Publications: Robert D. Atkinson

Culture matters. Just as England’s discomfort with industrialization weakened its economy, today’s U.S. elite skepticism risks becoming a collective headwind against digital progress.

The United States is at serious risk of becoming dependent on China for a wide array of key technologies and products, which would significantly shift the global balance of techno-economic power. Only fundamental policy change can potentially keep the United States from defeat.

Letting Chinese EV and battery firms build in America wouldn’t revive manufacturing. It would reduce U.S. market share, hollow out domestic capabilities, and create new strategic dependencies.

Davos made clear that many “allies” would rather denounce the United States and chase access to Chinese markets than bear the burdens required to sustain the Western alliance and democratic system.

In every wave of U.S. industrial leadership, other nations have attacked American multinationals, especially tech firms, for blatantly protectionist reasons.

Trade is not an end in itself; it is a tool the U.S. should use to build allied power and constrain the CCP. We must move beyond trade agreements toward comprehensive strategic partnerships.

If the year ahead in technology and innovation policy lives up to its potential, it could be a consequential one because there is a long list of important issues on the table. Herein, we offer 10 that are on top of our minds.

Cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools, digital advertising, e-commerce platforms and online human resources systems have become the most practical way smaller firms close the capability gap with larger competitors.

South Korea’s record $700 billion in exports in 2025 is an achievement. But relying on a narrow set of export champions while limiting imports and domestic productivity will not deliver durable prosperity. Korea must pivot toward economy-wide productivity growth.

Detractors of capitalism argue that it took over fifty years for the British Industrial Revolution’s benefits to reach average workers. That narrative is at best contested and, at worst, wrong.