Edward Alden is the Bernard L. Schwartz senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), specializing in U.S. economic competitiveness. He is also director of the CFR Renewing America publication series. The former Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times, his work focuses on immigration and visa policy, and on U.S. trade and international economic policy. Most recently, Edward was project co-director of the Independent Task Force on U.S. Trade and Investment Policy, which was co-chaired by former White House chief of staff Andrew Card and former Senate majority leader Thomas Daschle. He is the author of the book “The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration, and Security Since 9/11,” named a 2009 finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize for nonfiction writing, and was project director for the Independent Task Force on U.S. Immigration Policy, co-chaired by former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former White House chief of staff Mack McLarty. Edward’s previous positions include Canadian bureau chief for the Financial Times, reporter at the Vancouver Sun specializing in labor and employment issues, and managing editor of the newsletter Inside U.S. Trade. He has won several national and international awards for his reporting and made numerous TV and radio appearances as an analyst on political and economic issues, including NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, McLaughlin Group, NPR, the BBC, CNN, and MSNBC. His work has appeared in Foreign Policy, Japan Times, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Toronto Globe and Mail. He is the coauthor, with Franz Schurmann, of “Democratic Politics and World Order,” a monograph published by Berkeley’s Institute of International Studies in 1990.
Business
To Build America’s Future, Compete Aggressively for Investment
Here’s a chicken and egg problem. Are companies failing to invest in the United States because of its decaying infrastructure, schools that don’t produce enough skilled workers, and a byzantine immigration system? Or has the reluctance of companies to invest in the United States led to decaying infrastructure, failing education, and growing political fights over immigration?
Our Challenge in an Era of Global Competition
Many other nations put more effort and money into education and infrastructure than the US. And how should we think about immigration, which provides critical workers both at the high end and in manual labor? How is the US really doing? What are top competitors doing? What pragmatic near-term steps can we take? Read excerpts […]
Conferences
Detroit 12
Techonomy Detroit, hosted by the Detroit Economic Club, is a one-day multidisciplinary gathering of national and local leaders about reigniting U.S. competitiveness and economic growth, creating jobs, and revitalizing cities in a technologized age. It brings together executives and thought leaders from technology, business, manufacturing, government and design. TE Detroit aims to help sharpen the […]
