issue: Telecom

Mexico: The Rise of the Mexican App Economy

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

All around the world we are seeing the rise of the App Economy—jobs, companies, and economic growth created by the production and distribution of mobile applications (“apps”) that run on smartphones. Since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the App Economy has grown from nothing to a powerful economic force that rivals existing industries.

In this paper, we examine the production and distribution of mobile apps as a source of growth and job creation for Mexico. We find that Mexico had over 225,000 App Economy jobs as of March 2016. What’s more, Mexico’s connectivity with the global economy, particularly the United States, gives the country the potential to add many more App Economy jobs in the near future.

Mexico has long benefited from strong relationships with its global trading partners and has been an enthusiastic supporter of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. An important next step for Mexico is to seize the opportunities provided by the new economy, realizing its potential for creating new export markets. Trade is now much more than just traditional goods and services—it is also digital goods, such as mobile apps.

Mexico is also benefiting from a relatively stable economy in a time of volatility in the region. Mexico has managed to register slow but steady growth rates over the past few years. For 2015, Mexico showed annual growth of 2.5 percent, while the overall Latin American economy contracted by 0.3 percent. As the global economy stabilizes and Mexico continues its steady growth amongst a region plagued with uncertainty, the country can further strength its position as an economic leader in Latin America.

 

The Rise of the Mexican App Economy

El Surgimiento de la App Economy Mexicana

PRESS RELEASE: Consumers Want One Set of Rules Protecting Their Information

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 27, 2016

CONSUMERS WANT ONE SET OF RULES PROTECTING THEIR ONLINE INFORMATION, PUBLIC OPINION STRATEGIES AND HART SURVEY FINDS

National Poll Finds 94 Percent of Internet Users Agree All Companies Collecting Data Online Should Follow Same Rules

WASHINGTON—When consumers go online, they want their privacy protected, and they feel that no matter which company has their data – be it Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, T-Mobile or Twitter – that company should be held to the same set of rules, according to a new national survey by Public Opinion Strategies and Peter Hart.

The survey, conducted on behalf of the Progressive Policy Institute, demonstrates that online consumers do not have different concerns based on which specific entities collect online data. By overwhelming margins, 94% to 5%, Internet users agree that “All companies collecting data online should follow the same consumer privacy rules so that consumers can be assured that their personal data is protected regardless of the company that collects or uses it,” including 82% of Internet users who say they “strongly” agree with that statement.

“Ultimately, consumers want to know there is one set of rules that equally applies to every company that is able to obtain and share their data, whether it be search engines, social networks, or ISPs, and they want that data protected based on the sensitivity of what is being collected” said Peter Hart.

Consumers believe that all internet companies have access to a lot of data about their online behavior, and they want consistent privacy rules to apply to all of these companies regarding the treatment of this data. Of those surveyed, 83% agreed that online privacy should be protected based on the sensitivity of their online data, rather than on who is collecting and using the data.

The national poll of 800 Internet users was completed by a live telephone survey. The results clearly support that consumers want clear, uniform rules that protect their privacy based on the sensitivity of the data, not based on the type of company that uses the data.

###

PPI Poll: Recent National Survey of Internet Users

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

On behalf of the Progressive Policy Institute, Public Opinion Strategies & Peter D. Hart completed a live telephone survey of 800 Internet users nationally, May 23‐25, 2016. Fully 40% of the telephone interviews were conducted via cell phone, and the margin of error for the survey is +3.46%. The purpose of this memo is to review the key findings from the survey.

Download “Internet-User-National-Survey-May-23-25-Key-Findings-Memo”

 

Argentina: The Road to the App Economy

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

All around the world we are seeing the rise of the App Economy—jobs, companies, and economic growth created by the production and distribution of mobile applications (“apps”) that run on smartphones. Since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the App Economy has grown from nothing to a powerful economic force that rivals existing industries.

