Brain Capital’s Role in US-China Competition

This paper is a work in progress and has not been submitted for editorial review.

To build resilience and compete effectively, America needs to re-double its efforts to boost its domestic brain capital–the collective social, emotional, and cognitive resources of her people.  The China Competition 2.0 strategy needs brain capital.

For the United States, navigating the new age of the Great Power Competition (GPC) with China is a colossal task because, in addition to military competition, the two countries are in a fierce rivalry spanning a broad range of global markets, technological competition, trade imbalance, and extremely complex global supply chains. Unlike prior global conflicts, this demands a thoughtful and methodical approach to addressing national security and economic goals collectively. The highest priority should be to build technology and economic ecosystems focused on disruptive innovation, dual-use technology development, workforce development, addressing policy matters, and global sales of technologies. The core to building such an ecosystem is brain capital, whereby a premium is placed on brain skills (both cognitive and non-cognitive) and brain health. Investing in the development of brain capital is indispensable for tackling contemporary societal challenges,  fostering innovation, and safeguarding economic security.

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