Areas of expertise
Macroeconomics • Globalization • Social insurance • Public investment
Biography
Josh Bivens is the chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). His areas of research include macroeconomics, inequality, social insurance, public investment, and the economics of globalization.
Bivens has written extensively for both professional and public audiences, with his work appearing in peer-reviewed academic journals (like the Journal of Economic Perspectives) and edited volumes (like The Handbook of the Political Economy of Financial Crises from Oxford University Press), as well as in popular print outlets (like USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times).
Bivens is the author of Failure by Design: The Story behind America’s Broken Economy (EPI and Cornell University Press) and Everybody Wins Except for Most of Us: What Economics Really Teaches About Globalization (EPI), and is a co-author of The State of Working America, 12th Edition (EPI and Cornell University Press).
Bivens has provided expert insight to a range of institutions and media, including formally testifying numerous times before committees of the U.S. Congress.
Before coming to EPI, he was an assistant professor of economics at Roosevelt University. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland at College Park.
Education
Ph.D., Economics, New School for Social Research
B.A., Economics, University of Maryland at College Park
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Economic performance is stronger when Democrats hold the White House
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Unbalanced labor market power is what makes technology—including AI—threatening to workers: The best “AI policy” to protect workers is boosting their bargaining position
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Don’t wait on wage growth—the Fed should cut rates at this week’s meeting
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There’s no debate: Measurable income inequality has skyrocketed in recent decades
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The teacher shortage shows small signs of improvement, but it remains widespread
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Using tax policy to restrain CEO pay: Best practices and smart alternatives
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If you must argue about the economy over Thanksgiving dinner, at least get the facts right
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CEO pay slightly declined in 2022: But it has soared 1,209.2% since 1978 compared with a 15.3% rise in typical workers’ pay
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What to know about this summer’s strike activity: What’s spurring the rise in labor actions?
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A retrospective look at inflation: Which predictions were wrong or right, and what remains unclear?
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The Inflation Reduction Act finally gave the U.S. a real climate change policy
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The single thing Larry Summers gets right about ‘Bidenomics’—it’s different than what came before
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Unions promote racial equity
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It’s not just the actors—workers across the economy are demanding better pay and safer jobs
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EPI comment re proposed OMB Circular No. A-4, ‘Regulatory Analysis’
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Testimony prepared for the House Committee on Small Business for a hearing on ‘Prices on the Rise, Examining the Effects of Inflation on Small Businesses’
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Troubling provisions to watch in the new debt limit deal
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The industrial policy revolution has begun, but another is still needed: Industrial policy and policies to rebalance labor market power are complements, not substitutes
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Weaponizing the debt limit should not be normalized: President Biden should do “whatever it takes” to avoid an economic catastrophe
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Speaker McCarthy’s debt limit proposal = enormous human toll: Proposal would impose burdensome work reporting requirements to restrict access to Medicaid and food stamps
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Lessons from the inflation of 2021–202(?)
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Even with today’s slowdown, profit growth remains a big driver of inflation in recent years: Corporate profits have contributed to more than a third of price growth
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Recent banking failures add another reason to halt interest rate hikes
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The Fed should stand pat on further interest rate hikes at this week’s meeting: Inflation is easing even as the labor market remains strong
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The economic case for expanding the scope of reconciliation
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The debt limit is the world’s highest-stakes horoscope: Not raising the debt limit would guarantee a recession
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Inflation should not change how policymakers respond to recession
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A record share of earnings was not subject to Social Security taxes in 2021: Inequality’s undermining of Social Security has accelerated
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The Fed and a smooth macroeconomic transition to a cleaner U.S. economy
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Recent data indicate that a “soft landing” is still in reach—the Fed should try to secure it: Ignoring disinflation signs heightens risk of recession