The global economy in the decades ahead will be volatile and uncertain. A first driver of the volatility and uncertainty is the reconfiguration of the global political economy reflecting what we term the new zero-sum logic of globalization and its implications for cross-border flows of goods and services. An important element of this reconfiguration is China's growing economic and geopolitical power. The goal of the US controls on semiconductor exports and outbound US investments to China is to keep China several years behind the technological frontier in this...
We explore the impact of automation and digitalization on labor in the US agrifood system during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study considers each of the primary nodes in the system stretching from consumer through grocery stores and restaurants to last-mile delivery, distribution, food processing, farming, and agri-inputs. Not only automation and digitalization, but also the role of platforms such as Amazon, and food delivery firms such as GrubHub, Instacart, and Uber Eats are discussed. For restaurants, we consider not only dinein restaurants, but also “ghost kitchens”. Furthermore, the...
The new digital technologies offer remarkable opportunities to make agriculture more sustainable and contribute to the amelioration of inequality at the local and global level. And yet, digital innovations and, in particular, the adoption of platforms risk creating further distortions among and within countries. Digitalization could contribute to the further concentration of agriculture in a few giant firms and also lead to the rapid and unmanaged demise of subsistence farming as it is typically practiced in developing countries. Alternatively, if the implementation of the digital...
This year’s semiconductor shortages underscore the need for a comprehensive strategy to maintain a reliable supply of components that are now indispensable to both the economy and national security. A successful strategy will have four main components.
This piece was released a Politics and World Affairs article through Project Syndicate....
The San Francisco Bay Area encompassing Silicon Valley is arguably the most important region in the world for the application of digital technologies to social and economic life. Martin Kenney and John Zysman (2016) have argued that a new economy based on digital platforms is emerging and Bay Area firms are at the center of this development. The current conjuncture is the result of a set of historical forces, some of which are very local and others of which are global and national. The region is the result of an intensely local process even as its firms, entrepreneurs and markets are...
The deterioration in the economic performance of the advanced industrial democracies during the 1970s has provoked an intense debate about the role of government in economic adjustment and growth. In Governments, Markets, and Growth, John Zysman makes a significant contribution to our understanding of these critical international issues by demonstrating that there is a direct relationship between a nation's financial system and its government's ability to restart the growth engine. Professor Zysman argues that there are three distinct types of financial systems, each...
Examines the competition between American and foreign companies in the manufacture of steel, color television, semiconductors, textiles, footwear, automobiles.
Manufacturingthe production of goodshas important impacts in all areas of our increasingly interdependent economy. The authors seek to show that modern economies will not de-industrialize but move from one form of manufacturing to another. They discuss in detail the impacts of our recent manufacturing declines on trade, technology, and economic transition. They make a convincing case for the necessity of manufacturing and believe we should not sacrifice our manufacturing for a service economy. ...
Trade and employment : an overview of the issues and evidence / Laura D'Andrea Tyson and John Zysman The effects of trade on employment / William T. Dickens Why it matters what we trade : a case for active policy / William T. Dickens and Kevin Lang The domestic employment consequences of managed international competition in apparel / Carol A. Parsons Trade and employment in automobiles / Robert E. Scott The domestic employment consequences of international trade in telecommunications equipment / Jay S. Stowsky The changing shape of domestic employment in a high-tech...