There is little consensus about how recent changes in the size and market share of firms within industries impacts overall economic growth. Some argue that recent trends reflect the increasing ability of big business to accumulate market power, thwart competition, and erect barriers to entry. Others argue these trends result from more benign factors, such as technological innovation and the associated productivity gains that accrue to the firms that make such investments. This panel of distinguished experts and practitioners will consider the extent to which recent data supports each of these explanations and consider policy approaches to promoting and sustaining market competition.
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Doug Holtz-Eakin, American Action Forum
Thomas Philippon, New York University Stern School of Business
Nancy Rose, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Economics
MODERATOR
Greg Ip, The Wall Street Journal
There is widespread agreement that promoting the competitiveness of American firms and workers will require new investments in infrastructure, people, and basic science. The popularity of big, bold spending proposals such as Medicare for All, Universal Basic Income, or Free College for All, also reveals an appetite among voters for dramatically expanding the role of government to address the failures of American capitalism. Yet, the country’s unsustainable fiscal trajectory complicates the feasibility of new spending programs and investments and raises important questions about the optimal amount of government revenue in today’s economy. Do Americans want more from their government than they are willing to pay for? This panel will consider whether and how new revenue should be raised, and how new spending priorities should be balanced with existing fiscal realities.
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Chris Hughes, Economic Security Project
Damon Jones, University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy
Melissa S. Kearney, Economic Strategy Group and University of Maryland
Robert E. Rubin, Council on Foreign Relations and Centerview Partners
MODERATOR
Jim Tankersley, The New York Times
The Economic Strategy Group (ESG), a non-profit program of the Aspen Institute, is composed of a diverse, bipartisan group of distinguished leaders and thinkers with the goal of promoting evidence-based solutions to significant U.S. economic challenges. Co-chaired by Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and Erskine Bowles, the ESG fosters the exchange of economic policy ideas and seeks to clarify the lines of debate on emerging economic issues while promoting bipartisan relationship-building among current and future generations of policy leaders in Washington.
