In a report sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, ITIF employs 29 indicators to assess the extent to which the 50 state economies are structured according to the tenets of the New Economy. The changing economic landscape requires state economies to be innovative, globally-linked, entrepreneurial and dynamic, with an educated workforce and all sectors embracing the use of information technology. The report, which updates and expands on the 2002 and 2007 State New Economy Index reports, ranks the states accordingly. The five states ranking the highest in 2008 are, in order of rank, Massachusetts, Washington, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. With these measures as a frame of reference, the report outlines the next generation of innovative state-level public policies needed to meet the challenges of the New Economy, improve state competitiveness and boost incomes of all Americans.

In a new report, Timely, Targeted, Temporary and Transformative: Crafting an Innovation-Based Economic Stimulus Package, ITIF lays out eight specific proposals that would not only spur spending and economic activity in the short run, but also help addresses these challenges going forward.

In our 2007 report Digital Prosperity: Understanding the Economic Benefits of the Information Technology Revolution ITIF documented how IT, since the mid-1990s, has been the principal driver of increased economic growth not only in the United States but also in many other nations. However, IT is also at the core of dramatic improvements in the quality of life for individuals around the world. In this new report, we show how IT is the key enabler of many, if not most, of today’s key innovations and improvements in our lives and society—from better education and health care, to a cleaner and more energy-efficient environment, to safer and more secure communities and nations.

In today’s economy, innovation – the development and adoption of new products and services, more efficient production process­es, and new business models – is the most important factor driv­ing increases in American standards of living. By putting innovation at the center of our nation’s economic policies, we can ensure robust economic growth and rising standards of living for all Americans. ITIF’s Innovation Economics Agenda for the Next Administration lays out eight key recommendations to spur innovation-led economic growth in the United States. Amongst others, these measures include: significantly expanding the federal R&D tax credit, allowing companies to expense new investments in IT in the first year, creating a National Innovation Foundation, and reforming patent and trade policies.

The U.S. political dialogue gives scant attention to innovation and policy to promote innovative activity. This is because the three dominant economic policy models – conservative neoclassical, liberal neoclassical and neo-Keynesian economic doctrines–ignore the role of innovation and technology in achieving economic growth. Fortunately, as described in this policy brief, a new theory and narrative of economic growth called “innovation economics” based on an explicit effort to understand and model how technological advances have emerged in the last decade. This policy brief briefly explains the four economic doctrines and examines how each views particular real-world economic challenges.

There is disturbing evidence that America’s innovation lead is shrinking. Moreover, expanded support for basic research and science education, while important, will not be enough to respond to this challenge. Without a more robust, targeted, and explicit federal innovation policy, U.S. competitiveness will continue to slip and economic growth will lag. In a new report, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program argue that a critical step in that direction is the establishment of a National Innovation Foundation – a nimble, lean and collaborative entity devoted to supporting firms and other organizations in their innovative activities.

There have been surprisingly few attempts to catalogue what is known about the economic impact of information and communications technology (IT). In a new report, ITIF does just that, examining the impact of IT in five key areas: 1) productivity; 2) employment; 3) more efficient markets; 4) higher quality goods and services; and 5) innovation and new products and services. The report finds that the integration of IT into virtually all aspects of the economy and society is creating a digitally-enabled economy that is responsible for generating the lion's share of economic growth and prosperity, both here and abroad, including in developing nations. Importantly, the "IT engine" does not appear likely to run out of gas anytime soon and should power robust growth for at least the next decade, provided that policy makers take the right steps. Toward that end the report lays out five key public policy principles for driving digital prosperity: 1) give the digital economy its due; 2) actively encourage digital innovation and transformation of economic sectors; 3) use the tax code to spur IT investment; 4) encourage universal digital literacy and adoption; and 5) do no harm.

The Past and Future of America’s Economy focuses on how periodic cycles of technological and economic change have fundamentally reordered the way we work, the organization of business and markets, and the role of government. It examines this process of change over the past 150 years and explores the responses of people and institutions. The book then analyzes today’s New Economy, including the new information technology system, and effects on markets, organizations, workers, and governance. Taking into account the historical record, the book discusses the shortcomings of prevailing liberal and conservative economic doctrines and lays out a new growth economics agenda aimed at maximizing the productivity and innovation-enhancing forces of the New Economy.