The United States has been the leader of the free world for decades, championing a liberalized open global economy, the modernization of states, and a system of global institutions and rules that has lifted millions out of poverty. However, US development policy has remained narrowly focused on aid as the major tool for building prosperous societies abroad – even as the rise of China and other emerging markets and the dramatic increase in private capital and remittance flows are putting a growing premium on other, underexploited US tools for encouraging growth in the developing world.

This week I speak with Ben Leo, one of the primary authors of a new series of papers aimed at addressing the problems in 2016 and beyond. The White House and the World  presents more than a dozen concrete and practical policy proposals – ranging across trade, energy, migration, investment, and climate policy, as well as greater effectiveness of US foreign aid programs – that will promote growth and reduce poverty abroad.