In this paper we examine the production and distribution of mobile apps as a source of growth and job creation for Argentina. We find that Argentina had roughly 33,250 App Economy jobs as of March 2016.

What’s more, Argentina has the potential to add many more App Economy jobs in the near future. With President Mauricio Macri taking office in December 2015, Argentina began the arduous process of regaining its economic stability after the country’s crippling debt disputes of the prior 15 years.

Macri has made some large strides in normalizing the economy such as lifting currency controls, removing several export taxes, and most importantly, settling the debt dispute. By reaching an agreement with the holdout bondholders, Ar- gentina has regained access to international financial markets, giving Argentines, as well as outsider investors, hope for Argentina’s return to economic stability.

Download “2016.05-DiIonno_Mandel_Argentina_The-Road-to-the-App-Economy”

The Washington Post: Why Trump and Clinton should name their entire Cabinets right now

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Now that Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has announced Carly Fiorina as his vice presidential pick — an unusual move for a presidential candidate trailing in the polls and weeks out from his party’s convention — speculation will inevitably follow about who front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump might select as running mates. Not only should they follow Cruz’s lead, they should go a step further and, well before Election Day, publicly name the individuals they’d appoint as Cabinet members.

That Cruz’s approach isn’t already the norm is a weakness in the way we choose our chief executive.

The American public deserves to have at least a sense, before ballots are cast, of those who would hold the most powerful positions within the next administration. This is particularly true for the departments of State, Treasury, Defense and Justice, whose leaders are invested with authority over many of the core activities of the country — everything from negotiating treaties to overseeing federal criminal investigations at the highest level.

But not just the big four: the secretary of Health and Human Services oversees the single-largest slice of total federal spending; and the need for a competent and experienced secretary of Homeland Security is self-evident in an era when border security and the threat of terrorism weigh on citizens’ minds. Even the seemingly smaller Cabinet portfolios can wield influence over major areas of public policy, including Energy, Transportation and Labor. And all Cabinet members, by statute, are in the line of succession to the presidency.

Continue reading at The Washington Post.

PPI Tackles Tax Disputes in Europe

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Last week, PPI led a bipartisan delegation of 10 high-ranking Congressional staffers to London and Brussels, which is still grieving in the aftermath of the March 22 terrorist attacks. Our visit there so soon after the atrocity was greeted warmly as an act of transatlantic solidarity.

The Digital Economy Study Group was the third such delegation PPI has taken to Europe in as many years. Our mission is to engage influential government and private leaders in exploring common ways to tackle our mutual dilemma of slow growth and stalled social mobility. We believe more innovation and growth are the best antidotes to the virulent strains of populism that are warping democratic politics on both sides of the Atlantic.

Our trip began last Tuesday in London at 10 Downing Street, where Daniel Korski, deputy head of policy for Prime Minister David Cameron, briefed our delegation on the government’s efforts—including a low-tax patent or innovation box—to encourage greater digital investment in the UK. Then it was on to Westminster, where Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger led the group on an entertaining tour of Parliament, which also included a brisk dissection of Britain’s controversial Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax.

Also at Parliament, Labour MP Meg Hillier, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, defended the government’s diverted profits tax as a response to public anger over the tax avoidance strategies of international companies. At breakfast the next day, veteran Labour MP John Spellar offered a trenchant analysis of how economic change and slow growth have scrambled British politics and led directly to June’s “Brexit” referendum. At UK Treasury, Financial Secretary David Gauke explained how recent reforms to corporate tax rules have resulted in greater foreign investment and business creation.

On Thursday, we took the Eurostar to Brussels, where the U.S. Mission to the European Union briefed us on difficult aspects of the US-EU economic relationship, including the new “Privacy Shield” agreement, international tax policy, and the TTIP trade pact. At the European Commission’s powerful Competition directorate, the group had a robust exchange of views with officials overseeing “state aid” investigations that have called into question tax agreements negotiated by EU member states and U.S. companies. We expect these issues resurfaced this week when Commissioner Margarethe Vestager visited Washington for talks with Congress and the administration.

