from Fred Lee: Dear All,
I received the following e-mail below asking me to fill out a survey. [The link to the survey is at the end.] Our in-house labor educator, Judy Ancel, check out the survey and has this to say about it: The survey below is commissioned by the Employment Policies Institute, a Washington DC-based anti-worker, anti-union think tank. The survey starts by asking whether economists think the minimum wage and an inflation adjusted minimum is good or bad for the economy. It then asks their opinions about unions and finally about whether the Employee Free Choice Act would be good for the economy in a recession. The survey is being done by someone at the University of New Hampshire. I called to ask if this was sponsored research. The researcher got real nervous and said she’d call me back but had to talk to her boss first to find out how much she could reveal. Then she called back to say it was Employment Policies Institute and that she’d add their name so people could see it after they’ve filled out the survey (so as not to bias the results). To see more about EPI go to www.epionlline.org. The head of EPI is Rick Berman who is well-known for his anti-union antics. He’s the guy who also sponsors the Center for Union Facts and works as a lobbyist for the tobacco industry. You can find a profile on Berman at http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rick_Berman if you have any doubts about his lack of integrity. What I’m asking is that you use your lists to send out a note encouraging progressive economists to fill out the survey if they receive it and to be aware what its purpose is when they do so. Even if they’re not labor economists, and they receive the survey, they should fill it out. So if you have received the survey request, you may want to fill it out with your eyes wide-open. Fred Lee Professor Frederic S. Lee Department of Economics / University of Missouri-Kansas City E-mail: [email protected] Book Series Editor of "Routledge Advances in Heterodox Economics" From: Fowler, Tracy [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 12:54 PM To: Lee, Frederic Subject: Labor Economist Survey Dear Frederic S. Lee, I am writing to urge you to participate in an important survey on current issues in the area of labor economics. This survey is being conducted by the UNH Survey Center on behalf of a public policy research firm. As unemployment numbers are rising, policymakers are in the middle of determining appropriate responses the economic situation. As specialists in the field, your responses will help provide a better context for some of the policy conversations under way this year. Please take a few moments of your valuable time to complete the survey. To begin, simply click the link below. The survey should not take more than 5 minutes of your time. Please use the following ID to enter the survey: 6462 [I don't know what effect it has that everyone is using the same ID...] http://www.unh.edu/survey-center/les09.htm -- Jim Devine / "It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor." -- Neil Gaiman _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
