Despite often performing work considered essential to the nation's critical infrastructure, undocumented workers live under the constant fear of deportation. In this episode of Policy for the People, Janet Bauer of the Oregon Center for Public Policy and Isa Peña of Innovation Law Lab discuss how deportation wreaks havoc on families and weakens Oregon's economy, as well as what the state can do to reduce the harm.

Learn more: read the report Deportation harms Oregon's economy and upends family security.

In this special episode of Policy for the People, we share a recording of a presentation by the Oregon Center for Public Policy titled "The Racist Roots of Oregon's Tax System."  Listen to OCPP communications director Juan Carlos Ordóñez discuss how Oregon's tax system entrenches and even deepens racial inequality. 

One of the biggest tax havens in the world — one of the main places where the superrich go to stash their money and avoid taxes — is the U.S. This is largely due to the fact that a number of U.S. states have transformed themselves into tax havens. In this episode of Policy for the People, we talk to Kalena Thomhave, a researcher with the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, about the rise of domestic tax havens and how they make the already severe problem of vast wealth inequality even worse.

In this episode, we discuss the Build Back Better legislation before Congress. Samantha Jacoby of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and OCPP's Alejandro Queral explain what this transformational legislation would mean for the nation and Oregon.

In this episode of Policy for the People, we explore the problem of poor quality jobs — jobs that pay too little to adequately support a family and that often come with few if any benefits. OCPP Senior Policy Analyst Janet Bauer explains the dimensions of the problem and what Oregon can do to address it.

You can dive deeper into the issue by reading our report Poor Quality Jobs Predominate in Strong Economy. 

The latest data confirms the wide disparities by income that existed on the eve of the pandemic. In this show, OCPP Executive Director Alejandro Queral discusses the latest figures on inequality, why economic inequality harms Oregonians, and what kinds of policies changes are needed to shrink inequality.

Undocumented workers in Oregon are more likely than not to perform work considered essential during the pandemic, yet they were left out of federal emergency assistance that other workers received. In this episode, Martha Sonato of PCUN, Oregon's farmworker union, and OCPP's Janet Bauer discuss the economic challenges faced by Oregon's undocumented workers.

In the latest episode of Policy for the People, we discuss what the state economists are saying about the economy and tax collections.

While it may seem obvious, providing rent assistance to those unable to afford the rent is the best way to keep people stably housed.

This episode of Policy for the People examines the American Rescue Plan Act, enacted by Congress in March 2021. As OCPP Senior Policy Analyst Janet Bauer explains, the plan potentially signals a change in direction toward an economy that aims for shared prosperity