A new report from the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI)’s Innovation Frontier Project warns that the proposed antitrust legislation would have far-reaching negative effects on competitiveness and technology leadership.
The report, authored by Ashish Arora and Sharon Belenzon, titled “American Science and Technology Leadership Under Threat: Restrictive Antitrust Legislation and Growing Global Competition,” is a follow-up to the authors’ extensive research deck published in November of 2021 on the impact the antitrust bills could have on United States competitiveness and living standards.
“The U.S. technology sector is facing barriers to its ability to advance its position in an increasingly competitive world. The package of antitrust legislation introduced in Congress may adversely affect the tech sector by limiting the ability of platforms to design new products, integrate existing ones and operate in downstream segments,” write report authors Ashish Arora and Sharon Belenzon. “In this report we highlight the potential impact of these limitations on American science and technology leadership. We examine the role that big firms play in advancing U.S. technology, the foreign competition they increasingly face, and the fragile nature of the U.S. innovation ecosystem.”
According to the report, the package of antitrust legislation moving through Congress would limit tech companies’ ability to integrate new products, promote new features, and compete in new market segments. Antitrust regulations that reduce the size and limit the scope of tech firms weaken their incentives to make the large-scale, long-run investments in science and technology vital for national security and economic prosperity.
Additionally, at a time when the United States critically depends on a handful of firms to pursue large scale research projects, such proposals would play into the hands of foreign rivals. U.S. leadership in four of the five emerging technologies identified by the Biden Administration as a national priority would be adversely impacted by proposals to restrict digital platforms.
Read the report and expanded policy recommendations here:
This report was authored by Ashish Arora and Sharon Belenzon of Duke University. Mr. Arora is the Rex D. Adams Professor of Business Administration at the Duke Fuqua School of Business. He received his PhD in Economics from Stanford University in 1992, and was on the faculty at the Heinz School, Carnegie Mellon University, where he held the H. John Heinz Professorship, until 2009. Mr. Belenzon is a professor in the Strategy area at the Fuqua School of Business of Duke University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). His research investigates the role of business in advancing science and has been featured in top academic journals, such as Management Science, Strategic Management Journal and American Economic Review. Mr. Belenzon received his PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science and completed post-doctorate work at the University of Oxford, Nuffield College.
Based in Washington, D.C., and housed in the Progressive Policy Institute, the Innovation Frontier Project explores the role of public policy in science, technology and innovation. The project is managed by Jack Karsten. Learn more by visiting innovationfrontier.org.
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
