Publications: Robert D. Atkinson

The U.S. regulatory state has become a major headwind for national economic power industries competing against China, and incremental reforms will not be enough for America to avoid techno-economic defeat. U.S. policymakers need to adopt a national developmentalist model.

If AI’s supposed “champions” don’t want people to be afraid, they should stop selling fear.

South Korea’s AI-memory boom proves that it can still lead at the technological frontier. The proposed Future Response Fund and national megaprojects will test whether South Korea can turn that lead into stronger suppliers, exportable capabilities, and allied scale before Chinese expansion narrows its industrial base.

Washington is now more focused on China but remains in denial about the threat. Fourteen rationalizations explain why its techno-economic response remains limited.

America must answer three fundamental questions in favor of national power, innovation, growth, and national greatness or risk losing ground to the PRC.

Canada risks permanently losing advanced manufacturing as stagnant productivity, weak innovation, and risk aversion undermine its competitiveness. Reversing course requires a national strategy focused on productivity, innovation, and technology-based growth.

Labor-displacing technology can cause temporary pain, but that reflects progress. Suppressing it won’t protect workers; it’ll sacrifice productivity and growth.

Montgomery County’s new data center moratorium will do little for the environment, but plenty to weaken growth, deter investment, and undermine the infrastructure powering AI.

The utopian vision of globally integrated, democratic, free-market economies working together in harmony has not materialized. Meanwhile, the belief that China could not innovate—and that America would continue to lead in advanced technologies—also has proven to be false. These new realities require bold reforms in the U.S. research system.

Whether Washington sustains a policy response equal to the challenge China poses or takes a timeout while Xi runs up the score remains an open question.