Dean Baker
| Dean Baker | |
|---|---|
Dean Baker in 2007
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| Born | July 13, 1958 |
| Institution |
Center for Economic and Policy Research Bucknell University |
| Field | Economics, macroeconomics, urban and real estate economics |
| Alma mater |
Swarthmore College (B.A., 1981) University of Denver (M.A., 1983) University of Michigan (Ph.D.) |
| Doctoral advisor |
W. H. Locke Anderson |
| Information at IDEAS / RePEc | |
Dean Baker (born July 13, 1958) is an American macroeconomist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, with Mark Weisbrot. He has been a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an assistant professor of economics at Bucknell University. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan.
Since 1996 Baker has been the author of a weekly online commentary on economic reporting. The Economic Reporting Review was published from 1996 to 2006; subsequently he has continued this commentary on his weblog Beat The Press, which was formerly published at The American Prospect, but is now located at the CEPR website.
Baker graduated from Swarthmore College (B.A., 1981), the University of Denver (M.A., 1983), and the University of Michigan (Ph.D., 1988). Baker wrote his thesis on consumption theory. He argues that analyzing consumption requires categorizing objects, which cannot be done using only physical characteristics. The words for objects must be used, such as chair. These words imply socially understood uses, which define the object: a chair is used to sit on. Individuals have preferences over these uses of objects. That is at odds with consumption theory, which makes no assumptions about how individuals derive utility from objects. Baker also argues that objects' use values change with their social context, rejecting consumption theory's claim that consumption is private, and not influenced by society.
As a graduate student at the University of Michigan, Baker participated in and was arrested at two sit-ins protesting Representative Carl Pursell's votes for military aid to the Contras. In 1986, Baker defeated Donald Grimes in the Democratic primary and ran unsuccessfully against Pursell to represent Michigan's second Congressional district; his candidacy opposed aid to the Contras.
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