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Is Washington the Next Detroit?

Our latest Compass Point is by James M. Roberts, long-time research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and co-editor of their Index of Economic Freedom, reflecting on his experience in the conservative establishment and the perils of a political movement running on autopilot.

The Market’s Border Crisis

American Compass executive director Oren Cass makes the case that revitalizing the American industrial base requires moving beyond globalization.

The Workforce Training Grant

Public policy should recognize that employers, not universities, often provide the most socially valuable form of training and should redirect public resources accordingly.

Why the Economists Are Losing

The basic quandary for economists in this debate is that they stake their claims to expertise and deference on their field’s purported rigor, but they can uphold their own standards only under artificial conditions inapplicable to policymaking. As a result, their work’s defensibility bears an inverse relationship to its relevance.

Republican Stance on Free Markets Is Shifting When it Comes to China

Despite the priority traditionally given to the free flow of capital, many now argue that Beijing should be the exception, writes American Compass executive director Oren Cass.

The Conservative Confusion on Globalization

The question is not will we manage our economy’s interaction with the global market, but how, writes American Compass executive director Oren Cass.

Searching for Capitalism in the Wreckage of Globalization

Mutual dependence between capital and labor, not mere “economic freedom,” is what Adam Smith so ably described. Globalization destroys it.

Pushing ‘College For All’ Makes Americans Poorer. Here’s What We Need Instead

Oren Cass discusses new American Compass research on the effects of globalization on American workers and domestic jobs.

The False Promise of Good Jobs

While the share of American jobs requiring a college degree has increased in recent decades, the share of workers holding college degrees has risen much faster.

The Left & Right Case Against College For All

Oren Cass and author Freddie Deboer discuss the left and right cases against the college-for-all system that dominates American education.

Founder’s Letter: The Return of Political Economy

Political economy has no inviolable truths. Anything that economists or political scientists claim as inviolable truth, then, is incomplete—it may hold within the narrow confines of their analysis, but it will not hold in reality over the long run.

A Battle for the GOP’s Future Is Under Way

Oren Cass makes the case that the Republicans must move beyond the dog-eared 1980s playbook of tax cuts and deregulation if they are to succeed.

What Are Public Schools For?

According to a new American Compass survey, parents have a different answer than activists and policymakers do, writes Oren Cass.

20 Years of “Free Trade” with China

We have adapted Senator Rubio’s speech as an essay, which we are pleased to present as this week’s Compass Point: Trading It All Away.

Foreword: Teach for America

Public education’s primary purpose is preservation of our democratic republic.

Why National Conservatism Needs Worker Power

At the second National Conservatism conference, Oren Cass discusses the importance of worker power to the future of conservatism.

Have I Got a Bridge to Sell You: The Limitations of Econ 101

American Compass executive director Oren Cass reviews Glenn Hubbard’s new book, The Wall and the Bridge, and discusses the limits of market fundamentalism.

Why China Matters to You

Twenty years into the foolish experiment of Chinese ascension to the World Trade Organization, America now has a strategic peer whose values and goals in conflict with our own. We have committed to an international system on the assumption that we would set its course, and face a hoisting by our own petard if adversaries gain leverage within its institutions.

Oren Cass: Here’s What Workers REALLY Want From Unions

American Compass executive director explains what workers want—and are not getting—from organized labor in the U.S. today.

The Cult for Growth

In this week’s Compass Point, Marginal Prophets, Matthew Walther turns his perceptive gaze to the “magical thinking” of neoliberalism, and brings along a delightful guide: 19th-century anthropologist James Frazer, author of The Golden Bough and keen observer of humanity’s superstitious traditions and priestly castes.

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