Archive

The argument that free trade is always the correct policy is based on a flawed welfare analysis. Free trade results in winners and losers and economists are not competent to analyze the impact on well-being as a whole or the spillover social consequences of the discontent of the losers.

From political slugfests to classroom battles, historian Marc Egnal talks with INET’s Lynn Parramore about the need for a new approach to our national story.

The richest Americans control $46 trillion in wealth—but many pay little or no federal tax.

The idea is finally catching on, but many still miss how deeply it’s driving inflation, masking wage losses, and complicating recovery.

The new $100,000 H-1B fee tacitly acknowledges what early policy architects signaled: expanding temporary tech visas can depress domestic wages. By bringing the fully loaded cost of a new H1B hire closer to what the local market would require to recruit and retain comparable talent, it narrows the wedge between visa-enabled staffing and hiring Americans at market rates.

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.

The IMF and World Bank can no longer function as instruments that discipline some member countries while deferring to others. Their challenge is to transform the exercise of power among member countries into a framework of mutual respect and cooperation.

The GENIUS Act is a disastrous law that poses grave and unacceptable threats to our financial and economic future. Congress must remove those threats by (1) repealing the GENIUS Act and passing legislation that requires all stablecoin providers to be FDIC-insured banks, and (2) adopting legislation that requires all crypto derivatives to comply with the rules governing non-digital derivatives under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act.

INET’s new data archive of historical political finance records at the National Archives assembles all campaign finance reports filed by political parties and presidential candidates up to 1974, the year before the Federal Election Commission was established.

This paper argues that (i) we have reached “peak GenAI” in terms of current Large Language Models (LLMs); scaling (building more data centers and using more chips) will not take us further to the goal of “Artificial General Intelligence” (AGI); returns are diminishing rapidly; (ii) the AI-LLM industry and the larger U.S. economy are experiencing a speculative bubble, which is about to burst.

INET’s new data archive of historical political finance records at the National Archives marks a major step toward filling this factual void. This INET Working Paper outlines what users need to know to navigate the archive effectively and locate the data they require.

We examine the World Bank’s protracted and conflicted attempts at shareholding reform from 2008 to the present, situating them within the broader context of multipolarity and intensifying geopolitical rivalries.

Hughes discusses his recent book Marketcrafters, and how markets are deliberately built with outcomes that can serve the public good – or not. He uses this lens to unpack today’s economic flashpoints, from the Fed to crypto to climate.

This paper examines the World Bank’s protracted and conflicted attempts at shareholding reform from 2008 to the present, situating them within the broader context of multipolarity and intensifying geopolitical rivalries.

Why are life-saving drugs so expensive—especially when taxpayers already fund much of the science behind them?