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Industrial Policy for the Knowledge Economy: The case of Hangzhou
How the city's talent-focused policies fueled a high-tech revolution.
 • 
JS Tan
3
How Every Superpower Stole Its Way to the Top
The U.S. stole its way to the top—now it's trying to stop China from doing the same.
 • 
JS Tan
Why China’s AI Strategy Differs from that of the U.S.
Divergence in AI commercialization (Part 2): China excels in consumer platforms but struggles in enterprise software.
 • 
JS Tan
 and 
Grace Shao

February 2025

Divergent Approaches to AI Commercialization (Part 1): Comparing the U.S. and China
Whether or not AI is just hype will depend on its commercialization. The U.S. and China are taking fundamentally different approaches to this problem.
 • 
JS Tan
 and 
Grace Shao
1
How we forgot about production—and why it’s back on the agenda
A brief history of economic value from the factory floor to the platform economy.
 • 
JS Tan
3
The untold story of Twitter’s union drive and how Elon Musk busted it
We were helping organize a union at Twitter when Musk took over the company. Here's what we learned from witnessing his playbook up close.
 • 
JS Tan
 and 
Clarissa Redwine
Why Trump's tariff won't revive American industry
Yet his (and Elon Musk's) efforts to gut state capacity and reverse Biden's industrial policies will only ensure America falls further behind.
 • 
JS Tan
1

January 2025

DeepSeek part 2: An Outlier in China’s AI Innovation Ecosystem
DeepSeek's success shouldn't be understood as emerging because of China’s innovation system but in spite of it.
 • 
JS Tan
2
DeepSeek part 1: How new labor practices propelled an unknown AI firm to the top
DeepSeek's management structure challenges conventional wisdom about Chinese innovation
 • 
JS Tan
1
Behind the AI Arms Race: U.S. vs. China Cloud Computing Comparison
Firm ownership structure and industrial policy are critical yet under-discussed differences between the American and Chinese cloud sectors.
 • 
JS Tan
 and 
Grace Shao
1
Pluralism vs corporatism: why countries innovate differently
Some political systems are better at creative destruction. Others are better at creative accumulation.
 • 
JS Tan
3
Cars and Clouds in 2025
Some reflections on 2024 and what's to come in the new year
 • 
JS Tan
© 2025 JS Tan
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