Growing animus toward “Big Tech” companies and generalized opposition to technological innovation engenders support for policies that are expressly designed to inhibit it. That is deeply problematic for future progress, prosperity, and competitiveness.

A Policymaker’s Guide to the “Techlash”—What It Is and Why It’s a Threat to Growth and Progress

Given that the economy has been in an unprecedented productivity growth slump—and the baby boom retirement wave is rising—taxing automation equipment ranks as a singularly bad policy idea.

The Case Against Taxing Robots

An increasingly digitalized global economy requires ever-more digitally skilled workforces for nations to remain productive. Unfortunately, domestic and international assessments of digital skills show the United States is lagging its competitors.

Assessing the State of Digital Skills in the U.S. Economy

The federal government has long avoided industrial policies outside of its defense sector. But now, facing competition from China, it is pursuing a series of new programs at a scale never tried before. The effort will require careful, system-wide planning to bear fruit.

Emerging Industrial Policy Approaches in the United States

The United States is struggling to move innovative energy technologies from discovery to scale. This gap could put the climate and U.S. investments at risk. A nonprofit foundation working with the Department of Energy could help fill the gap.

Mind the Gap: A Design for a New Energy Technology Commercialization Foundation

Expanding the 25-year-old trade agreement that eliminates tariffs on ICT goods would spur broad-based growth for countries that sign on, because lowering prices increases ICT adoption, which spurs productivity and innovation throughout the economy.

How an Information Technology Agreement 3.0 Would Bolster Global Economic Growth and Opportunity

Low profit margins keep many small businesses from investing in productivity-enhancing technology, which in turn holds down wages. To break that cycle, there should be a federal program that helps them reap economies of scale and scope by collaborating in areas such as R&D, investment, marketing, and health insurance purchases.

Small Business Boards: A Proposal to Raise Productivity and Wages in All 50 States and the District of Columbia

The bill fails to recognize three critical realities: 1) that drug prices are, in fact, not a significant driver of raging inflation; 2) that there exist better mechanisms to reform Medicare Part D drug pricing practices; 3) that mandated government price controls do inflict serious harm on nations’ life-sciences innovation systems.

Senate Reconciliation Legislation Fails to Reconcile the Interests of Biomedical Innovation and Drug Price Affordability

A vocal group of alarmists worry that the pace of automation will soon displace human labor to such an extent that many workers will be left with nothing to do. Never mind that generation after generation of technological innovations in industries ranging from textiles to steel to banking have always produced the opposite result: expanding the labor force, not wiping it out.

Podcast: How Automation Expands Opportunities for Human Labor, With James Bessen

Rob and Jackie sat down with Dr. Juan Gilbert, chair of the University of Florida’s Computer & Information Science & Engineering Department, to discuss how the United States has fallen behind in recruiting students in science, technology, engineering, and math and what policymakers, universities, and industries can do diversify their candidate pools.

Podcast: The Keys to Diversifying Computer Science Education, With Dr. Juan Gilbert

In 2014, other OECD countries invested 0.6 percent of their GDPs on active labor market policies, while the United States invested just 0.1 percent of its GDP. Moreover, the United States now invests less than half of what it did 30 years ago on such programs as a share of GDP, writes Stephen Ezell in Innovation Files.

Fact of the Week: Other OECD Nations Invest Six Times More Than the U.S. on Active Labor Market Policies Such as Workforce Training and Skills Development

U.S. manufacturing has employed one production worker for every non-production worker since 2002, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.

Innovation Fact of the Week: U.S. Manufacturing Holding Steady at One Production Worker For Every Non-production Worker

Washington had the highest demand for these job positions in 2017, with 12 percent of open job listings coming in data-science positions, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.

Fact of the Week: In the State of Washington, 12 Percent of Job Listings in 2017 Were for Data-Science Positions—the Highest Share Among the 50 States

A recent analysis shows that California’s share of all tech sector jobs has declined from around 19 percent in early 2020 to about 16 percent now.

Fact of the Week: California’s Tech Sector Has Added Only About 6,000 Jobs Since the Start of COVID

A recent working paper found that manufacturing firms, a 1 percent increase in techies’ share of wages was associated with a 4 percent increase in TFP in the next year.

Fact of the Week: The Share of Job Postings in the US Allowing Remote and Hybrid Work Arrangements Has More Than Tripled Since 2019

Editors’ Recommendations

It’s Not Up for Debate. Remote and Hybrid Are the Future of Work—Even for Federal Employees

Telecommute Nation: If Half of Us Could Work Remotely, Why Don't We?

Seven Ways to Make Remote Work Successful Beyond COVID-19

Related Search Content

A Policymaker’s Guide to the “Techlash”—What It Is and Why It’s a Threat to Growth and Progress

The Case Against Taxing Robots

Assessing the State of Digital Skills in the U.S. Economy