Later, officials at DG CONNECT briefed the group on Europe’s efforts to establish a digital single market and plans for “platform regulation” to create space for European tech companies to grow. On Friday, the DG GROW team discussed their wide-ranging efforts to spur entrepreneurship and digital skills building across Europe. The growing gulf between U.S. and European views on tax policy also was the subject of a lunch with Bart Van Humbeeck, economic advisor to Kris Peeters, Vice-Prime Minister of Belgium, hosted by Paul Hofheinz of the Lisbon Council. Our last official meeting was with PPI friend Ann Mettler, Head of the European Strategy Centre, an in-house think tank for EU President Jean-Claude Junker.

These frank and in-depth discussions enabled us and Congressional staff to get a better understanding of the sometimes byzantine workings of the EU, as well as its often different perspectives on issues vital to both sides—privacy and cross-border data flows, digital innovation, trade, tax, copyright and more. The visits also have impressed on our European friends that U.S. policymakers are paying closer attention to such issues. PPI’s hope is to nudge these sometimes contentious conversations to common ground, and strengthen the fraying bonds of transatlantic economic cooperation.

Press Release: PPI Unveils New Blueprint for Shared Prosperity

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 2016

Contact: Cody Tucker, 202-775-0106
or ctucker@ppionline.org

A Progressive Alternative to Populism

PPI Unveils New Blueprint for Shared Prosperity

WASHINGTON—The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) today released Unleashing Innovation and Growth: A Progressive Alternative to Populism, a new blueprint for renewing America’s economic dynamism.

The plan offers an array of creative proposals for accelerating the “digitization” of the physical economy; lowering regulatory obstacles to innovation and entrepreneurship; launching a new public works push; adopting pro-growth tax reform; grooming the world’s most talented workers; and enabling working families to escape poverty and build middle class wealth.

The blueprint also takes aim at the populist anger that has figured prominently in campaign 2016:

…[P]opulists do Americans no favors by claiming the economic game is hopelessly rigged against them, that the leaders they elect are incompetents, or that our democracy is rancid with corruption. None of these claims is true, and such demagoguery undermines public confidence in America’s boundless capacity for self-renewal. Populist anger fosters an ‘us versus them’ mentality that, by reinforcing political tribalism and social mistrust, can only make it harder to build consensus around economic initiatives that benefit all Americans.

“We believe progressives owe U.S. voters a hope-inspiring alternative to populist outrage and the false remedies of nativism, protectionism and democratic socialism,” writes Will Marshall, PPI President.

“I encourage anyone looking for optimistic ideas to create more jobs, wealth, and prosperity for hard working Americans to read PPI’s new report using innovation to spur growth,” said Congressman Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Chairman of the New Democrat Coalition. “This report is full of forward thinking policy initiatives that help grow the American economy.”

“In the midst of today’s populist uprising, it’s up to our leaders to recognize the real reasons why our economy isn’t working for everyone and to fight for effective solutions,” said Governor Jack Markell (D-Del.). “PPI’s blueprint gives policymakers a roadmap to create opportunity for all Americans by harnessing the unstoppable forces of globalization and technological innovation, while opposing the impractical, and sometimes dangerous, proposals offered by the political extremes.”

The anger on which populists feed is rooted in a real economic problem: America has been stuck in a slow growth trap since 2000. This long spell of economic stagnation has held down wages and living standards and shrunk the middle class. What the nation needs is a forward-looking plan for moving the U.S. economy into high gear. Instead, as the PPI blueprint notes, today’s populists peddle nostalgia for our country’s past industrial glory but offer few practical ideas for building new American prosperity in today’s global knowledge economy.

Unleashing Innovation and Growth seeks to fill this vacuum in the presidential campaign, offering bold ideas for unleashing the collective ingenuity of the American people—harnessing disruptive change, raising skills, lowering tax and regulatory barriers to individual initiative and creativity, and experimenting with innovative ways to rebuild middle class wealth and enable more Americans to exit poverty.

