Category: Publications

In 2018, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres  argued that the world is suffering from a “trust deficit disorder.” He described a vicious circle where malicious acts in cyberspace polarize communities, reinforce tribalism, and diminish trust among states. The only way to mitigate these problems, he argued, was to encourage cooperation among countries and internet stakeholders off and online.

I have seen the future of international trade, and it is called DEPA, the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. With this trade agreement, New Zealand, Chile, and Singapore have crafted a new approach to trade policymaking focused on rules to govern cross-border data flows, facilitate data-driven economic growth, and increase online trust. In December, Canada announced it would seek to join DEPA. The U.S. should too.  DEPA is pathbreaking for several reasons. First, the participants see their relationship as a partnership; they pledge to build a digital economy that supports innovation and builds trust in their own countries and globally. Second, they drafted the agreement to demonstrate the benefits of collaboration at a time when many economies are choosing to go it alone or bilaterally because of Covid-19.

Big data analytics is the secret sauce of the American polity and economy—widely utilized but poorly understood. Organizations use various typesOpens in a new window of big data analytics to make decisions, correlations, and predictions about their constituents or stakeholders. The market for data is big and growing rapidly; it’s estimatedOpens in a new window to hit $100 billion before the end of the decade. But the recipe for data analytics can at times contain a hidden ingredient: bias. Not surprisingly, there is evidenceOpens in a new window that reliance on big data analytical processes can lead to divisive, discriminatory, inequitable, and even dangerous outcomes—collective harms—for some of the people sorted into groups. That needs to change.