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

Chinese high-speed rail firm CRRC is less innovative than European and Japanese firms, but mercantilist policies help it dominate in China and expand globally. This starves superior firms of revenue, reduces their R&D, and slows the pace of global innovation.

Heading Off Track: The Impact of China’s Mercantilist Policies on Global High-Speed Rail Innovation

Economic, trade, innovation, and global value chain (GVC) linkages between the United States and Taiwan are vitally important to both nations’ advanced technology industries and broader economies. Policymakers should work to deepen them.

The Evolution of Taiwan’s Trade Linkages With the U.S. and Global Economies

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed gaps in society’s digital readiness for social distancing. If policymakers seize the opportunity to address these gaps, they can make it easier to manage the next pandemic while providing significant long-term social and economic benefits.

Digital Policy for Physical Distancing: 28 Stimulus Proposals That Will Pay Long-Term Dividends

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

Congress should pass Postal Service reform legislation that focuses on two key things: freeing up USPS to make the kinds of reforms it needs to reduce costs, and establishing a Technology Innovation Fund to enable robotic last-mile postal delivery.

A New Vision for Postal Reform  in the E-commerce Age

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

Completing a second expansion of the Information Technology Agreement (an “ITA-3”) could bring more than 400 unique ICT products under the ITA’s tariff-eliminating framework, which would add more than $750 billion to the global economy over 10 years.

How Expanding the Information Technology Agreement to an “ITA-3” Would Bolster Nations’ Economic Growth

Join ITIF and OECD to explore policy questions that arose in the context of the OECD Review of Innovation Policy: Germany, but which have relevance to both the United States and Germany.

The Future of Manufacturing and Innovation in Germany and the United States

Innovation ecosystems are increasingly complex and diverse, but there are common markers of core strength. In this report, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the German Economic Institute, the Institute for Competitiveness, and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute benchmark 96 states and regions across Germany, Italy, the United States, and Canada.

The Transatlantic Subnational Innovation Competitiveness Index

Low-productivity firms that may find themselves lagging in today’s economy have the opportunity to catch up to frontier firms by increasing their investments in software to build a digital presence for consumers and to digitally streamline workplace operations.

Fact of the Week: Software Is the Best Capital Investment Low-Productivity Firms Can Make to Spur Labor Output

AI promises to help cities save money, address infrastructure needs, and reduce emissions. But to unlock these benefits and help smart cities reach their full potential, the federal government has an important role to play in funding RD&D and facilitating cooperation.

Fact of the Week: Increasing Investment in Capital and Automation Would Help, Rather Than Hurt, Manufacturing Workers

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