Fifty Ways to Leave Your Competitiveness Woes Behind: A National Traded Sector Competitiveness Strategy
This report presents 50 federal-level policy recommendations to help restore U.S. traded sector competitiveness (and an additional 13 state-level recommendations). The recommendations are organized around federal policies regarding the “4Ts” of technology, tax, trade, and talent as well as policies to increase access to capital, reduce regulatory burdens, and enable better analysis of the competitiveness of U.S. traded sectors.
While ITIF believes that all 50 recommendations are needed, they list what they believe are the most critical 10 recommendations here:
- Create a network of 25 “Engineering and Manufacturing Institutes” performing applied R&D across a range of advanced technologies.
- Support the designation of at least 20 U.S. “manufacturing universities.”
- Increase funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).
- Increase R&D tax credit generosity and make the R&D tax credit permanent.
- Institute an investment tax credit on purchases of new capital equipment and software.
- Develop a national trade strategy and increase funding for U.S. trade policymaking and enforcement agencies.
- Fully fund a nationwide manufacturing skills standards initiative.
- Expand high-skill immigration, particularly that focused on the traded sector.
- Transform Fannie Mae into an industrial bank.
- Require the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to incorporate a “competitiveness screen” in its review of federal regulations.
http://www.itif.org/publications/fifty-ways-leave-your-competitiveness-woes-behind-national-traded-sector-competitivenes
