The Economic Democracy Initiative (EDI), led by Bard College, is the network’s collaborative program focusing on the importance of economic democracy and securing basic economic rights as preconditions for economic stability, security, and opportunity in a global economy that works for all. EDI’s inaugural projects keep a laser sharp focus on labor markets and the connections between unemployment, precarious employment, and broader socioeconomic deprivations. They also examine the looming challenges faced by working people before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the structural forces within labor markets that produce and reproduce inequality, poverty, and social exclusion. By challenging economic orthodoxy and leveraging the interdisciplinary research and teaching methods of experts across the network, alongside its student-led civic engagement initiatives, EDI explores policy solutions for a just and sustainable post-COVID world.
