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Is Antitrust Enforcement Broken?

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Anu Bradford, Todd G. Buchholz, Cristina Caffarra, Mordecai Kurz, Tara Pincock, Yanis Varoufakis

Though antitrust enforcement has been gaining momentum on both sides of the Atlantic, a handful of private actors still wield extraordinary market power – and thus power over ordinary people’s lives. With some calling for more radical action, and others warning that reining in firms’ market power would be unhelpful and even harmful, we asked PS commentators what needs to be done.

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    What Kind of Industrial Policy Works?

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    PS editors , Raghuram G. Rajan , J. Bradford DeLong , Dani Rodrik , Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg

    After a decades-long love affair with laissez-faire policies, many governments – notably in developed countries – are increasingly seeking to shape their economies through tariffs, subsidies, public procurement, and more. But not all industrial policies are created equal, and understanding their nuances and limitations is critical to their success.

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    What Harris and Trump Will Do

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    PS editors , Ian Bremmer , Joseph S. Nye, Jr. , Anders Åslund , Shang-Jin Wei , Joseph E. Stiglitz , Daron Acemoglu

    With less than two months to go until the US presidential election, the candidates’ opposing worldviews, objectives, and priorities – and their implications for international relations, the economy, and democracy – have come into sharper focus. While it is impossible to know exactly what a leader will do once in office, the contours of both a Donald Trump and a Kamala Harris presidency are remarkably well defined.

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    The Chinese Overcapacity Puzzle

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    PS editors , Yu Yongding , Arvind Subramanian , Zhang Jun , Yi Fuxian

    Several developments in recent years, from sustained renminbi appreciation to increasingly aggressive Western tariffs, should have eroded China’s global manufacturing dominance, but have not. Why has China’s share of global manufacturing exports continued to rise, and what might turn the tide?

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    US-China Relations after America’s Election

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    PS editors , Ian Bremmer , Nancy Qian , Stephen S. Roach

    After decades of facilitating and even encouraging China’s rise, the United States’ dramatic shift to a policy of containment continues apace, with both Republican and Democratic administrations imposing sweeping tariffs and other trade restrictions. How will the upcoming US presidential election affect the bilateral relationship, and what will this imply for the American, Chinese, and global economies?

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    The Real AI Risks

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    PS editors , Daron Acemoglu , Joseph S. Nye, Jr. , Charles Ferguson , Martin Beraja , David Y. Yang , Noam Yuchtman

    With the world’s major economies pouring investment into artificial intelligence, ensuring the technology’s safety before its applications are known has become an increasingly urgent policy imperative. While a sci-fi-style AI apocalypse is not impossible, more immediate risks to both security and democracy must be addressed.

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    What Soft Landing?

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    PS editors , Mohamed A. El-Erian , James K. Galbraith , J. Bradford DeLong , Kenneth Rogoff , Dambisa Moyo

    While stock markets have recovered somewhat from last Monday’s rout, investors remain rattled, fearing further volatility. What was behind the sudden selloff, and does it portend a period of escalating global economic distress – and even a US recession?

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    Harris Takes Control

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    PS editors , Reed Galen , Charles A. Kupchan , Richard Haass , Mark Leonard

    US Vice President Kamala Harris’s rise as the presumptive Democratic nominee has breathed new life into November’s presidential election. But Donald Trump remains a formidable opponent, and defeating him will require Harris to strike the right balance between supporting President Joe Biden and distinguishing herself from him with a compelling vision for America’s future.

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    Industrial Policy Is Back. Now What?

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    PS editors , Jakob Hafele , Célestin Monga , Tano Santos , Luigi Zingales , Dani Rodrik , James K. Galbraith

    How to design effective industrial policies has suddenly become a hot – and divisive – topic among economists and policymakers. Even those who agree that governments should intervene in the economy to bolster productivity, increase competitiveness, and tackle social and environmental challenges differ sharply on the details.

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    A Far-Right Resurgence in Europe?

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    PS editors , Sławomir Sierakowski , Michael Ehrenreich , Zaki Laïdi , Philippe Legrain , Soňa Muzikárová , Slavoj Žižek

    Many observers breathed a sigh of relief at the results of the European Parliament elections, because the widely predicted far-right surge did not dislodge traditional conservatives. But even if far-right forces do not dominate the next European Parliament, they have gained ground, particularly in France and Germany. Can mainstream politicians and parties reverse this trend?

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    AI: Hope or Hype?

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    Angela Huyue Zhang , S. Alex Yang , Michael R. Strain , Anne-Marie Slaughter , Avni Patel Thompson , Jamie Metzl , Simon Johnson , Eric Hazan , Daron Acemoglu

    Whether generative artificial intelligence will do more harm or good to our families, economies, and societies remains an open question. In devising strategies for harnessing the technology, optimism is undoubtedly warranted, but it should not come at the expense of realism.

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    What Comes After Neoliberalism?

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    Mehrsa Baradaran , Anne O. Krueger , Mariana Mazzucato , Dani Rodrik , Joseph E. Stiglitz , Michael R. Strain

    Governments that had spent nearly a half-century preaching the virtues of free trade, deregulation, and hyperglobalization are now imposing import tariffs and export restrictions, adopting industrial policies, and lavishing subsidies on domestic firms in favored sectors, like green tech. With many observers heralding the death of neoliberalism, we asked PS commentators what comes next.

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    The US-China Trade War Heats Up

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    Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg , Carl Bildt , Dani Rodrik , Qiyuan Xu , Arvind Subramanian

    A spate of new US tariffs on Chinese goods has raised the specter of full economic decoupling between the world’s two largest economies. For many observers, the measures are not only misguided, but also counter-productive, with the potential to undermine economic dynamism, hamper climate action, and trigger geopolitical conflict.

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