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JULY 31, 2025 |
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Harvard Kennedy School | | | |
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A worker controls a robotic arm on the production line for electric vehicle maker Zeekr at its factory on May 29, 2025 in Ningbo, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) | | |
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Globalization |
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How the United States should respond to Chinese innovation |
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A decade ago, HKS Professor Gordon Hanson, along with collaborators David Autor and David Dorn, wrote about a phenomenon they called the China Shock, which saw traditional U.S. manufacturing communities struggle in the early aughts as a repercussion of China’s growing trade power. Now Hanson and Autor warn that China Shock 2.0 is on the way. In a guest essay in the New York Times, they write, “China Shock 2.0, the one that’s fast approaching, is where China goes from underdog to favorite. Today, it is aggressively contesting the innovative sectors where the United States has long been the unquestioned leader: aviation, A.I., telecommunications, microprocessors, robotics, nuclear and fusion power, quantum computing, biotech and pharma, solar, batteries.” To compete, the authors say, the United States will need more than tariffs; it will need a “better trade strategy,” including investment in key, innovative fields. Watch Hanson talk about the China Shock 2.0 in a new video.
Learn more about Globalization at HKS » | | |
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What we're Doing |
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The One Big Beautiful Bill Act phases out most federal incentives for wind and solar energy. Yet deep in the new law is a provision that climate advocates will celebrate: a recommendation from a white paper by HKS Professor Dustin Tingley and research fellow Ana Martinez. The new law shifts how communities benefit from clean energy projects: Beginning on January 1, 50% of funds generated by wind and solar developments on public land will flow back to the states and counties that host them. | | | | | |
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Education, training, and labor |
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What would happen if the Department of Education were shut down? |
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Earlier this year, President Trump issued an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education and return education authority to the states. On July 14, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to conduct mass layoffs at the DOE. In an HKS explainer, education expert Professor Paul Peterson discusses the role of the DOE and what might happen if K-12 education were handled fully at the state level. While states are currently responsible for managing education through state regulation, the DOE provides a portion of funding, including for special education and for resources for low-income families. “For elementary and secondary education, the major responsibility of the DOE is to distribute funds to states and school districts,” Peterson explains. “The federal contribution to K-12 spending is about 10% of the total public expenditure.”
Learn more about Education, Training, and Labor at HKS » | | |
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Science, technology, and data |
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How powerhouse institutions drive groundbreaking research in the life sciences |
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Where does scientific discovery happen, and why does it matter? A recent study by HKS Professor Amitabh Chandra and PhD candidate Connie Xu finds that strong educational institutions play an outsized role in generating research. According to their study, 70% of global life science research output comes from just three countries: the United States, China, and the United Kingdom. And over 15% of the world’s life sciences research is concentrated in just two regions: Greater Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area. Harvard and Stanford alone account for over 8% of global output. “The research environments created at these institutions not only amplify the work of individual scientists but serve as incubators for the discoveries that drive progress in medicine, technology, and our understanding of life itself,” Chandra and Xu write.
Learn more about Science, Technology, and Data at HKS » | | |
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