With CHIPs Implementation, White House Betrays 'Supply-Side Progressivism'
March 8, 2023
In recent years, a number of incisive writers on the center-left have been encouraging more attention to economic growth and technological leadership, talking about "supply-side progressivism" and an "abundance agenda." For a while, it looked like the Biden administration was listening. Last year's CHIPS and Science Act was grounded in the recognition that investing in high-tech industries and R&D was vital not just to the country's national security, but to its economic future.
But new guidelines issued Tuesday by the wing of the Department of Commerce responsible for doling out CHIPS funding suggest that "supply-side progressivism" is falling victim to a temptation to use supply-side rhetoric to advance other progressive aims. Instead of a narrow focus on critical industries like advanced logic computer chips, more familiar progressive wish list items are taking priority. Even those of us who have favored more active supports for critical industries have to admit that some industrial policy skeptics' warnings have proved prescient.
