Understanding the Effects of Technology on Economics and Governance

Understanding the Effects of Technology on Economics and Governance

Hoovers scholars address how America can grapple with risks and exploit strategic advantages presented by technology. Issues being studied include competing technologically with China; protecting American citizens and companies in cyberspace; and protecting freedom of speech while mitigating the spread of false information.

We sit in the Silicon Valley surrounded by technology and innovation. What I find here is that people tend to take for granted that technology is good. In fact, technology is neutral. However, it can be applied for good or evil, in the manner in which it affects institutions and people's lives. Human beings have been historically a lot better at the knowledge part than the wisdom part. The same splitting of the atom that allowed us to turn on the lights of civil nuclear power or administer medical isotopes, also gave us the atom bomb.

Condoleezza Rice

What our Fellows are saying

Amy Zegart

Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow

John B. Taylor

George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics

Drew Endy

Science Fellow/Senior Fellow (courtesy)

“Google is a platform by which adversaries do all sorts of bad things. So, you can't opt out of geopolitics if you're a company, and that's especially true for tech platforms. They don't, and I often joke that government agencies want technological capabilities from the Valley that they don't have. And Silicon Valley companies have responsibilities that they don't want. And so, each side is grappling with these really difficult challenges about how to be responsible for national security.”

—Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow Amy Zegart on Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, March 31, 2022

“We must bear in mind that the United States should seek to maintain its edge in innovation not just to compete with China and others. Technology also offers benefits to our economy and society that the country can ill-afford to miss. For instance, there is great opportunity to harness the promise of technology to address some of our most pressing problems of inequality in education and health care. And needless to say, the connectivity that we have all experienced during the COVID pandemic reminds us that new ways of working, new ways of learning, and more productive ways of doing both can be significantly enhanced by technology.”

—George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics John B. Taylor and Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow Amy Zegart in a paper for Hoover’s  Technology, Economics, and Governance Working Group, March 29, 2021

“Synthesis in the oldest form of the word in Greek is about composition and putting together. And so synthetic biology in a way represents a new perspective with respect to living systems. How do we think about relating to them as we put and piece them together… As much as the technology is absolutely essential, what will make it work is everything else — the culture, the politics, the economics, the anthropology, the structure of the narrative, the security strategy, and so on."

—Senior Fellow Drew Endy, "Synthetic Biology for Democracy," Technology, Economics, and Governance Working Group, August 18, 2022.

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John Taylor Hoover Headshot

John B. Taylor

George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics

John B. Taylor is the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution and the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at…

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Amy Zegart

Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow

Amy Zegart is the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) at Stanford…

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Lee Ohanian Hoover Headshot

Lee Ohanian

Senior Fellow (adjunct)

Lee E. Ohanian is a senior fellow (adjunct) at the Hoover Institution and a professor of economics and director of the Ettinger Family Program in…

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Douglas Rivers

Senior Fellow

Douglas Rivers is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor of political science at Stanford University. He is also the Chief Scientist at…

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John Villasenor

Senior Fellow (adjunct)

John Villasenor was a senior fellow (adjunct) at the Hoover Institution and is also on the faculty at UCLA, where he is a professor of electrical…

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Drew Endy

Drew Endy

Science Fellow/Senior Fellow (courtesy)

Drew Endy is an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University who studies and teaches synthetic biology. His goals are civilization-scale…

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National Security, Technology & Law Working Group

National Security, Technology & Law Working Group

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Technology, Economics, and Governance Working Group

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Stanford Emerging Technology Review

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