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

The European Commission has set out to ensure digital markets are “fair and contestable.” But in a paradigm shift for antitrust enforcement, its proposal would impose special regulations on a narrowly defined set of “gatekeepers.” Contrary to its intent, this will deter innovation—and hold back small and medium-sized firms—to the detriment of the economy.

The Digital Markets Act: European Precautionary Antitrust

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

Policymakers should seek to maximize the benefits of Internet openness while maintaining carefully designed guardrails that reduce the Internet’s most clearly harmful uses.

The Case for a Mostly Open Internet

Pharmaceutical innovation accounted for 73 percent of the increase in life expectancy (approximately 1.73 years) in 30 developing and developed countries from 2000 to 2009, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.

Fact of the Week: Pharmaceutical Innovation Accounted for 73 Percent of the Increase in Life Expectancy in 30 Developing and Developed Countries From 2000 to 2009

Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis updated a recent paper on the digital economy to include more precise data, and it expanded the observed period to cover the years 1997 through 2017. In doing so, it found that the digital economy grew 9.9 percent annually over this 20-year period—4.3 times faster than the overall economy—and represented 6.9 percent of U.S. GDP as of 2017.

Fact of the Week: The Digital Economy Grew 4.3 Times Faster than the U.S. Economy Overall from 1997 to 2017

A new report by ITIF finds that the fact that U.S. workers are 16 percent more productive than EU-15 workers is largely attributable to Europe’s failure to invest in information and communications technologies (ICT), which drives labor productivity.

Fact of the Week: Labor Productivity in the U.S. is Higher than in the EU, Largely Due to ICT Investments

A new study has sought to quantify this impact, tracking the availability of drugs released after 1981 that are designed to treat 66 diseases across 27 countries.

Fact of the Week: Drugs Launched After 1981 Have Saved 149 million Years of Life

Labor productivity growth has slowed dramatically across the developed world in recent years. In the United States, it dropped to just 0.96 percent in the 10-year period from 2007 to 2017. That was down by more than half from 2.06 percent in the previous 10-year period.

Fact of the Week: The Digital Economy has Contributed to 86 Percent of U.S. Labor Productivity Growth in Recent Years Despite Accounting for Only 8.2 Percent of GDP

If the Sub-Saharan African mobile penetration rate could be brought up to 75 phones per 100 people, it would be possible for living standards to increase an average of 30 percent, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.

Fact of the Week: Living Standards In Sub-Saharan Africa Could Rise 30 Percent If Mobile Phone Penetration Rates Increased From 25 Phones Per 100 People To 75

In the decade since the global financial crisis, the Chinese government has moved aggressively to stimulate capital investment that will strengthen its competitive position, both domestically and in global markets.

Fact of the Week: Chinese Government-backed Investment Funds Aim to Control $1.7 Trillion

The referendum likely discouraged business investment as uncertainty increased and firms redirected funds to prepare for an unknown post-Brexit landscape.

Fact of the Week: UK Business Investment Is More Than One-Third Below Its Pre-Brexit Trend

Although automation in the German manufacturing sector decreased employment by 23 percent from 1994 to 2014, these job losses were fully offset by new job opportunities in the service sector, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.

Fact of the Week: In Germany, Manufacturing Jobs Lost Through Automation From 1994 to 2014 Were Fully Offset by New Service Sector Jobs

A recent report by Japan’s National Institute of Standards and Technology found that China accounted for 4,744 of the approximately 17,440 scientific research papers that made up the top 1 percent in terms of citations. This accounted for 27.2 percent of that group.

Fact of the Week: China Now Leads the World in the Number of Top-Cited Scientific Research Papers Produced

American childen born to parents in the top 1 percent of the income distribution are 10 times more likely to grow up to be an inventor than those born to parents with incomes below the median, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.

Fact of the Week: An American Child Born to Parents in the Top 1 Percent of the Income Distribution is 10 Times More Likely to Grow up to be an Inventor Than a Child Born to Parents With Incomes Below the Median

Fact of the Week: India’s Population Is Set To Overtake China’s This Month

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The Case Against Taxing Robots

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