Publications: Robert D. Atkinson

Calvin Coolidge was right when he said, “the chief business of the American people is business.” We need to reembrace that ethos by making sure our social contract rewards companies that bring new innovations to market, boost productivity, fight like hell for global market share, and sustain as many high-value jobs at home as is economically feasible.

The Trump administration could signal a turning point for the country and the federal government in many areas. For too long, Washington accepted things that were flawed and broken. The real question is whether this proposed department is about reform or reduction.

The UK government needs to make a choice: competitiveness and growth or heavy-handed regulation in the service of social policy. It can have one but not both.

Even if it were possible to radically slash U.S. emissions with today’s technologies, it still would do little to curb global warming because the United States accounts for just 13.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. It’s time to recognize that the climate crisis can only be solved with innovation.

It would be a shame if Republicans and moderate Democrats wasted this moment by reverting to Reagan-esque, neoliberal nostalgia or incremental reforms. Restoring economic strength will require taking some big swings at policies to advance business-driven innovation.

U.S. manufacturing productivity has been in decline for more than a decade. If policymakers don’t do more to turn that around, real wages will stagnate and U.S. manufacturers will increasingly find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

While the Biden administration champions the need for private sector innovation to drive U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence, its Justice Department wants to put one of America’s top innovators—Google—on the chopping block.

If one is inclined to be critical, or even simply skeptical of digital technology and the companies that bring it to us, this is the book for you. This is not a balanced and academic book, but it does provide a vibrant narrative for those predisposed to believe it.

A word to the Justice Department, which is considering whether to push for a breakup of Google to spur competition in the online search market: Don’t. We’ve seen this movie before and it ended poorly.

In its bid for tech sovereignty, the EU has been aggressively targeting U.S. firms and industries with unfair protectionist policies. This cannot stand. To move forward into a new era of deeper transatlantic trade integration, America must first demand a level playing field.