2010 Livable Buildings Awards salute UCSF, Kavli projects
The top 2010 Livable Buildings Award from the University of California, Berkeley's Center for the Built Environment (CBE) goes to UC San Francisco for its transformation of the shell of a former manufacturing plant near UCSF's new Mission Bay research campus into environmentally and user friendly offices.
(17 December)

Minimum wage hikes don’t eliminate jobs, study finds
Increasing the minimum wage does not lead to the short- or long-term loss of low paying jobs, according to a new study co-authored by UC Berkeley economics professor Michael Reich and published in the November issue of the journal The Review of Economics and Statistics.
(01 December)

Will Ireland go bankrupt? Economic historian sheds light on latest eurozone crisis
UC Berkeley economic historian Barry Eichengreen, an expert on the international monetary and financial system, discussed the Irish economic crisis at a campus seminar Nov. 17. He said Ireland needs to restructure much of the bank debt that its government has effectively taken onto its balance sheet — debt that could reach a staggering 130 percent of GDP in the coming year.
(22 November)

IRLE's conference on "New Deal/No Deal?"
In the midst of forecasts of continuing economic woes and congressional gridlock, experts gathered recently at UC Berkeley to assess what worked and what didn’t during the Great Depression-inspired New Deal, the Obama administration’s still emerging efforts to ease the Great Recession, and prospects for relief, reform and recovery.Much of the conference, “New Deal/No Deal? The Age of Obama and the Lessons of the 1930s,” is now available online at http://irle.berkeley.edu/conference/2010/.
(15 November)

Grant launches Berkeley Economic History Lab
The University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Economics is the recipient of a $1.25 million grant from the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) to develop a Berkeley Economic History Laboratory to train more historically literate economists who can contribute to policy debates and help avoid devastating economic crises.
(02 November)

Researchers examine California public, private workers’ pay, total compensation
California taxpayers are not overpaying or overcompensating their state and local workers compared to private sector employers, according to a policy brief released today (Monday, Oct. 18) by the Center on Wages and Employment Dynamics at UC Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.Wages earned by California’s public employees are about 7 percent lower, on average, than those received by comparable private sector workers, according to the report. However, the researchers concluded that when taking into account the more generous benefits of government employees, there is no significant difference in the level of total compensation between the two sectors.
(18 October)

Flight delays cost $32.9 billion, passengers foot half the bill
Delays from domestic flights put a $32.9 million dent into the U.S. economy, and half that cost is borne by airline passengers, according to a new report led by UC Berkeley researchers. The final report was delivered Oct. 18 to the Federal Aviation Administration, which commissioned the study.
(18 October)

Chancellor Funds 15 Campus – Community Partnerships
Nearly $225,000 in grants through the Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund have been given by Chancellor Birgeneau to joint campus/city of Berkeley community service and neighborhood improvement projects.
(23 July)

Labor Center launches monthly black jobs report
UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education is officially launching tomorrow (Friday, July 2) a series of monthly reports that highlight the employment outlook in the black community as national jobless numbers hover around 10 percent and African Americans fare far worse.The Labor Center’s “Black Employment and Unemployment” detailed data brief for June will be available online shortly after researchers assess a monthly national jobs report to be issued Friday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
(01 July)

Uptick in job recruitment could help UC Berkeley grads
Nearly 100 companies and organizations as varied as Amazon.com, Yelp, the Peace Corps and the FBI will be recruiting at UC Berkeley’s “Just in Time” job fair tomorrow (Wednesday, April 21). At least 1,000 graduating seniors are expected to attend.
(20 April)

For post-boomers, public education is worth more than Social Security and Medicare
It's easy to assume retiring baby boomers will benefit from Social Security and Medicare at the expense of younger generations, as analysts estimate that these government-run programs will pay out more than they collect in payroll taxes by 2017. But a far-reaching new study from UC Berkeley concludes that younger Americans are actually getting the better deal when the value of public education is factored in as an intergenerational entitlement program on a par with Social Security and Medicare.
(14 April)

Bancroft Library is home to new Shorenstein Program in Politics, Policy and Values
With the United States and many other governments mired in red ink, the University of California, Berkeley’s Bancroft Library couldn’t have picked a timelier topic than the U.S. national debt for the initial focus of its new Shorenstein Program in Politics, Policy and Values.Establishment of the program in the Bancroft’s Regional Oral History Office (ROHO) and underwriting by San Francisco commercial real estate titan Walter Shorenstein was formally announced today (Tuesday, March 2).
(02 March)

Study says Obama health plan increases access, affordability in California
President Obama’s newest health reform proposal expands access to coverage and affordability for many low- and middle-income Californians by creating a new health insurance exchange and expanding Medicaid, according to a new study by UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.
(24 February)

Study finds significant non-union impacts for proposed tax on “Cadillac” health plans
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education report that an excise tax on high-cost employer health insurance plans as proposed by the U.S. Senate would affect more non-union than union workers. Likewise, they say a majority of the savings from a reduction in the tax, as proposed by the White House and union leaders in January, would accrue to non-union workers.
(18 February)

Multiple Bay Area stakeholders meet on how to 'green' the local economy
More than 200 turned out Thursday for "Innovating the Green Economy," a campus conference on how to turn an emerging and much celebrated "win-win" into actual businesses and real paychecks for local communities.
(25 January)

Positive prospects for California's green businesses, study finds
California’s green businesses are more focused on local markets and more likely to stay in the Golden State than are their non-green counterparts, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study released Thursday (Jan. 21). And when compared with traditional businesses, green ones are more likely to expand.
(22 January)

