Arindrajit Dube
Provost Professor of Economics | University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA, UNITED STATES
Arin Dube’s research focuses on labor economics, fiscal policy, minimum wage policies, income inequality and the economics of conflict.
Expertise (8)
Unemployment Benefits
Public Finance
Labor Economics
Fiscal Policy
Minimum Wage Policies
Income Inequality
Labor Unions
Unemployment
Biography
Arindrajit Dube is one of the world's leading scholars on the minimum wage and its effect on employment. His research focuses on labor economics, health economics, public finance, and political economy, particularly based around minimum wage policies, fiscal policy, income inequality, health reform and the economics of conflict.
He has been a much sought-after commentator on the effects of mass layoffs that happened during the Covid-19 pandemic and the continuing effect of unemployment and benefits on workers and the economy.
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Education (3)
University of Chicago,: Ph.D., Economics
Stanford University: M.A., Development Policy Studies
Stanford University: B.A., Economics
Links (2)
Select Media Coverage (9)
The ‘Great Resignation’ Is Over. Can Workers’ Power Endure?
The New York Times online
2023-07-06
“There are good reasons to think that at least a chunk of the changes that we’ve seen in the low-wage labor market will prove lasting,” said Arindrajit Dube, a University of Massachusetts professor who has studied the pandemic economy.
Covid transformed the U.S. labor market, and it isn’t done yet
NBC News tv
2023-05-12
A study found that wage gains among the lowest-paid workers have substantially slowed the growth of income inequality. Co-author Arindrajit Dube said the scale of low earners’ pay gains was striking — rising 6% from January 2020 to September 2022. “Wage growth at the bottom is really making the labor market more equal. Lower-wage workers have been pulling in more income because they’ve been able to leave, because they’ve been able to find better jobs,” he said.
Low-Wage Jobs Are Becoming Middle-Class Jobs
The Atlantic print
2023-03-04
We finally had a tight labor market with a well-functioning job ladder, meaning that people were leaving the worst-paying jobs,” Arindrajit Dube, an economist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, told me. States and cities lifting their minimum wages might have helped bolster the trend—indeed, one analysis found that, before the coronavirus hit, wage compression was occurring only in states that were lifting their minimums.
There's one hopeful sign for the Fed on inflation. Really.
Politico online
2022-07-13
In an article discussing hopeful signs for the Federal Reserve amid rising inflation, Professor Arin Dube says wages now seem to be rising at a reasonable rate that isn’t problematic from an inflation perspective. “But if wage growth slows down a little and inflation stays high, that’s not good for workers,” he says. “Threading the needle is what we’d like to see happen.”
Cutoff of Jobless Benefits Is Found to Get Few Back to Work
The New York Times online
2021-09-06
This is one article from national coverage of a new report by UMass Amherst Professor Arindrajit Dube finding that states that ended extended federal pandemic unemployment benefits have witnessed little effect in employment, but have suffered sharp cuts in spending, potentially hurting their economies. “The idea was that there were lots of jobs — it was just that people weren’t looking. That was the narrative,” said Dube. “I don’t think that story holds up.”
Social Security pays the same no matter where you live. Unemployment should, too
The Boston Globe print
2021-05-23
"University of Massachusetts Amherst labor economist Arindrajit Dube last month released a plan laying out how to do just that. His policy paper, published by the Hamilton Project of the Brookings Institution, argued that taking control of unemployment insurance from the states is the best way for the federal government to tackle the system’s thorniest problems, including stingy jobless pay, overly strict eligibility rules, and the lack of “triggers” that effectively link benefits to economic conditions."
When Amazon Raises Its Minimum Wage, Local Companies Follow Suit
The New York Times print
2021-03-10
“In a very simple supply-and-demand, competitive market, firms are just paying the market wage,” said Arindrajit Dube, a University of Massachusetts economist who has studied the minimum wage. In reality, he said, wages “are shaped by market forces but also by norms, pressure as well as policies.”
Here are the pros and cons of a $15 per hour federal minimum wage
CNBC tv
2021-02-16
Arindrajit Dube, economics professor at UMass Amherst and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, joined "Squawk Box" on Tuesday to discuss the pros and cons of raising the federal minimum wage
About That Hazard Pay
NPR radio
2020-05-01
In a discussion on “Planet Money,” Arindrajit Dube, economics, says the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic present a troubling situation for many low wage essential workers.
Select Publications (4)
A Plan to Reform the Unemployment Insurance System in the United States
The Hamilton ProjectArindrajit Dube
2021-04-12
Arindrajit Dube's plan proposes remedies for current problems facing the unemployment insurance program in the United States and argues that these remedies are best achieved through converting the unemployment insurance system to a fully federal program.
Impacts of Minimum Wages: Review of the International Evidence
United Kingdom GovernmentArindrajit Dube
2019-11-04
The government of the United Kingdom asked Professor Arindrajit Dube to consider international evidence on the impacts of minimum wages and the implications for UK policy.
Making the Case for a Higher Minimum Wage
Milken Institute ReviewArindrajit Dube
2019-04-26
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt first proposed a federal minimum wage in 1937, he declared that America should be able to provide its working men and women “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.” Congress went along,
Wage boards can mitigate market failures on inequality
The HillArindrajit Dube
2019-03-13
During the past 40 years, the United States has seen a tremendous rise in income inequality. While globalization and technological change likely played a role, labor market institutions have been important contributors to these trends — especially the decline of unions.
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