Political Economy with Jim Pethokoukis

Since the early 1970s, Americans have seen disappointing levels of economic growth and technological progress. But the potential of artificial intelligence, gene editing, blockchain technology, clean energy, and many more innovations on the horizon provide great reason to be optimistic about the future of the US economy. I recently discussed this potential in a recent AEI online panel discussion,...

Since the 1980s, the United States has prioritized low inflation, to great success. Policymakers have regularly kept inflation at or below their 2-percent targets, even during periods with record-low interest rates. As a result, many observers have been — and continue to be — pretty comfortable with spending trillions of dollars on pandemic relief… and now infrastructure projects. But what if the...

On both sides of the aisle, calls for industrial policy seem to be gaining momentum. Americans have grown more skeptical about markets in the aftermath of the Great Recession. And China’s more managed economy seems to be growing faster and rivaling the US as the technological leader of the world. Many policymakers have reacted by saying that the US government needs to embrace industrial policy and...

Is spending $1.9 trillion as the economy emerges from the COVID recession a wise move? At what point will policymakers begin paying for their spending initiatives? And what kinds of taxation will we engage in to collect more revenue when the time comes? On today’s episode, I discuss these questions and many more with Alex Brill. Alex is a resident fellow at AEI, where he studies the impact of tax...

On today's episode, Alex Nowrasteh explores the effect of immigration on cultural and political institutions in developed countries, as well as the future of immigration policy under the Biden administration. Alex is the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. He is also the coauthor, along with Benjamin Powell, of Wretched Refuse? The Poli...

In response to the demands of World War II, America generated an impressive amount of innovation in a short time span. Policymakers look back on this record as a model to aspire to, claiming that we “need a new Manhattan Project” to tackle the looming crises of the present. So what lessons should we take away from World War II-era innovation policy? On today’s episode, I discuss this question with...

After beating the Soviet Union in the race to the moon, America lost much of its drive to explore space for several decades. However, with the rise of private pioneers such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, this has begun to change. And as the US resumes its exploration of outer space, many questions have been raised. Can a private space economy be profitable? Do we have good reason to return to the moon...

Despite wide agreement that America’s infrastructure quality is relatively low, per-unit infrastructure costs are higher in the US today compared to the rest of the world and to America 50-60 years. Why is this? Are regulations and rent-seeking to blame? Could it reflect some kind of improvement in quality? Today’s guest, Leah Brooks, provides an in-depth exploration of this topic for today’s epis...

How can research institutions promote growth, other than simply spending more money on basic R&D? Today’s guest, Don Braben, argues that we need to promote scientific freedom by easing up on the strictures of peer review and the demands of obvious applicability. Only then can we enable scientists to generate more of the revolutionary discoveries that we took for granted in the twentieth centur...

America’s university system is the envy of the world, and a major reason for this is that this higher education system is crucial to our innovative capacity. So in today’s episode, Korok Ray explains how universities promote innovation and, more importantly, what they can do to boost their contribution to the US economy even further. Korok is an associate professor at the Mays Business School of T...

America’s adoption of the consumer welfare standard since the late 1970s has led to the rise of innovative Big Tech companies like Google and Amazon. Other countries, particularly in Europe, would love to have massively successful tech firms of their own, but they’re constrained in part by their more restrictive antitrust doctrines. And yet, many conservatives have begun to sound like progressives...

With every year, artificial intelligence becomes increasingly advanced. Innovators are creating and refining applications for AI in industries ranging from health care to transportation. Many economists are optimistic about this developing technology, viewing it as a means of finally escaping the disappointing productivity growth of the past few decades. Other observers are concerned, anticipating...

When Joe Biden becomes the 46th president today, he will inherit an economy that continues to struggle under the weight of the COVID pandemic. In response, Biden has announced an ambitious early economic policy agenda to stimulate the economy, raise the national minimum wage, provide aid to state and local governments, and reopen schools. What should people make of these plans? Are they well suite...

The incoming Biden administration will inherit a trading landscape that has been shaped by President Trump’s protectionism. The key question is: How much continuity will there be between Trump and Biden’s trade policies? Moreover, how strong of a stance will we take against Chinese mercantilism in the next few years, and will other countries join us? I discussed these questions on today's episode...

Humans are both ‘traders’ and ‘tribalists’ by nature. We’re traders because we have exchanged knowledge and goods throughout history. Indeed, the story of human progress has been the story of humanity combining its skills and resources to become more prosperous than would have been possible on our own. But we’re also tribalists, because we evolved to form communities that then polarized themselves...

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has come under a lot of fire recently. But what does the law actually say, and how would changing it affect the internet as we know it? I discuss these questions and more in today's interview with Jeff Kosseff. Jeff is an assistant professor of cybersecurity law in the US Naval Academy’s cyber science department. He is also the author of the 2019...

Happy holidays! We’ll have a new episode next Wednesday, but today I wanted to re-share my favorite interview of 2020 with you all. I hope you enjoy it. Many Americans view our space program skeptically, wondering why we should bother spending money on it when we have so many problems to fix on Earth. Ever since the space race with the Soviet Union ended, the US lost much of its interest in contin...

There are many anti-Big Tech activists and politicians who want to heavily regulate or dismantle companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook. They fear that these companies have become too big and too powerful, often even referring to these companies as ‘monopolies.’ But maybe this isn’t a fair characterization. Perhaps these Big Tech companies need to offer far more value to consumers than...

Health care policy is difficult, featuring intractable trade-offs that make it nearly impossible to satisfy everyone. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that one of our two political parties has increasingly flirted with the utopian proposal of Medicare for All, with little understanding of how to enact it or what the unintended consequences might be. And the other party seems determined to avoid the...

Should Americans look back nostalgically on the economy of the 1950s and 1960s? If so, what lessons should policymakers learn from this time period, and how can they be applied to boost economic opportunity today? On today's episode, I'll be discussing these questions and more with Jim Tankersley. Jim is a tax and economics reporter for The New York Times, where he writes about the state of Americ...

It seems like, not long ago, arguments against immigration focused almost entirely on illegal immigrants. And then it became, “Actually, we’re also concerned about low-skilled immigration.” And then that concern started applying to higher-skilled immigrants replacing American workers in more advanced positions. And now, it seems like some people just don’t want any immigrants — especially during t...

Philip Coggan discusses the history of the world economy and explores its lessons for today's economic challenges, including the need for greater innovation, the rise of China, and the disruption inflicted by COVID. The post Philip Coggan: How did the world get so rich? appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .

Mervyn King explores how some uncertainty is unavoidable and how statistical forecasts can lead us astray if we're not careful. The post Mervyn King: How to handle radical uncertainty appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .

Brookings's Richard Reeves and Isabel Sawhill discuss their new report, "A New Contract with the Middle Class," with AEI's Jim Pethokoukis and Michael Strain. The post Richard Reeves, Isabel Sawhill, & Michael Strain: A new contract with the middle class appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .

Famed science fiction TV producer and writer Ronald D. Moore discusses his new show, For All Mankind, and explores the optimism found throughout his career's work. The post Ronald D. Moore: The sci-fi optimism of ‘For All Mankind,’ ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ and ‘Star Trek’ appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .