In June 2015, nearly 75 experienced leaders from across business, government, labor, academia, and media gathered at Harvard Business School to discuss a topic of increasing concern in America: How can our nation continue to remain competitive while also providing a path to prosperity for more citizens? This report highlights the group’s deliberations and summarizes the HBS research that was presented during the convening.
Complexity in the tax code has negative redistributive and growth consequences that have only accelerated over time as more and more policy goals are now implemented through the tax system.
Recent merger transactions highlight long-simmering problems in the U.S. corporate tax, particularly with respect to its international provisions.
The U.S. corporate tax code is broken. High rates and perverse incentives drive capital away from the corporate sector and toward other uses and countries. Professor Mihir A. Desai believes a handful of changes could fix all that.
Some of the world’s most original thinkers explain the competitiveness challenge America faces and point the way forward.
In thinking about the competitiveness of a nation, analysts commonly focus on economic factors, such as exports, unit labor costs, and fiscal policy, among others. "Politics" is not typically high on the list, if it appears at all, observes Professor David Moss.
Across the political spectrum, there is consensus that the United States faces challenges to its competitiveness. Current U.S. fiscal policy is, unfortunately, part of the problem rather than the solution, according to Professors Richard H.K. Vietor and Matthew C. Weinzierl.
The last three decades have seen American capitalism transformed by a simple idea—that the evaluation and compensation of managers and investors should be outsourced to financial markets, says Professor Mihir A. Desai.
The world is interdependent, and the U.S. economy is still too large for anyone to profit from a rapid decline in its well-being.