America’s bungled response to the Covid-19 pandemic’s medical manufacturing demands illustrates the limitations of both the American industrial base and state capacity. Despite policies aimed at reshoring medical supply manufacturing, multiple projects’ funding expired before new facilities could be finished, limited federal resources were spread too thin, and the halting pace of policymaking failed to entice investors. An honest accounting of these policies’ failures and shortcomings is necessary to inform any serious response…

Gelsinger was unable to fully execute a successful response to this economic shift during his truncated tenure as Intel CEO, however, and to push his proposed new corporate “Intel IDM 2.0” business model. He resigned in 2024 under pressure from the company’s board. Whether Gelsinger’s performance or the current Intel board’s impatience and shortsightedness bear ultimate responsibility for this implementation failure is unclear. Intel’s current problems were decades in the making. But this past history has now created an acute American defense industrial crisis with global national security ramifications…

The Weirton Steel mill produced half of the world’s steel in 1950 and nearly 20 percent by 1970. By the later 1970s, imports of steel from foreign nations were flooding U.S. markets and boxing out Weirton’s position. This phenomenon didn’t just impact Weirton but also other domestic manufacturers. Although calls grew nationally from steelworkers and their unions for antidumping, counter­vailing duties, and escape clause petitions, Weirton and the industry continued to suffer. In 1982, Weirton’s parent company National Steel announced its plans to shut down the steel mill. As an alternative to paying for shutdown costs and pension liabilities, the company offered employees the opportunity to buy the company through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Employees decided to take pay cuts and bought the mill…

American cities are more productive than ever. They facilitate world-changing innovation in information technology, life sciences, and finance, generating enormous wealth. Despite this, they are plagued by serious problems. Crime, low school quality, poor governance, and high housing costs combine to create a quality of life that is significantly lower than pre-tax incomes and overall economic activity would sug­gest. While the causes of these problems are many and varied, they are to a significant degree downstream of one recurring pattern: the bimodal distribution of real estate ownership. Most adults fall into one of two categories: homeowner or renter…

“He became fascinated by the contortions of money—how it could be made to bend back upon itself to be force-fed its own body.” —Hernan Diaz, Trust Sea changes in financial markets are not always obvious. It is now undeniable that open-market share buybacks have had a significant impact on equity markets, but little was made…