Summary of Key Proposals

Unleash Innovation
• Spread innovation across the economy: Adopt a new “Innovation Platform” aimed at stimulating public and private investment in new ideas and enterprises, and at diffusing innovation across the entire economy.
• Improve the regulatory climate for innovation: Tackle the mounting costs of regulatory accumulation, the constant layering of new rules atop old ones; Make systemic changes to regulatory agencies to make promoting investment, innovation and new enterprises part of their core mission; Rein in occupational licensing requirements that screen out many low-income entrepreneurs; Lift outdated restrictions on lending to small business; give businesses incentives to offer more flexible work, including paid leave.
• Innovate our way to clean growth: Implement a more innovative energy strategy that simultaneously advances two vital interests: powering economic growth and assuring a healthy environment; Recognize that, for the foreseeable future, the U.S. and the world will have to tap all fuels—renewable, nuclear, and fossil—to meet growing energy demand and sustain global economic growth; Institute a nationwide carbon tax to curb greenhouse emissions while driving investment to clean and efficient energy.
• Democratize trade: Sell more of America’s highly competitive exports to a growing global middle class; promote the free flow of data across global borders; support innovative trade agreements, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), that lift labor, environment and human rights standards in developing countries and enable more Americans to benefit from trade; Seize new opportunities for U.S. small businesses and entrepreneurs to use low-cost digital platforms to tap into global growth.

Align Fiscal Policy with Innovation and Growth
• Embrace pro-growth tax reform: Advocate for a dramatic shift from income to consumption taxes to stimulate investment in productive economic activities rather than those favored by the current tax code; Close loopholes that benefit special interests and dramatically simplify taxes for most Americans; Raise enough money to cut corporate income taxes down to globally competitive levels, and reduce taxes that penalize innovation and hiring.
• Modernize public works: Accurately measure the true economic impact of infrastructure spending; open infrastructure markets to private capital; define a strategic role for Washington through a national infrastructure bank; impose firm deadlines on project approvals and licensing process.

Groom the World’s Most Talented Workers
• Reinvent public school: Champion new models of school governance that enable more school autonomy and innovation, more customized learning, rigorous standards, and genuine accountability and results.
• Create new pathways into middle class jobs: Create a more promising approach to “career pathways” by combining classroom training and work experience through a sequence of jobs, within or across firms in an industry, and a sequence of credentials that signal their growing skill levels.
• Cut college costs for everyone: Rein in costs and decrease debt by encouraging colleges to offer three-year degrees rather than the traditional four-year program and focus policies on competency, rather than credit hours.

Build Middle Class Wealth
• Narrow the wealth gap with universal pensions: Champion “universal pension” accounts that would enable all workers to save for retirement, navigate the maze of tax-favored retirement plans, and take their pensions with them when changing jobs.
• Help families save for homeownership: Tackle the twin problems of declining homeownership and souring housing costs for both owners and renters by creating a new, tax-preferred mechanism for down payment savings—“Home K”—to lower obstacles to homeownership, like tight credit and down payment requirements, for first-time homebuyers and to promote savings.

Fight Poverty with Empowerment
• Empower people with smart phones: Use modern technology to cut through bureaucratic barriers to government safety net programs, consolidate benefit streams, enable people living in poverty more access to the information they need, and apply online for social supports; Encourage federal, state, and local governments to create online H.O.P.E. (Health, Opportunity, and Personal Empowerment) accounts and action plans.
• Expand housing choices for low-income Americans: Convert some federal rent subsidies into incentives for homeownership to relieve the burden on low-income families of high housing costs and reduce the waiting list for subsidized housing, without raising taxes or adding to the federal deficit.

Download Unleashing Innovation and Growth: A Progressive Alternative to Populism.

