Reports & Briefings

For brief overviews of how key technologies work and why they matter, see ITIF’s “Technology Explainer Series.”

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June 15, 2020
Reforming FedRAMP: A Guide to Improving the Federal Procurement and Risk Management of Cloud Services
FedRAMP—the government program that sets standards for assessing, authorizing, and monitoring the security of cloud systems—can significantly improve. Absent reform, it will hamper agencies’ adoption of cloud services.
June 15, 2020
Faulty Prescription: Why a “Buy American” Approach for Drugs and Medical Products Is the Wrong Solution
COVID-19 has prompted calls for reshoring of medical goods, including strict “Buy American” prescriptions. While reshoring is important, “Buy American” fails to recognize the value of the global supply chain and avoids addressing the real problem, China.
June 8, 2020
Freedom Is Not Free License: Freedom House’s Flawed Measurement of “Internet Freedom”
The advocacy group’s annual report on Internet and digital media freedom is more polemic than dispassionate analysis. The State Department should stop funding it unless it focuses on true violations of Internet freedom, such as political persecution.
June 2, 2020
Connecting Digital Economies: Policy Recommendations for Cross-Border Payments
A World Economic Forum report—produced with extensive research contributions from ITIF—analyzes key barriers and challenges to cross-border payments and recommends how to overcome them to support global trade.
June 1, 2020
Monopoly Myths: Is Concentration Leading to Higher Markups?
No, markups have increased only slightly in some industries—and have stayed the same overall—which refutes claims that market concentration is giving firms more pricing power.
May 26, 2020
Building a Global Framework for Digital Health Services in the Era of COVID-19
Health data and digital technologies will be essential for improving global health outcomes beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Low- and middle-income nations, with fledgling digital health strategies and many barriers to overcome, stand to benefit the most.
May 18, 2020
Policy Recommendations to Stimulate U.S. Manufacturing Innovation
The health of U.S. manufacturing cannot be taken for granted, especially in the face of ever-more-intense international competition and the rapid pace of technological change.
May 18, 2020
More and Better: Building and Managing a Federal Energy Demonstration Project Portfolio
Demonstrating the commercial viability of new technologies for deep decarbonization requires federal funding. But the government’s past record is decidedly mixed. So Congress should increase funding for demonstration projects while reforming how they are administered.
May 18, 2020
Monopoly Myths: Is Concentration Leading to Higher Profits?
In short: no. Profits are difficult to measure accurately, but the best method is to focus on domestic earnings outside the financial sector as a share of net value added. By that measure, the long-term trend has been in decline.
May 11, 2020
Mind the Gap: A Design for a New Energy Technology Commercialization Foundation
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.

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