Who Will Protect the Global Economy From California?

The Urge to Get Rich Quick Makes the Golden State a Threat to the World

Don’t bank on California, especially when banks are involved.

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is widely discussed as a harbinger of the future, a sign of problems and disruptions in the technology businesses that were its best customers. But this bank failure, the second largest in U.S. history, actually fits a very old pattern—of California and its industries putting the economies of the nation and the world at risk.

Our state’s history of precipitating economic crisis is singular, and rooted in the same California characteristic that so often makes us successful. We aren’t …

| Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Our Favorite Public Programs of 2022

This Year on the Zócalo Stage, Our Panelists Shared Some Jabs, Gave Voice to Resistance, and Reimagined Home

This year on the Zócalo stage, panelists dared us to reimagine home. Showed us that we can build a better America. Reminded us that incarceration is big business. Demonstrated what …

If Small Towns Want to Survive, They Need a Plan B

To Fill Up the Storefronts Again, It Takes Talented, Enterprising Folks Who Aren’t Acting Alone

This country is littered with dying small towns that lacked a plan B, one they should have had in place before the mill shut down or the factory moved to …

How Economic Warfare Backfired in Rome | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

How Economic Warfare Backfired in Rome

An Ancient Conflict Sheds Light on the Consequences and Limits of Sanctions

Attacks on a state’s economy can inflict immense damage, but sanctions and other tools of economic warfare are unlikely to defeat a superior military power. Instead, economic disruptions may prompt …

California’s Economy Needs a Diversity Strategy | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

California’s Economy Needs a Diversity Strategy

Drunk on Tech Wealth, the State Is Failing to Make DEI a Priority for Workers and Job Seekers

California is rapidly losing its diversity. So why aren’t we hearing more about it from our diversity-obsessed media and politicians?

Because the diversity we are losing is not in our demography …

Can NFTs Build Trust?

Blockchain Technology Is Creating New Institutions to Rely On and New Ways for Humans to Connect

Are we in a crisis of trust? Trust in institutions—governments, medicine, media—has been declining for decades, and a lack of trust in public health programs has fueled COVID-related deaths. It …