Understanding the Effects of Technology on Economics and Governance

“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

“Bipartisan initiatives to regulate Big Tech continue to gain traction in Congress amidst allegations that these firms have stifled competition and mismanaged private data.... a majority of Democrats and pluralities of Republicans and Independents favor increasing regulatory resources and action against the tech industry.”

—Senior Fellows David Brady and Douglas Rivers in a paper for Hoover’s Technology, Economics, and Governance Working Group, March 8, 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