Unleashing Innovation and Growth: A Progressive Alternative to Populism

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

As Americans choose a new president in 2016, populist anger dominates the campaign. To hear Donald Trump or Senator Bernie Sanders tell it, America is either a global doormat or a sham democracy controlled by the “one percent.” These dark narratives are caricatures, but they do stem from a real dilemma: America is stuck in a slow- growth trap that holds down wages and living standards. How to break this long spell of economic stagnation is the central question in this election.

Today’s populists peddle nostalgia for our country’s past industrial glory but offer few practical ideas for building a new American prosperity in today’s global knowledge economy. Progressives owe U.S. voters a hopeful alternative to populist outrage and the false panaceas of nativism, protectionism, and democratic socialism. What America needs is a forward-looking plan to unleash innovation, stimulate productive investment, groom the world’s most talented workers, and put our economy back on a high-growth path. It’s time to banish fear and pessimism and trust instead in the liberal and individualist values and enterprising culture that have always made America great.

Download Unleashing Innovation and Growth: A Progressive Alternative to Populism

Washington Post: The new Democratic Party proposal to rival Bernie Sanders’ socialism

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Simplicity is one of Bernie Sanders’ great strengths: Corporations and the rich have rigged the economy. His solutions sound simple, even when the plans behind them are complicated: college for all, health care for all, tax the rich, break up big banks. He trails Hillary Clinton in presidential delegates to this point, and he remains an underdog for the Democratic nomination, but Sanders has already pulled Clinton, and the party, toward a more populist, more socialist policy agenda, thanks in part to that clarity of message.

The centrist Democrats who oppose that leftward lurch have struggled to match his simplicity. They tend to view the economy through a lens of skills and adaptation, not power and treachery. Many of them pushed in the 1990s, under President Bill Clinton, to expand global trade and deregulate the financial sector. They now concede those efforts did not go according to script, particularly for middle-class workers, but they are not calling for a full rewrite in response.

Their risk, in this election and moving forward, is to define themselves solely as anti-Democratic-socialist – the folks who don’t like the stuff that a lot of Democrats like about Sanders.

The Progressive Policy Institute is the latest centrist Democratic institution to try to counter that image. Today it will release what its president, Will Marshall, calls a “radical” agenda to get America working for the working class again. The report is called “Unleashing Innovation and Growth: a Progressive Alternative to Populism,” and it is organized around a straightforward, if not perfectly simple, principle.

Read more at The Washington Post

PRESS RELEASE: New PPI Report Links Future U.S. Productivity to Mobile Broadband Availability

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Study finds that Next-Generation Wireless Networks Could Add Nearly $3 Trillion to U.S. GDP by 2030; Increase Economic Output by 11 Percent

WASHINGTON—A new policy report released today by the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) examines the long-term relationship between mobile broadband and U.S. economic growth and relates it to current public policy questions.

The report, authored by PPI Chief Economic Strategist Michael Mandel, focuses on the year 2030 and considers the economic implications of next generation wireless networks for long-term productivity growth and living standards. The result could be an acceleration of productivity growth in the physical industries that adds roughly $2.7 trillion (in 2015 dollars) to U.S. GDP by 2030, according to the report. This translates into an 11 percent increase in economic output, which is equivalent to boosting the average annual growth rate by 0.7 percentage points.

“Creating vastly more wireless capacity is essential for getting the United States out of the slow-growth trap we are currently stuck in,” Mandel writes. “In order to catalyze the next round of spectrum-enabled economic expansion, policymakers need to focus on freeing up multiples of the current amount of spectrum—both for licensed and unlicensed uses—while creating an economic environment in which it is profitable to build and maintain a greatly expanded number of cell sites.

“Conversely, if policymakers fail to free up enough spectrum, or free up more spectrum for unlicensed rather than licensed operations, or impose regulations that reduce the return on investment that currently fuels spending on telecom infrastructure build-out, the likely outcome will be that the physical industries—which make up the greater part of the economy—will fail to achieve their productivity potential. In that event, all Americans will suffer.”

