Today, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) released its annual Investment Heroes report, which shows companies with high and sustained capital investment in the United States have helped hold down price increases in the digital sector throughout the past year of otherwise record inflation. The report, titled “Investment Heroes: Fighting Inflation with Capital Investment” is authored by Dr. Michael Mandel, Vice President and Chief Economist at PPI, and Jordan Shapiro, Data and Economic Analyst at PPI.
Nine of the 11 companies topping this year’s Investment Heroes list are in tech, broadband, or e-commerce. Amazon invested an amazing $46.7 billion in the U.S. in 2021, according to PPI estimates. AT&T and Verizon tied for second place at $20.3 billion, and Alphabet invested $18.7 billion in the U.S. in 2021.
PPI has created a unique methodology using publicly available financial statements from non-financial Fortune 200 companies to independently identify the top companies that were investing in the United States. These companies — our “Investment Heroes” — have helped to create good jobs, boost capacity, and reduce inflation as we recover from the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Policymakers should praise and encourage those companies who invest in the United States, keep prices low, and reduce vulnerability against future shocks. That’s a clearcut win for consumers, workers, and the American economy,” write report authors Dr. Michael Mandel and Jordan Shapiro.
“Conversely, government leaders can’t pursue policies that reduce or discourage domestic capital investment and then complain when we don’t have enough capacity to meet our changing needs at an affordable price, whether it’s energy or semiconductor chips or anything else. In particular, it’s perplexing that Congress is putting so much energy into tech antitrust, when the sector has been a low-inflation, high-investment star performer,” the authors conclude.
See the full list of PPI’s 2022 Investment Heroes:
Read and download the full report here:
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.
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Media Contact: Aaron White – awhite@ppionline.org
