Scott S. Powell

Senior Fellow, Center on Wealth and Poverty

Scott Powell has enjoyed a career split between theory and practice with over 25 years of experience as a founder, entrepreneur and leader in several industries. He joins the Discovery Institute after having been a fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution for six years and serving as a managing partner at a consulting firm, RemingtonRand. His research and writing has resulted in over 250 published articles on economics, business and regulation in the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, Barron’s Financial, New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, San Jose Mercury News, Philadelphia Inquirer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, San Diego Union, Houston Post and some two dozen other newspapers and journals in the U.S., Japan and Europe.

He authored the Hoover monograph, The Entrepreneur as the Mainspring of Economic Growth, which explains why the state cannot perform the entrepreneurial function, and he produced an in-depth critique of Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, published in Barron’s Financial and the Hoover Digest.

Scott’s book, Covert Cadre, largely written while being associated with the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, documented the activities of key figures and institutions of the American left, and was hailed by National Review as one of the most important books of the 1988 election year. The chapter entitled "Blinding America" explains in detail the political and media active measures campaigns that the left pursued in the 1970s to "reform" and undermine the U.S. intelligence agencies. Years later these structural reforms contributed to the systemic failures that led to the 9/11 tragedy. Powell has been called on to provide expert witness analysis and testimony for the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. His public speaking has brought him in contact with radio and TV audiences throughout the U.S.

Scott Powell graduated from the University of Chicago with honors (B.A. and M.A.) and received his Ph.D. in political and economic theory from Boston University in 1987, writing his dissertation on the determinants of entrepreneurial activity and economic growth.  He currently teaches international economics in graduate school program in Global Development at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Archives

CRT: America’s Cultural Revolution

Scott S. Powell
August 20, 2021
Americans have overcome many daunting challenges throughout their nation’s past, often waking up at the 11th hour before taking action and prevailing.  Protecting our citizens’ freedom and saving America as a beacon of freedom in the world should be our top priority. 

How China’s Economy and Trade Policies with the U.S. Have Changed

Scott S. Powell
April 16, 2021
Part two of Discovery Senior Fellow Scott Powell's three-part discussion with China expert Bill Perry. Powell and Perry discuss how the economy of China has changed and why it’s necessary for the U.S. to have trade policies that protect our intellectual property and demand fairness and reciprocity.

Why Independents will Decide the November 3rd Election

Scott S. Powell
October 13, 2020
Leadership always starts with vision. Whether or not a debate format and schedule gets back on track, President Trump needs to focus effective communication to independent voters on key domestic policy issues in the home stretch of the campaign.

Crushing the Barbarians Inside the Gates

Scott S. Powell
August 14, 2020
More and more Americans in denial are being forced to face the reality that their country is on verge of being lost, with the barbarians not only inside the gates, but driving policy for the rest of us.

How the U.S. Can Solve the Current Trade Tariff Impasse With China

Scott S. Powell
May 10, 2019
Trade talks between the U.S. and China have hit an impasse, but there is surprising bipartisan support for the Trump administration to stay the course on what will be a long process to resolve the full range of trade problems specific to China. Success on this first round of trade negotiations in the form of ending the tariff penalties that are at the heart of a year-old trade war, with further reduction and even elimination of tariffs on as many categories as possible, should actually be attainable in the near term. Future rounds of trade talks to find remedies for China’s intellectual property and trademark theft, national security threats, and forced technology transfer from American companies doing business in China ...

U.S. Trade Deal with China Imperfect, but Both Sides Benefit

Scott S. Powell
April 3, 2019
The U.S. and China are edging closer to finalizing a trade deal that should end the tariff penalties that are at the heart of a year-old trade war. But a comprehensive deal that includes remedies for China’s theft of intellectual property and forced technology transfer from American companies doing business in China may not be in the cards in closing out this round of trade talks. When China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, it was granted “developing country” status, which allowed it to nurture infant industries by levying high tariffs on imports from the U.S. and Europe even while China benefited from low tariffs on its exports into those same countries.

Edging Closer to a Trade Deal

Scott S. Powell
March 10, 2019
The United States and China are edging closer to finalizing a trade deal that should end the tariff penalties that are at the heart of a year-old trade war. It’s also hoped that the deal will include enforcement and penalties for China’s national security-related intellectual property (IP) theft and espionage, and provide structural changes that would end forced technology transfer and protect trade secrets and intellectual property rights of American companies doing business in China. Tariff problems trace back to 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). At that time, China was granted “developing country” status by the WTO, which allowed it to nurture infant industries by levying high tariffs on imports from the United States and Europe even while China benefited from low tariffs on its exports into those same countries.

Democracy’s Highest Crime and Misdemeanor

Scott S. Powell
February 1, 2018
In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln reminded Americans that they were uniquely privileged to have a new birth of freedom that was contingent on “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” That was then. What about now? Every week brings new revelations and details about a cabal in the federal government whose actions border on both sedition and conspiracy. The evidence suggests that specific high level officials in the Justice Department and the FBI colluded to violate the law in unprecedented ways for the singular purpose of subverting the will of the people both before and after the 2016 election.

The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Of 2017 Is Already Delivering

Scott S. Powell
January 11, 2018
If there is one thing about which most economists understand and agree it's the law of supply and demand. A derivative of that law is that demand and velocity of transactions tend to diminish as costs increase.  While few individuals disagree about this, many in the collective body of economists have become so politicized that when it comes to the cost of variables such as taxes and regulations, that consensus all but vanishes.

A Government We Deserve — or One We Need?

Scott S. Powell
February 19, 2016
The results of first two presidential primaries in Iowa and NH — in which Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders lead their respective parties — should be cause for unease. Will we get "the government we deserve" rather than one we desperately need?