“PPI’s paper provides concrete evidence that next-generation wireless networks will be key to transforming our economy and drive economic growth by over 10 percent. This report underscores the importance of the FCC’s upcoming 600 MHz auction and spectrum frontiers effort, as well as the need to identify the next bands of spectrum for wireless use to fuel our mobile-first lives,” said Meredith Attwell Baker, President and CEO, CTIA. “We remain committed to working with all interested parties to free up more spectrum—both licensed and unlicensed—so that the world’s best mobile industry can provide our nation with almost $3 trillion in productivity gains.”

This report makes three main points.

• Slow productivity growth today across much of the economy is correlated with the failure of “physical” industries such as manufacturing, health care, and construction to make good use of digital technologies, compared to “digital” industries such as professional services, finance, and entertainment. PPI estimates that the physical industries, which make up roughly 80 percent of the private sector, account for only 35 percent of private info-tech investment, and only 40 percent of the telecom usage. A recent paper from the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that the United States has only reached 18 percent of its potential for digitization.
• PPI suggests that successfully digitizing physical industries will require a vast increase in remote sensors and remote-controlled devices such as cars, drones, and construction equipment. Cisco forecasts that M2M wireless traffic in the United States, including wearables, will rise from 3 percent to 11 percent of all mobile data by 2020. In this paper, PPI further projects that IoT related M2M communications will account for roughly 35-47 percent of mobile data communications by 2030.
• Achieving this level of connectivity and productivity improvement will require a sharp increase in the capacity of the nation’s mobile broadband networks. The nature of the capacity increase will depend on the development of technology. Using an analysis based on historical trends, we project that by 2030 it will be necessary to have more than 1900 MHz of spectrum in the sub-millimeter wave (mmW) bands (3 times the current availability) and at least 1.2 million cell sites (4 times the current level) in order to fully enable the IoT-driven productivity gains we document in this new paper.

Download “Long-term U.S. Productivity Growth and Mobile Broadband: The Road Ahead”

###

Long-term U.S. Productivity Growth and Mobile Broadband: The Road Ahead

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

The next generation of wireless is on the horizon.1 While the standards for 5G are not yet finalized, it’s clear that when 5G does arrive, it will mean faster streaming video, lower latency, and higher capacity. Companies such as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Ericsson and Nokia are in test mode, with widespread consumer rollout of 5G expected by 2020, or perhaps earlier.

At the same time, the attention of the mobile providers is focused on the spectrum auctions scheduled to start later in 2016. These auctions could make a significant contribution to freeing up spectrum for mobile data, and perhaps help reduce the short-term spectrum deficit.2 Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has started exploring the use of “millimeter wave” frequencies (mmW) for mobile services, a move that could potentially open up much more spectrum in the medium- and long-run.3

But nothing is assured. In the short-term, network engineers and others are already indicating that the upcoming auctions are not going to be a complete answer to forestalling capacity crunches in the years ahead. In the medium and long-term, mmW could be the next great swath of spectrum beachfront but the promise of that technology is in its early stages. Policy actions, especially around the availability of spectrum and around business models, can have long lag times. Understanding the broad contours of the long-term relationship between wireless and economic growth may help influence today’s policy decisions.

This paper focuses on 2030 and the potential of future wireless networks to support economic growth in the United States.4 We consider the economic implications of next generation wireless networks for long-term productivity growth and living standards, and relate those to current public policy questions. The result could be an acceleration of productivity growth in the physical industries that adds roughly $2.7 trillion (in 2015 dollars) to U.S. GDP by 2030. This translates into an 11 percent increase in economic output, which is equivalent to boosting the average annual growth rate by 0.7 percentage points.

