The United States government has pursued trade liberalization for several decades. A substantial driver of this liberalization has been the assumption that more global trade would help developing countries become wealthier. However, there is considerable research that shows how trade liberalization policies have not always been the best tool to help support economic growth and…
A year ago, at the height of the pandemic, a severe shortage of vital personal protective equipment (PPE) hit America. Hospitals were asking staff to re-use masks and other protective equipment. Health care professionals, political leaders, and ordinary people with family members in hospitals and on ventilators were all in agreement: the U.S. must not…
When President Biden laid out his vision for the U.S. economy before Congress on April 28th, he emphasized that rebuilding the U.S. economy should focus on “jobs, jobs, jobs.” The federal government should give preference to U.S.-made products as much as possible. To hammer home the point, Biden added: “there is simply no reason why…
Intel announced last week it will spend $20 billion building two new fabs in Arizona to take it into the foundry business, aiming to make chips for large, important customers like Apple, Microsoft or Qualcomm. That’s good news, but it doesn’t solve the fundamental problem of US dependency on Asia for the manufacture of chips.…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Chief Economist Joe Biden is getting lots of advice from many quarters for his new administration. But last week he got some from an unexpected quarter: Bob Swan, CEO of Intel, published an open letter urging Biden to pursue a national manufacturing strategy for the US semiconductor industry. “Rising costs and…