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Economic Theory

As nations engage in a race for global advantage in innovation, ITIF champions a new policy paradigm that ensures businesses and national economies can compete successfully by spurring public and private investment in foundational areas such as research, skills, and 21st century infrastructure. Our work in the realm of economic theory assesses the negative impact of conventional neo-Keynesianism and neoclassical economics on the 21st century economy and promoting “Innovation Economics” as a sounder alternative.

Economic Theory

Publications and Events

March 10, 2023|Op-Eds & Commentary

How Should Allies Respond to China’s Technology Competition?

The recent alteration of the global geopolitical environment has brought into stark reality the weaknesses of long-running economic shifts (and proactive actions) that have favoured China—giving it market dominance and trade leverage throughout industries and supply chains. The future is going to be anything but certain, and Australia, the United States and their allies must be prepared.

November 28, 2022|Podcasts

Podcast: Growth and the Character of Society, With Benjamin Friedman

Economics is about more than the economy. It also intersects public and private institutions, culture, religion, morality, and politics. Rob and Jackie explored these subjects with Benjamin Friedman, a professor of Political Economy at Harvard and author of The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth and Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.

October 12, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary

The Abandonment of Growth and the Decline of the West

From the founding of the republic to the turn of the millennium, America’s core economic creed was growth. But the new prevailing wisdom forswears growth for the sake of other goals: saving the planet, redistributing income, living simply, and the like.

October 6, 2022|Presentations

The Politicization of Business: What Gives?

Robert Atkinson participates in an expert panel discussion on “The Politicization of Business: What Gives” as part of a Cato conference—“New Challenges to the Free Economy (from Left and Right)”—that brings together leading economists and policymakers to discuss the ascendant political threats of progressivism and national conservatism to the free economy.

October 3, 2022|Podcasts

Podcast: How Henry Ford’s Populist Attitude Led Him to Share Tech With Enemies, With Stefan Link

Rob and Jackie sat down with Stefan Link, Associate Professor of History at Dartmouth University, to discuss Henry Ford and his “open door policy” regarding methods and engineering.

September 16, 2022|Blogs

Washington Post Gets It Wrong on Manufacturing Jobs

Catherine Rampell’s recent Washington Post column parrots conventional “inside the beltway” wisdom about U.S. manufacturing but demonstrates that pundits often don’t understand real economics.

July 21, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary

Why Dollar as Reserve Currency Is America’s Achilles Heel

If a country is running a deficit, the value of its currency should fall to make imports more expensive and exports cheaper. Conversely, if a country is running a trade surplus, the currency should rise in value.

July 7, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary

Book Review: “The New Goliaths: How Corporations Use Software to Dominate Industries, Kill Innovation, and Undermine Regulation”

James Besson’s analysis of the role of information technology in the new economy is an interesting one and worth reading.

June 17, 2022|Blogs

Everything Old Is New Again: The Misleading Narrative About Concentration and Inflation

Not only is more aggressive antitrust enforcement likely to be ineffective at combatting inflation, some economists have argued that it may even make inflation worse.

May 2, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary, Blogs

Antitrust Bills Under Fire From Former Chief Economists

The best way to regulate competition and enforce antitrust to prevent anticompetitive conduct remains the judicial process: Judge-made law better preserves adherence to the rule of reason, efficiency considerations, and, more generally, to the rule of law, which provides greater legal certainty. In other words, the enforcement of antitrust laws ought to remain predominantly dynamic, using the evolutionary process of the court system.

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