CPUC taps Vial Center to study state's green jobs needs
The California Public Utilities Commission has chosen UC Berkeley’s Donald Vial Center on Employment in the Green Economy to lead a $1.1 million study to assess California’s workforce development needs as part of the state’s long-term strategic plan for energy efficiency.
(08 December)

Bosses who feel inadequate can turn into bullies
Bosses who are in over their heads are more likely to bully subordinates. That’s because feelings of inadequacy trigger them to lash out at those around them, according to new research from the UC Berkeley, and the University of Southern California. In a new twist on the adage “power corrupts,” researchers at UC Berkeley and USC have found a direct link among supervisors and upper management between self-perceived incompetence and aggression. The findings, gleaned from four separate studies, are published in the November issue of the journal Psychological Science.
(13 October)

Stockholm calling
When Oliver Williamson's phone rang at 3:30 Monday morning, he wasn't entirely surprised to find the Nobel Prize committee on the line. But Berkeley's newly minted economics laureate was variously elated, proud and humbled as he recounted the moment later Monday for well-wishers and the media.
(12 October)

UC Berkeley's Oliver Williamson shares Nobel Prize in economics
Olier Williamson, the Edgar F. Kaiser Professor Emeritus of Business Economics, and Law at UC Berkeley, a pioneer of the multi-disciplinary field of transaction cost economics, and one of the world's most cited economists, is a winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics.
(12 October)

Money rocks (and raps) in economics grad students' music videos
A group of graduate students in the Berkeley economics department, calling themselves the Metrics Gang, relate the trials and tribulations of their doctoral quest in four popular online singles.
(13 July)

Report: Widespread data sharing, "Web bugs"
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Information released a report late Monday (June 1) showing that the most popular Web sites all share data with their corporate affiliates and allow third parties to collect information directly by using tracking beacons known as "Web bugs" - despite the sites' claims that they don't share user data with third parties.
(02 June)

Obama calls on Berkeley School of Antitrust
Two University of California, Berkeley, professors who will become the federal government's top antitrust economists and a third chosen as a senior official in the same field are among the latest campus faculty members enlisted to help the Obama administration shape policy for the nation. Their appointments highlight the growing strength of Berkeley School of Antitrust Economics.
(28 May)

Ausin Hoggatt, professor emeritus at the Haas School, dies at age 79
Austin "Auggie" Hoggatt, professor emeritus at the Haas School of Business, died April 29 at age 79. His research and consulting spanned many fields, including computer simulations, experimental economics, management science, and savings and loans.
(07 May)

Transportation expert Ernest Koenigsberg passes away
Ernest Koenigsberg, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business and an expert in operations research and management science, with a focus on transportation, died on April 20 of heart failure at his home in San Francisco. He was 86.
(30 April)

Emmanuel Saez wins 2009 John Bates Clark Medal
University of California, Berkeley, professor Emmanuel Saez, a leading scholar of tax policy and the distribution of income and wealth, is the latest recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded by the American Economics Association (AEA) to the U.S. economist under 40 making the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.
(29 April)

Public finance scholar George F. Break dead at 88
George F. Break, an emeritus professor of economics at UC Berkeley, and an authority on public finance, died of heart failure at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley on March 13. He was 88.
(30 March)

U.S. economy spurs foreign students to return home, study says
Most foreign nationals studying at universities in the United States say American higher education is the best in the world, but few plan to remain in this country after graduation to pursue their careers, according to a new study co-authored by a UC Berkeley, authority on technology and the global economy.
(19 March)

How are Berkeley students faring in hard times?
Many UC Berkeley students currently find themselves looking for cheaper housing, worrying about debt, or (especially if they're about to graduate) stressing about their job prospects. Eleven undergrads discuss how the economic downturn is affecting them. (With audio.)
(16 March)

Inexpensive flooring change improves child health in urban slums
Replacing dirt floors with cement in the homes of urban slums makes for more comfortable living – but more importantly, it significantly improves children’s health by interrupting the transmission of intestinal parasites and boosts their cognitive abilities, according to a new study conducted forUC Berkeley’s Center of Evaluation for Global Action.
(10 March)

Linking fast food proximity to obesity
Location is everything – and that goes for fast food as well as for real estate.California's nearly 3 million 9th graders are at least 5.2 percent more likely to be obese if there is a fast food restaurant within a tenth of a mile of their school, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, economists.
(04 March)

Economist James L. Pierce, authority on banking and monetary policy, dies
James L. Pierce, a professor emeritus of economics at UC Berkeley and an authority on banking and monetary policy, died of lung disease in Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, Calif., on Feb. 15. He was 71.
(25 February)

Sloan fellowships awarded to seven young faculty members
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced today (Tuesday, Feb. 17) 118 new fellowship awards to early-career scientists, seven of them young faculty researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.
(17 February)

Obama's race not a factor in election, say economists
Reinforcing the notion of a "post racial" nation, two University of California, Berkeley, researchers' analysis of voting patterns indicates that voters were not motivated by race in the 2008 U.S. election of Barack Obama, the country's first black president.
(12 February)

MBA competition to address D.C. schools performance
Ten teams from top business schools around the country will set their sights on improving the public school system in the nation's capitol in the third annual Education Leadership Case Competition at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business on Feb. 20-21.
(10 February)

Educator Bill Sonnenschein dies in Madagascar
William "Bill" Sonnenschein, a senior lecturer on leadership and communication at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, passed away suddenly on December 29 in Madagascar. He was 59.
(07 January)