--- title: How America Loses Its Edge description: For the past 50 years, the rational exuberance of the American economy has been propelled by the combination of three innovations: the computer, the microchip... canonical: https://time.com/5492621/how-america-loses-its-edge/ author: Walter Isaacson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-03T11:05:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:23:54.264Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How America Loses Its Edge og:description: For the past 50 years, the rational exuberance of the American economy has been propelled by the combination of three innovations: the computer, the microchip... og:url: https://time.com/5492621/how-america-loses-its-edge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7ab197e6bd5f27b/698941ad8fd2ee702335d672/america-innovation-internet-research.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3040 og:image:height: 1710 og:image:alt: america-innovation-internet-research-peter-garritano og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How America Loses Its Edge twitter:description: For the past 50 years, the rational exuberance of the American economy has been propelled by the combination of three innovations: the computer, the microchip... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7ab197e6bd5f27b/698941ad8fd2ee702335d672/america-innovation-internet-research.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How America Loses Its Edge > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent.  by [Walter Isaacson](https://time.com/author/walter-isaacson/)  ## Walter Isaacson Jan 3, 2019 11:05 AM UTC  Workers at a colocation center build out a server rack. New York, NY. Workers at a colocation center build out a server rack. New York, NY. Peter Garritano  by [Walter Isaacson](https://time.com/author/walter-isaacson/)  ## Walter Isaacson Jan 3, 2019 11:05 AM UTC For the past 50 years, the rational exuberance of the American economy has been propelled by the combination of three innovations: the computer, the microchip and the Internet. The research and development that produced each came from a triangular alliance of government, academia and private business. This tripartite machine of government working with universities and private corporations was not merely a random array with each group pursuing its own aims. Instead, during and after World War II, the three groups had been purposely fused into an innovation triangle. _To read the full story,_ [_click here_](http://time.com/longform/america-innovation/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5492621/how-america-loses-its-edge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5492621/how-america-loses-its-edge/"},"headline":"How America Loses Its Edge","datePublished":"2019-01-03T11:05:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:23:54.264Z","description":"For the past 50 years, the rational exuberance of the American economy has been propelled by the combination of three innovations: the computer, the microchip...","url":"https://time.com/5492621/how-america-loses-its-edge/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7ab197e6bd5f27b/698941ad8fd2ee702335d672/america-innovation-internet-research.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Walter Isaacson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/walter-isaacson/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7ab197e6bd5f27b/698941ad8fd2ee702335d672/america-innovation-internet-research.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"america-innovation-internet-research-peter-garritano","caption":"Workers replace cables at a telecommunications hub in New York where companies exchange Internet traffic to boost efficiency.","creditText":"Peter Garritano","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5492621/how-america-loses-its-edge/","name":"How America Loses Its Edge"}}]}] ```