not Just a Matter of Numbers." Download this issue.
|
|
The report, entitled “Food Justice and Community Health in Richmond,” explores strategies to facilitate more deeply-engaged partnerships between UC Berkeley and the Richmond community, which struggles with an array of structural barriers to opportunity, such as poverty and food and environmentally-related health challenges, which mirror those of many other low-income neighborhoods across the US. Download the report.
|
|
Our new report (updated on May 9) finds that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the mega-regional trade deal, raises serious concerns about how a world economy reregulated to suit corporate interests would undermine public accountability, transparency, and democratic participation. Read the updated report.
|
|
|
|
Resettling Refugees in the United States
"The global need for refugee resettlement is at a historically high level. The United Nations stated last year that more people have been forced from their homes because of war, persecution, or natural disaster than at any other time since the organization began keeping detailed records. In response, the UN has called on member states to resettle a total of 450,000 Syrian refugees by 2018," wrote Keith Welch, a research assistant at the Haas Institute. Welch explains the conflict that stems from denying refugees the chance to settle in the United States, particularly since acceptance of refugees is one of this country's longstanding values. Read more.
|
|
The Year of Identities
"We must now seek to understand not just the fluidity of identity categories and the role those categories play in our lives, but their interplay as manifested in our structures, culture, and society," wrote Director john powell in a letter for the newsletter. He continued, "More Americans of all races acknowledge that race shapes life chances in ways that are not only unlawful, but inconsistent with our values and ideals." Read the letter.
|
|
How a $15 Living Wage Connects Us All
Despite the controversy of making a living wage of $15 per hour the national standard, Leap Forward founder Mark Gomez is optimistic that collective moves forward, such as raising wages, reinforce how our fates are all intertwined. "Nationwide protests by service workers against poverty wages demonstrate this lofty promise of understanding how we are connected to each other has been unfilled. Each of us is to blame. These workers deserve to be paid a living wage for their work. After all, it is their work that makes, for example, our wonderful restaurant experience possible. Too often we turn a blind eye to this profound truth. In the words of Pope Francis, '[because] all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent on one another,'" wrote Gomez. Read the blog post.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