Download “2016.03-Mandel_Long-term-US-Productivity-Growth-and-Mobile-Broadband_The-Road-Ahead”

PPI WEEKLY WRAP-UP: PPI in Europe, State AGs Abusing Power, & U.S. App Economy Capitol Hill Briefing

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

PPI IN EUROPE: PPI Chief Economic Strategist Dr. Michael Mandel was in Brussels this week, where he was invited to speak at an event on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the Digital Single Market. The event was sponsored by the Swedish, Finnish, Irish and Estonian Permanent Missions to the European Union. While there, he and PPI Executive Director Lindsay Lewis held several meetings with the European Commission.

STATE AGs ABUSING POWER: In an op-ed for RealClearPolicy, Phil Goldberg, Director of the Civil Justice Center at PPI, details the evolution of the role of state attorney general over the last 20 years from mere law enforcer to general policymaker:

“Today, both Democratic and Republican AGs use litigation and the powers of the office to regulate. But with this new responsibility comes new opportunities to breach the public trust.

“A particularly alarming development is AGs’ increasing use of private law firms to sue companies under no-bid contracts where the firms get percentages of the settlements or awards. These arrangements were born out of tobacco litigation in the 1990s and have spread to all sorts of actions, leading to several scandals over the connections between AGs and the firms they hire.

“An aggressive way to address the politicization of the state AG is to have the AG selected by the governor, rather than through a popular election where he or she must raise campaign funds. The states that select their chief law enforcement officers this way have seen fewer scandals. For now, though, states should adopt legislation such as [the Transparency in Private Attorney Contract Act] to ensure that law-enforcement actions brought on behalf of the state put the public good above private profits.”

U.S. APP ECONOMY CAPITOL HILL BRIEFING: Please join PPI and TechNet next Thursdayfor a Capitol Hill breakfast briefing on “App Economy Jobs in the United States.” The event will feature remarks by Congressman Mike Bishop (R-MI), followed by a panel discussion featuring:

  • Dr. Michael Mandel, Chief Economic Strategist, PPI
  • Terry Howerton, CEO, TechNexus Venture Collaborative
  • Ron Klain, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Revolution, LLC
  • Linda Moore, President & CEO, TechNet
  • Brendan Peter, Vice President, Global Government Relations, CA Technologies
  • Karl Rectanus, CEO, Lea(R)n
Thursday, March 3, 2016
10AM to 11:30AM
2226 Rayburn House Office Building
 
RSVP to rsvp@technet.org

PRESS RELEASE — PPI President: Law Enforcement Has Not Met Burden of Proof on Encryption

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

WASHINGTON—PPI President Will Marshall today released the following statement after a U.S. federal magistrate ordered Apple to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation unlock the encrypted iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters:

“The Progressive Policy Institute has long advocated a forceful U.S. response to the threat of jihadist terrorism. With the rise and spread of the so-called Islamic State, that threat has grown more acute than ever. That’s why we are usually inclined to give U.S. intelligence, military and law enforcement agencies the benefit of the doubt when they seek new tools to keep us safe.

“However, a federal court’s demand that Apple weaken encryption for its iPhones gives us pause. For many Americans, it may seem intuitively obvious that law enforcement should be able to ‘unlock’ a dead terrorists’ cellphone. But weaker encryption wouldn’t just apply to terrorists and criminals; it would jeopardize the privacy of any American with a smart phone.

“What’s more, other governments would doubtless follow Washington’s lead in demanding that phone makers develop software to help them get around encryption. We don’t want to endanger human rights and democracy activists around the world by giving dictators and authoritarian regimes new tools for surveillance and repression.

“We recognize that there is always a trade-off between privacy and security. To justify exposing the private communications of citizens to government scrutiny, U.S. security agencies would have to offer compelling evidence that gathering data from smart phones is essential to defusing the terrorist threat.  In our view, they have yet to meet this burden of proof.”

###

PPI Urges Congress to Support Internet Tax Freedom Act

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

WASHINGTON—The Progressive Policy Institute today released the following statement urging Congress to pass the Internet Tax Freedom Act:

“The development of the Internet has been the single biggest driver of growth in the United States over the last two decades, disrupting and transforming industries in every corner of our economy. Not only has it been the most valuable resource for America’s entrepreneurs and innovators, but along with its advancement has come innumerable positive externalities that have spread broadly across the rest of the economy benefitting us all. That’s why, for nearly twenty years, PPI has opposed the taxation on Internet access by states and localities that threatens to stunt the future growth and dynamism of the Internet ecosystem.

