Since 2011, the U.S. government has spent over $400 million to provide broadband Internet access to 1.6 million people. A recent study investigated the impact that policies like these can have by examining the construction of broadband infrastructure across China, finding that every 10 percent increase in a region’s infrastructure increased firms’ productivity by 1.1 percent and workers’ wages by 4.2 percent.
China
November 18, 2019
November 15, 2019
As ITIF President Rob Atkinson and Jonathan Ward, founder of Atlas Organization, write in an op-ed for Fox Business, focusing on domestic productivity and preserving the U.S. edge in advanced and emerging technologies will help America win the economic and technological contest against China, as well as turn the tide in the U.S.-China competition for global power.
October 23, 2019
Nearly 25 percent of all R&D expenditures in China come in the form of government subsidies to firms. It would be ideal if China dramatically reduced these innovation subsidies so American workers in innovation industries would face a level playing field, but the chances of that happening are slim to none. It is time for the federal government to step up its game and provide significantly more support for industrial R&D.
October 18, 2019
In essay for a compilation published by the Center for Strategic & International Studies, Nigel Cory explained that the United States and China have fundamentally different approaches to governance of the digital economy.
September 3, 2019
In an article for Daily Caller's American Renewal, conservatives should embrace an industrial strategy to deliver economic security, national security, and freedom.
August 19, 2019
The United States leads the race for global advantage in artificial intelligence, at least for the time being, with China coming in second and the EU lagging behind. But China is poised to challenge U.S. dominance in coming years as it undertakes bold AI initiatives.
August 13, 2019
As Rob Atkinson writes for National Interest, the Trump administration should work toward market-based decoupling that effectively loosens China’s grip on global production.
August 12, 2019
The United States is continuing to drift in the wrong direction when it comes to federal funding for research and development (R&D). We parsed the numbers last year in a blog post that showed a five-decade-long slide had been accelerating since 2009. Now we have another year’s worth of data, and the picture is getting worse. At this pace, ITIF estimates the United States will fall behind China in R&D investment by 2021.
August 12, 2019
China is challenging the United States for market share and jobs in one of the highest value-added, most innovation-intensive industries—and the risks extend not just to the U.S. economy, but to global biopharma innovation.
August 9, 2019
Successful negotiations between two parties—whether between spouses, companies, or in the case of the trade war with China, countries—depend on each side having an honest assessment of their part in the conflict.
July 10, 2019
ITIF hosted a spirited debate about the fraught economic political realities of the U.S.-China trading relationship and the best-available options for policymakers.
July 8, 2019
Until the last decade, major nations primarily provided financing to domestic exporters only as a lender of last resort. Since then, official medium- and long-term export crediting has more than doubled from $55 billion in 2008 to $129 billion in 2018.
June 13, 2019
A survey of allied think tanks summarizes what 23 nations and the EU are doing best when it comes to innovation policy, and where there are the greatest opportunities to improve. In many cases, the successes can serve as model policies for other countries to adopt.
May 26, 2019
In a column for Latin Trade Magazine, Rob Atkinson writes that the China-U.S. trade war can be an opportunity for Latin America.
May 9, 2019
Chinese policymakers cling to a strident view that national sovereignty in the cyber realm supersedes the need to enable data flows or cooperate with trading partners on important international norms.
May 2, 2019
In an article for National Review, Rob Atkinson writes that, at its heart, Chinese state capitalism is a system in which the purpose of firms — private and public — is to fulfill the goals of the Communist Party.
April 8, 2019
If China were only a copier, then the competitive threat to advanced economies would be limited. But there is no reason to believe China won’t follow the path of “Asian tigers” that rapidly evolved from copiers to innovators, which poses a serious threat.
April 1, 2019
As Rob Atkinson writes for Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Margarethe Vestager’s decision to veto a merger between rail companies Alstom and Siemens shows how preventing EU firms from merging will result in weakened and shrunken European competitors.
February 27, 2019
Rob Atkinson testified before the Senate Small Business Committee on the issue of unfair Chinese trade and technology policies and practices and what the federal government should do in response.
February 19, 2019
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.
February 7, 2019
The Washington trade and economics establishment has largely dismissed the threat Chinese innovation mercantilist practices pose to the U.S. economy, jobs and national security. The threat is serious, and China needs to be confronted, Rob Atkinson writes for the Washington Post.
February 5, 2019
As Eline Chivot and Daniel Castro write for Euronews, Europe will not win the global AI race by philosophizing on the sidelines. Instead, it needs to focus on putting in place the investment, skills, data, and regulations needed to outcompete China.
January 28, 2019
Recognizing that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are less profitable and innovative than private firms, China relinquished control of many SOEs beginning in the late 1990s, but still gives former SOEs easier access to loans and favors them in allocating subsidies. A new study analyzed the impacts of this, observing Chinese enterprises’ performance between 1998 and 2013.
January 28, 2019
From a skewed standardization law in China to mercantilist digital services tax proposals in Europe, when countries impose protectionist policies in high-value, high-tech sectors, they don’t just damage competitors; they damage the entire global innovation system.
December 18, 2018
If Europe wants to set its own course in the new global order, then the most important first step is to join with America to fight for free trade and an open Chinese market.