[1] In 1949, his family moved to the United States where Reich attended public schools in New York City, Swarthmore College for his undergraduate degree in 1966, and Harvard University to earn a PhD in economics.
[2][1] Reich notes that he was a "child of the Sputnik age",[1] thus he initially attended college with ambitions to become a physicist, focusing primarily in the fields of science and mathematics.
However, his college years changed him as he became heavily involved in activist movements, including protests against the United States’ military role in the Vietnam War.
[5]URPE is highly critical of capitalism, and seeks to offer alternatives to the traditional capitalist system, largely pointing to a form of socialism.
Reich describes that the group's "radical economic perspective" was molded through the convergence of various movements, including antiwar, civil rights, and student power.
As the central thesis of the textbook's first edition, the group: regarded capitalism as deeply implicated in the multiple oppressions that we saw around us: inequality, alienation, racism, sexism, imperialism, waste and irrationality.
[10] On June 25, 2013, Reich testified before the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions at a hearing discussing the 75th anniversary of the federal minimum wage.
[12] Reich's analyses on the effects of minimum wage increases in his capacity at IRLE have generated controversy and accusations of bias from Los Angeles city legislators.