In the Arena

After decades of bad advice that led many developing nations down the wrong path and ignored evidence against neoclassical dogma, the World Bank should have the courage to admit it was wrong.

AI is supposedly going to make America’s current level of income inequality explode. That will not happen. The idea rests on far-fetched assumptions about monopolies, mass job loss, and winner-take-all dynamics that AI won’t change.

EU regulators have targeted U.S. tech firms for years, demanding digital sovereignty, stronger consumer protections, platform openness, and structural remedies for dominance. The United States should apply that same logic to “Big Spread”—Nutella’s market power warrants investigation, regulation, and potential breakup.

Fixing the EU’s productivity, innovation, and competitiveness crisis requires a fundamental political reorientation. Until it makes that shift, expect more reports, more tinkering, and more decline.

AI isn’t about to wipe out entry-level jobs. The data says otherwise, history contradicts it, and productivity gains will create new opportunities.

A poll built on leading questions, false choices, and fearmongering does not reflect actual public opinion on AI. It shows how to optimize disinformation for partisan messaging.

Rather than proposing universal basic income as the solution to robots supposedly taking all our jobs, the task should be to improve federal worker adjustment assistance programs.

WEF should articulate a global productivity agenda to make a meaningful contribution, because the kind of capitalism we have today is not the reason for slow growth in many developing economies.

We should want companies to shed workers they no longer need. Productivity gains flow to lower prices, higher wages, and long-term growth. Don’t slow innovation—accelerate it.

The culture of digital and AI opposition is a growing threat to American prosperity and power. Unless we return at least to neutrality, other nations unburdened by this self-doubt will surpass us.