Articles
Articles and analyses from the INET community on the key economic questions of our time.

The U.S. battery maker that could, and the U.S. auto company that wouldn’t
General Motors once had the technology, talent, and partnership to lead the electric-vehicle revolution. Instead, it abandoned the EV1 and its battery venture while pouring billions into stock buybacks, helping turn an early American lead into decades of technological dependence.

Big Money and the Maine Election: Round 2
The upheaval in Maine’s Senate race has focused attention on candidates and party leaders. Less noticed is what the campaign finance data reveal about the state’s Democratic Party and its structural dependence on national organizations and large out-of-state donors.

On the US-EU Debate: A Response to Paul Krugman
A response to Paul Krugman’s recent essay on U.S. and European productivity opens onto a broader question. If the standard metrics point in conflicting directions, perhaps the problem lies less with the economies than with the measures themselves.

Russell’s Teapot: Dispatches From the Final Stage of the AI Bubble
What if the AI future being sold to markets rests on claims that cannot survive scrutiny? From superintelligence to mass job loss, the loudest promises around generative AI begin to look less like foresight than hype dressed up as inevitability.

What Does it Mean to Work Under Algorithmic Eyes?
AI surveillance and algorithmic management threaten worker autonomy and dignity. It’s time for a rethinking of rights. Part of “AI and the Future of the American Worker,” a series on how artificial intelligence is impacting labor, power, and the meaning of work.

Failed State, Failed Market: Europe’s Bid to Reprice Social Media Harms
Europe’s social media crackdown is less about “speech wars” than a long-overdue attempt to price the public damage created by large platforms.

America’s Real Health Crisis? Economics — and a Generation Pays
Health researcher Steven H. Woolf tells INET’s Lynn Parramore why making Americans healthy again means economic policies that help working- and middle-class families. Raw raw milk won’t cut it, and even being rich won’t save you. *This is Part 2 of the interview; Part 1 is here.

AI, Antitrust, and the Future of the Marketplace of Ideas
AI was sold as a tool to broaden the marketplace of ideas. Instead, a handful of platforms now control how truth travels, shaping what we see, starving journalism, and locking new AI rivals out of the data democracy needs to survive.

Red Tech and American Politics: Nick French Interviews Thomas Ferguson
Venture-backed “tech capital” is reshaping U.S. politics through campaign finance, platform gatekeeping, defense/AI procurement, and policy entrepreneurship. In an interview with Nick French, INET’s Research Director Thomas Ferguson discusses these channels of influence, examining their macro-distributional consequences, and outlining guardrails to restore democratic accountability and broadly shared gains.

Drug Price Wars: What Can Really Tame Big Pharma?
Here’s the breakdown on what’s really driving America’s runaway drug prices — and whether any of the current plans stand a chance to lower your pharmacy bill.