Lessons from the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Fixing Business Incentives, and More

November 5, 2019

“The ultimate lesson of 1989, then, is this: History was never linear or inevitable.” In the inaugural Brookings Foreign Policy Essay, Constanze Stelzenmüller reflects on the fall of the Berlin Wall and how that momentous event shaped Germany and the rest of Europe for the coming three decades.

Research suggests that at least 75% of the time, state and local tax incentives do not affect a business’s decision on where to locate and create jobs. Tim Bartik and John Austin offer a practical checklist to design incentives that target areas of need, protect taxpayers, and provide residents with better jobs.

With “yes-men” on his side and career diplomats sidelined, an increasingly paranoid and distrustful President Trump has weaponized U.S. foreign policy for his own personal gain, argues Thomas Wright.

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