Economy
Competition

A majority of Americans say that distrust is their default setting, fueled by growing distrust of democracy, media, and government, according to the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer survey. The survey found that business is now the most trusted institution, filling the void left by paralyzed and incompetent governments, but that trust has simultaneously become localized: in my...

In the third year of a global pandemic, many American workers have a new relationship with their work. Whether they are navigating new working models, striving for better work-life balance, or feeling anxious about their financial resiliency amid rising inflation and economic uncertainty — work looks and feels different than it did in 2020. Employers, meanwhile, face a num...

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, foreign policy strategists continue to debate what motivates Russian President Vladimir Putin and what could be his endgame. Not far behind are concerns about Chinese President Xi Jinping and whether developments in Europe will reverberate in the Far East. What do Putin and Xi have in common? What brings them together, and conve...

Americans are more connected than ever – at home, at work, and in everyday life. Yet few people understand the privacy trade-offs that come with each connection, and companies don’t make it easy to find out. How can we ensure consumers have a fair say in how companies use their personal data? Allstate CEO Tom Wilson and Harvard University lecturer Bruce Schneier sit down w...

Semiconductors are the brains powering essential technologies. A shortage is hammering industries ranging from automotive to consumer electronics to equipment makers, making clear how critical semiconductors are to American economic competitiveness and national security. But the US share of global semiconductor manufacturing stands at just 12 percent today, down from near...

Industry leaders discuss the biggest changes that have shaken up their industries over the last decade. How have their companies not only adapted, but embraced this change? What advice do they have for other leaders on how to implement change across large, global organizations? What have been the toughest decisions each leader has had to make over the last few years – and...

A large, unsettling question looming among Washington regulators, lawmakers, and now state Attorney’s General across the US is whether the time has come to break up the big five: Facebook, Amazon, Google, Netflix, Apple. Have these powerful tech companies, once the darlings of the start-up community not twenty years past, become so dominant that they are stifling competiti...

Across the globe, shareholders, employees, and customers are demanding climate action from big corporations. And despite the United States bailing from the Paris Agreement last year, firms are responding, even leading the movement. From Silicon Valley to Wall Street, companies are stepping up by committing to emissions reductions, funding capital-intensive new technologies...

In 2018, economic activity was accelerating in almost all regions of the world. One year later, much has changed. The escalation of US-China trade tensions, credit tightening in China, and macroeconomic stress in key G20 economies have all contributed to a weakened global expansion. As the US trade war with China deepens, what are the biggest risks at this delicate moment?...

With Congress mired in partisan gridlock and presidents of both parties relying on the growing use of federal executive power, states are playing an increasingly important role on issues ranging from climate change, immigration, and banking regulation, to health care, data privacy, and the opioid crisis. State attorneys general are leading the charge, alternately teaming u...

How can we normalize inconceivable futures? At any given moment, there are multiple, parallel futures fighting for dominance – emerging from science fiction, political parties, corporate visions, counter cultures, and more. But in all cases, they need design to compete and thrive. Across the last decade COLLINS has worked with many of the world's leading organizations, inc...

Within our lifetimes, AI will, by design, begin to behave unpredictably, thinking and acting in ways which defy human logic. Big tech companies may be inadvertently building and enabling vast arrays of intelligent systems that don't share our motivations, desires, or hopes for the future of humanity. Is it too late to change course and realize a human-centered future for a...

Will the boom in asset prices come to an end, and should it? How spectacular will the correction be? Will tax cuts boost the economy, leading us to better returns, or should we be more cautious investors? Significant investors share their perspectives with the managing editor of The Financial Times.

Activist investors, and active employees. Climate change and drought. Battles over trade—and by #tweet. When public anxiety drives low trust, who’s on the speed dial of top business leaders? What’s the playbook for business risks not in the company’s control? Which values are bedrock—do they illuminate the path when a bold step is needed? Join a conversation with indust...

In the summer of 2018, President Trump sang praises about the country’s economic conditions, tweeting, “In many ways this is the greatest economy in the HISTORY of America.” But just how much of the upswing can be attributed to White House policies? Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says very little. He disagrees with Trump on trade, tariffs, and the rethinking of...

Big Tech firms bristle at the mention of regulation, and unlike major industries including finance, energy, and pharmaceuticals, tech has so far managed to avoid the strong arm of governmental control. But companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon wield an out-sized amount of influence over how we shop, communicate, and get the news. Just in case these companies don’t ha...

As technology drives economic change, the discussion of the future of work seems to be binary: either dystopian or rose colored. The public policy debate has congealed around a set of silver bullet solutions — from universal basic income to coding for all — that reflect Silicon Valley’s strategy for addressing economic inequality. But what if the best strategy isn’t a sing...

In the United States, there is growing debate over the role of antitrust and competition policy in protecting competition and American consumers. Digital platforms, corporate mergers, and consolidation are profoundly changing the global competitive landscape. Can antitrust law temper the power of digital platforms like Google and Facebook? Is the current antitrust legal re...

In the US marketplace,11.6 million businesses are owned by women. Growth in this sector has increased by 114 percent since 1997 — 2.5 times the national average — but male-led firms are still more likely to get start-up funding. That’s not simply unfair, it’s stupid, because it turns out firms started by women regularly outperform those founded by men. In this session, suc...

Leveraging global health resources requires on-the-ground knowledge and deep understanding of what motivates the public, business, and philanthropic sectors. Impact bonds, entrepreneurial approaches to philanthropy, and other novel financing strategies are ways to attract new pools of money while generating rewards for achieving positive health outcomes. NGOs can seed inno...