Mark David Brenner (born May 26, 1969) is an American author, journalist, academic, and consultant who writes on labor and workplace issues. Brenner was formerly the co-director of

Labor Notes ''Labor Notes'' is a trade magazine supporting collective bargining in the United States. It is part of the Labor Education and Research Project, an American non-profit organization and network for rank-and-file union members and grassroots ...

and was previously a professor at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

. He currently works at the Labor Research and Education Center at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

Education

Brenner earned Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and history from

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

, a Master of Arts in

international development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic development, economic or human development (economics), human development on an international sca ...

from the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

, and a Master of Arts and PhD in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

.Short biography of Mark D. Brenner
Policy Innovations (September 22, 2006) Retrieved January 11, 2011

Career

Brenner first became interested in the living wage issue when he was a graduate student in California and was part of a research team evaluating the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

living wage ordinance. He specializes in

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

and

labor economics Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the markets for wage labour. Labour is a commodity that is supplied by labourers, usually in exchange for a wage paid by demanding firms. Because these labourers exist as pa ...

, particularly with regard to poverty,

income distribution In economics, income distribution covers how a country's total GDP is distributed amongst its population. Economic theory and economic policy have long seen income and its distribution as a central concern. Unequal distribution of income causes e ...

and low-wage

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

markets. He was a

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

in 1998, working in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Brenner has consulted for the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

and the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

. Brenner was a professor of economics at the

and the

Political Economy Research Institute The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) is an independent research unit at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. According to its mission statement, it "...promotes human and ecological well-being through our original research". PERI was ...

.Book description and review
Cornell University Press. Retrieved January 11, 2011 He left in September 2005 to join the staff of Labor Notes. Brenner spent several years working with living wage campaigns around the country, as well as playing a leading role in his union in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. He currently covers

Service Employees International Union Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing 2 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of m ...

(SEIU), teachers, higher education, and the living wage movement.

Selected books and publications

* Mark D. Brenner and Terry McKinley. ''Rising wealth inequality and changing social structure in rural China, 1988-95''. UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (1999) * Mark D. Brenner; Jeannette Wicks-Linn; Robert Pollin. ''Measuring the Impact of Living Wage Laws: A Critical Appraisal of David Neumark's How Living Wage Laws Affect Low-Wage Workers and Low-Income Families''. Working Paper Series No. 43,

(2002) * Keith Griffin (Editor); Mark D. Brenner; Keith Griffin; Takayoshi Kusago; Amy Ickowitz; Terry McKinley. ''Poverty Reduction in Mongolia''. Asia Pacific Press (2003) * Mark D. Brenner. ''The Economic Impact of Living Wage Ordinances''. Working Paper 80,

(2004) * Mark D. Brenner, Stephanie Luce. ''Living Wage Laws in Practice: The Boston, New Haven and Hartford experiences'' (2005)''Living Wage Laws in Practice''
(PDF) Policy Economics Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (2005) Retrieved January 11, 2011 * Robert Pollin; Mark Brenner; Jeannette Wicks-Lim; Stephanie Luce. ''A Measure of Fairness: The Economics of Living Wages and Minimum Wages in the United States'' ILR Press (2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brenner, Mark Living people Journalists from New York City American trade unionists Economists from New York (state) University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty 1969 births 21st-century American economists Wake Forest University alumni American University alumni University of California, Riverside alumni University of Oregon faculty