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

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

Many say the decline in new business formation over the past 30 years has been caused by increased monopoly. But there is no statistical relationship between start-up creation and change in concentration by industry; high-growth start-up activity is healthy.

Monopoly Myths: Is Concentration Leading to Fewer Start-Ups?

The failure of small venture-backed businesses to qualify for Paycheck Protection Loans could cost more than 275,000 jobs this year directly and more 1 million jobs in total, including indirect losses. The Trump administration should waive the Small Business Administration’s “affiliation rule” in this crisis to prevent these mass layoffs and furloughs.

How SBA’s Affiliation Rules for Venture-Backed Firms Will Limit the Effectiveness of the Paycheck Protection Program

The engines of a nation's competitiveness, innovation, and productivity are not mom-and-pop small businesses but rather the firms in traded sectors, many of which are big firms.

In Praise of Big Business: Part 1

If we want to restore American competitiveness it’s time to rethink programs designed to help Main Street small business, and how big business can drive real economic recovery.

In Praise of Big Business: Part 2 (Why Government Policy Should be “Size Agnostic”)

Yesterday the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing on “offshore profits shifting,” with a focus on making Apple and its CEO Tim Cook into the poster child of corporate tax avoidance. As I wrote in The Hill, blame is not a national competitiveness strategy. But another theme of the event was the seeming unfairness of a situation where domestic multinationals like Apple are not required to pay the full 35 percent tax on their foreign earnings. Despite the fact that we are one of the only nations with a worldwide system of taxation (that requires U.S. multinationals to pay US taxes on foreign earnings when they bring them home), this notion is actually wrong. It is actually in the interest of non-multinational U.S. firms for multinationals to pay less in taxes. Here’s why. 

Multinationals (Not Main Street) are the Key to Job Growth

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

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

The process of “creative destruction,” whereby new technologies and business models displace old ones, is key to growth and innovation. The evolution of the retail industry illustrates why it is beneficial and sheds light on the pitfalls of current legislative and regulatory efforts to limit it.

The Process of Creative Destruction, Illustrated: The US Retail Industry

Continued leadership in high-performance computing (HPC) as it enters the exascale era remains a key pillar of U.S. industrial competitiveness, economic power, and national security readiness. Policymakers need to sustain investments in HPC applications, infrastructure, and skills to keep America at the leading edge.

A New Frontier: Sustaining U.S. High-Performance Computing Leadership in an Exascale Era

America has lost 70 percent of its semiconductor manufacturing capacity over the last three decades. That serves as a harsh lesson for policymakers: Failing to maintain a supportive policy environment could set up other high-tech industries to falter, too.

Going, Going, Gone? To Stay Competitive in Biopharmaceuticals, America Must Learn From Its Semiconductor Mistakes

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

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

Policymakers can and should do more to support blockchain innovation and adoption, such as ensuring regulations are targeted and flexible, so as to encourage blockchain experimentation.

Fact of the Week: US Small Businesses Are 47 Percent as Productive as Big Businesses

Related Search Content

The Case Against Taxing Robots

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

Monopoly Myths: Is Concentration Leading to Fewer Start-Ups?