Publications

When it comes to a nation’s innovation and global competitiveness, what truly matters is how the top students perform, since they will play a disproportionate role in shaping the nation’s technological and economic edge. Policymakers should expand K-12 gifted and talented programs and provide high school students with more advanced and honors classes.

India’s restrictive foreign direct investment rules for e-commerce significantly constrain the operations of major U.S. platforms by prohibiting inventory-led models and limiting marketplace activities. These regulations create substantial operational and compliance challenges for U.S. companies, potentially ceding strategic advantages in a key global market to competitors from nations like China.

Turkey’s amended Internet Law (Law 5651) imposes strict rules on social media platforms, including appointing local representatives and rapidly removing content under threat of heavy fines and bandwidth throttling.

India’s 2023 Digital Personal Data Protection Act introduces a data governance framework with significant compliance obligations and penalties, particularly impacting large U.S. technology firms often designated as ‘Significant Data Fiduciaries’. While establishing rules for user consent and data handling, the Act’s heavy burdens risk weakening U.S. tech competitiveness in a key market, potentially creating advantages for competitors from nations like China.

Germany’s Section 19a GWB imposes significant new regulatory burdens primarily on major U.S. tech platforms, aiming to curb their market power through preemptive interventions. While intended to address market dynamics within Europe, these restrictions on U.S. firms could inadvertently create strategic openings for competitors from adversary nations like China.

The EU’s Digital Markets Act imposes strict restrictions on the business models of large digital platforms and bans self-preferencing. While the regulation is framed as a competition policy, it disproportionately targets U.S. tech firms in practice. This restriction on integrated platform design imposes significant operational costs and structural changes on American firms, undermining their competitive position relative to rivals like China.

The EU’s Digital Services Act mandates strict content moderation and risk mitigation, imposing significant compliance burdens and costs mainly on large U.S. tech platforms. This regulatory environment disproportionately impacts American firms and potentially advantages Chinese competitors in the European market.

South Korea’s unique approach to Internet traffic management imposes burdensome obligations on global content providers—particularly U.S. firms—through mandated network fees under its “Sending Party Pays” (SPP) framework. While intended to address ISP cost concerns, the system distorts market dynamics and creates asymmetric trade pressures. Its real-world effects extend beyond compliance costs: the model disadvantages American technology companies while giving Chinese firms a relative edge in the Korean digital market.

The Trump administration’s “MFN” drug-price proposal would pose a far greater threat to U.S. biopharma innovation than the Inflation Reduction Act, because unlike the IRA’s selective list, MFN could apply across virtually every medicine, multiplying the deleterious impact.

There is a clear linkage between technology and national security, economic strength and social stability.