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‘Villains nor victims’: Why immigration is good for our economy

Ali Velshi stands in front of a tv monitor that reads "The Truth about Immigration"

(Outlet: MSNBC)  In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signed the National Origins Act – a restrictive immigration bill that had lasting negative economic and social consequences. 100 years later, we find ourselves having a similar rhetorical and ideological debate about immigration. Donald Trump and his allies are stoking anti-immigrant sentiment and pushing the idea that immigration is the reason the United States is a “nation in decline”. Wharton School Professor and author Zeke Emanuel Hernandez points out to Ali Velshi that it’s in America’s best interest, socially and economically, to embrace immigrants. …Read More

Are we in the midst of a climate housing bubble?

Aerial shot of houses

(Outlet: Marketplace) Dave Burt at DeltaTerra Capital thinks the market is due for another correction, as homeowners in places with a growing risk of flooding and wildfire have to pay more for insurance. Rather than default on their loans, most homeowners should be able to sell and move somewhere cheaper if necessary, said Ben Keys, a professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.…Read More

The US is reviving the worst of its immigration history to all of our peril

A graph demonstrating Immigrants as a % of the US population

(Outlet: The Hill) 100 years ago today, America committed its biggest immigration blunder when President Calvin Coolidge signed the National Origins Act. As we commemorate the anniversary, most of the conversation focuses on condemning the racist motivation of excluding Asians and Southern and Eastern Europeans. But almost nobody talks about two things. One is the self-harm the restrictions caused to America: significant job losses, obliterating innovation by American scientists and companies, lowering investment across our communities and giving rise to the border problems we still experience to this day, writes Zeke Hernandez.…Read More

Penn Engineering and Harvard Awarded $12 Million NSF Grant for Sustainable Computing Project

A building with a recycling sign atop it is surrounded by trees with wind turbines and solar panels in the background.

(Outlet: Penn Engineering Today) The University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering), together with collaborators at Harvard University, has been awarded $12 million by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to participate in a groundbreaking, multi-institutional research initiative that aims to lay the foundations for environmentally sustainable computing.…Read More

U.S. banks remain the world’s largest funders of fossil fuels

A sign reading JPMorganChase in front of a tall glass building

(Outlet: Marketplace) Last year, JPMorgan Chase was once again the number one fossil fuel financier in the world, according to the 15th Banking on Climate Chaos report compiled by a group of environmental organizations. Banks have collectively invested almost $7 trillion in fossil fuels since the Paris Climate Agreement went into effect. “The banks that are based in the U.S. are just the biggest banks in the world. I mean, that’s not just true of oil and gas; that’s true of all sorts of lines of business,” said University of Pennsylvania finance professor Dan Garrett.…Read More

Immigration in its different forms is a benefit to communities, League of Women Voters told

Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico are lined up for processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Sept. 23, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas.

(Outlet: Delco Daily Times) The League of Women Voters of Central Delaware County took on the issue of immigration on Friday as experts delved into the numbers and issues behind what drives immigrants to the United States. “We’re in a very important moment in the history of immigration in the United States,” Exequiel “Zeke” Hernandez, one of the presenters, said. “There’s a widespread misunderstanding about just very basic facts about who immigrants are and what they do.”…Read More

Inside a Brooklyn kitchen that trains migrants for restaurant jobs, lifting an industry

Four chefs stand in a kitchen wearing aprons and red shirts, one holding a tray of cupcakes.

(Outlet: Gothamist) The five-week course called Culinary Career Pathways for New New Yorkers was launched in April by the nonprofit group Hot Bread Kitchen, which trains New Yorkers for jobs in the food industry. Although the course is patterned after the organization’s signature Culinary Fundamentals course, it has an important twist: It was designed specifically for newly arrived Latin American migrants who have secured work permits and set their sights on careers in the food industry. But the benefits and possibilities extend far beyond the individuals in this classroom.…Read More

Impact Investing Should Be Hard

A business man walks on a high wire holding a balance stick with piles of coins on one side and a globe on the other.

(Outlet: Stanford Social Innovation Review) Striving for value-adding impact means demanding additionality. There is a presumption that impact investors are shouldering unique burdens to achieve impact, but is this true? To answer this question, Michael Brown, Head of Research at the ESG Initiative, and Wharton Professor of Management Katherine Klein, in collaboration with other members of the Impact Finance Research Consortium, administered a rich, multifaceted survey to over 200 impact fund managers across the globe (particularly in private equity and venture capital).…Read More