Christopher Wink

3 weeks ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

The sales tax got its start in the Great Depression. Short on revenue, the first US states launched the policy and process for collecting a percentage on products sold. Others followed: Maryland in the 1940s, Pennsylvania in the 1950s and Virginia in the 1960s. All started with only physical products. Two big trends over the last 50 years upended sales tax strategy.

3 weeks ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

In the 1870s, we invented invention. Many books and graduate papers have argued why the Industrial Revolution happened when and where it did. But more than anything else, over the “long twentieth century,” as economics historian Bradford deLong calls it, science, policy and the market codeveloped the corporation and the research lab. Thomas Edison was as much an entrepreneur as a scientist. Then, during the Second World War, more military spending went into research and development than ever before.

1 month ago | benton.org | Christopher Wink

Today’s defining technology is the internet, along with the interlocking digital tools that contributed to and resulted from its inception. Artificial intelligence may well usher in its own technology epoch, but even this branch of computer science is as beholden to the internet — as the internet is to electricity. How and whether high-speed internet access is like the electrification of homes can teach us something. Getting online and knowing what to do once you’re there matters.

1 month ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

Broadband expansion today mirrors the past electrification of homes, evolving from a new technology into an economic necessity. Access is linked to economic opportunity, with lower adoption rates tied to higher inequality. Policymakers see internet access as crucial for jobs and mobility. Challenges fall into three areas: infrastructure (connections), affordability (cost) and literacy (knowing how to use it).

1 month ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

The rise of entrepreneurship-led development has led to greater collaboration between economic development and tourism efforts. With fewer people moving, regions must make their communities more appealing — and market those attributes. That means regional economic development has mostly shifted from attracting businesses (through infrastructure, tax incentives, etc.) to focusing on attracting and retaining people.