No, local governments generally are not well-suited to providing broadband service. Economic theory suggests city-run broadband would not serve the country well, and previous real-world attempts bear that out with a mixed track record marked by several failures.

Broadband Myths: Does Municipal Broadband Scale Well  to Fit U.S. Broadband Needs?

Momentum for an infrastructure package presents a tremendous opportunity to close the digital divide. Policymakers should avoid a political stalemate by eschewing utility-style broadband overbuilding and instead focus on pragmatic expansion of cost-effective, competitive networks.

Refining the Biden Broadband Proposal

Josh Parker joined NVIDIA in 2023 to lead the company’s corporate sustainability program. 

Josh Parker

Yitzchak Besser served as a research fellow at ITIF from September 2022 to March 2023.

Yitzchak Besser

Former U.S. Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) was co-chair of ITIF's board from 2021 to 2023.

Susan Davis

America’s leadership in advanced-technology industries can never be taken for granted, as evidenced by its losses in telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, televisions, solar panels, and chemicals. Policymakers must recognize what went wrong in those cases to avoid a similar industrial decline in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Not Again: Why the United States Can’t Afford to Lose Its Biopharma Industry

Watch now to learn more about the ongoing efforts to reform U.S. antitrust law.

The DOJ-FTC 2023 Merger Guidelines: Evolution or Revolution?

A December 2023 working paper found that China’s technology capital would decrease by about 36 percent in the absence of production and knowledge spillovers from multinationals.

Fact of the Week: Multinational Firms’ Production and Knowledge Spillovers Increased China’s Technology Capital by 36 Percent

A November 2023 working paper found that a 10 percent increase in digital connectivity reduced trade costs by about 1.5–2 percent.

Fact of the Week: A 10 Percent Increase in Digital Connectivity Reduces Trade Costs by 2 Percent

A 2023 working paper suggests that firms that establish supply chain links with superstar firms saw an increase in total factor productivity of about 8 percent after three years.

Fact of the Week: Belgian Firms That Sold Their Products to Superstar Firms Increased Their Productivity by 8 Percent

A November 2023 working paper found that firms that adopted Industry 4.0 technologies experienced, on average, a 3.7 percentage point increase in labor productivity.

Fact of the Week: Adoption of “Industry 4.0” Technologies Increased Italian Firms’ Productivity by 3.7 Percentage Points

China now dominates the strategically important industries in ITIF’s Hamilton Index, producing more than any other nation in absolute terms and more than all but a few others in relative terms. Its gains are coming at the expense of the United States and other G7 and OECD economies, and time is running short for policymakers to mount an industrial comeback.

The Hamilton Index, 2023: China Is Running Away With Strategic Industries

This visualization tool breaks down the Hamilton Index dataset at the industry level and for the composite Hamilton Index, showing the state of global competition from 1995 through 2020 in terms of market share and relative performance (LQ).

The Hamilton Index, 2023: Data Visualization for Industries

This data visualization tool profiles countries and multinational groupings based on their relative performance and market shares in Hamilton industries.

The Hamilton Index, 2023: Data Visualization for Countries

This visualization tool benchmarks nations’ progress over time in Hamilton industries by weighing changes in their gross value-added output and relative specialization.

The Hamilton Index, 2023: Data Visualization of Momentum

Rob Atkinson spoke about energy at a workshop hosted by the Georgia Institute of Technology.

2023 NNCTA Equity and Labor Workshop

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