“PPI is pleased to see the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA), which would permanently block these taxes on access, included in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act currently being considered in Congress, and we urge pro-growth Democrats to support its passage. We would also like to thank Senator Ron Wyden for championing this issue since he first introduced the original ITFA in 1998 on behalf of millions of Americans whose livelihoods rely on a healthy, open and viable Internet.”

###

The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Small Business: Boosting Exports and Inclusive Growth

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

With the release of the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), America now has an important—and extensive—opportunity to review the agreement’s actual terms. Critics are certain to reprise old arguments, including those that blame trade for economic disruptions whose origins often lie elsewhere. And they’ll offer newer criticisms, including the claim that TPP isn’t really about trade or cutting tariffs but, rather, is a scheme to advance the agenda of large multinational corporations.

This latest charge will likely be news to the hundreds of thousands of small and mid-sized American firms that currently export—and the growing numbers of small entrepreneurs who are seeking greater opportunity through trade. America’s smaller exporters will note that the TPP has made small business trade a key point of emphasis, and that it includes groundbreaking provisions to boost their ability to export to key TPP markets.

Increasing exports by U.S. small business can also be a vital opportunity to promote stronger—and more inclusive—economic growth. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that export have higher sales, hire more employees, and pay higher wages than non-exporting SMEs. And because exporters account for only about one percent of all U.S. SMEs, America has significant untapped potential to support growth, good jobs, and economic mobility through increased small business trade.

But to meet this potential, it’s vital for the United States to reduce the extensive and often onerous foreign trade barriers that often keep SME traders on the sidelines. High duties and costs, customs red tape, unnecessarily complex regulations, and other barriers negatively impact American exporters of all sizes, but they can loom particularly large for small entrepreneurs that lack the resources, personnel, contacts, and extensive support networks of bigger competitors.

In this policy brief, we first review the TPP agreement and explain how it would eliminate significant trade barriers to U.S. small business and enable more American SMEs to prosper by exporting to fast-growing Asia-Pacific markets. We then highlight how the TPP’s support for small business trade can play a vital, broader role, helping to boost the overall economy and “democratizing” trade by assuring that trade’s significant benefits are shared more widely by more Americans.

Download “2015.11-Gerwin_The-Trans-Pacific-Partnership-and-Small-Business_Boosting-Exports-and-Inclusive-Growth”

 

Washington Monthly: For More and Better Choices in Wireless Broadband, Government Should Give Up More Spectrum

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

“Buy land,” Will Rogers is famous for having said, “They’re not making any more of it.” But the same constraint applies to a similar resource – electromagnetic spectrum, the real estate on which the economy’s future will be built. This week, the powerful Senate Commerce Committee will take steps in addressing this modern-day conundrum. And the end result could lead to a more competitive Internet while helping to meet the Obama Administration’s goal of closing the “digital divide.”

Spectrum is the range of radio waves that can carry mobile signals – voice, image, data, whatever you want, digitally morphed. And like the land that supports structures, spectrum supports our phones and their apps, remote education and healthcare, environmental monitoring, security and law enforcement, mobile entertainment, games, and other amusements, as well as the burgeoning “Internet of things,” from driverless cars to refrigerators that order groceries.

These innovations (which support 1.3 million jobs and $400 billion in annual economic activity, according to The Brattle Group) come so rapidly and pervasively that we often forget that it is spectrum that allows them to exist. Like land, there is only so much of it – the physical world provides only so wide a range of radio wave frequencies. But in the same way that skyscrapers make better use of land, technology that allows improvements in signal strength and compression make better use of spectrum over time.

Continue reading at Washington Monthly.