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{{short description|American conservative think tank founded in 1938}}{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}

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| leader_title = President| leader_name = Robert Doar| tax_id = 53-0218495 WEBSITE=AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE ARCHIVE-DATE=SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 URL-STATUS=LIVE, | revenue_year = 2020| expenses = $47.8 million| expenses_year = 2020aei.org}}}}{{conservatism US|think tanks}}The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-rightNEWS, Hounshell, Blake, Democrats Ask if They Should Hit Back Harder Against the G.O.P.,weblink May 9, 2022, The New York Times, April 27, 2022, May 9, 2022,weblink live, think tank based in Washington, D.C., that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare.NEWS,weblink Why the American Enterprise Institute chief is so popular, The Washington Post, November 26, 2015, October 14, 2020,weblink live, NEWS, Steinhauer, Jennifer, In New Home, Policy Group Gets Big Gift,weblink December 28, 2015, The New York Times, February 25, 2014, February 26, 2021,weblink live, AEI is an independent nonprofit organization supported primarily by contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. Founded in 1938, the organization is aligned with conservatism and neoconservatism but does not support political candidates. AEI advocates in favor of private enterprise, limited government, and democratic capitalism.ENCYCLOPEDIA, American Enterprise Institute, Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannica Group Inc., Chicago, Illinois,weblink March 31, 2021, Bondarenko, Peter, February 5, 2015, May 7, 2021,weblink live, Some of their positions have attracted controversy, including their defense policy recommendations for the Iraq War, their analysis of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, and their energy and environmental policies based on their more than two-decade-long opposition to the prevailing scientific opinion on climate change. AEI is governed by a 28-member Board of Trustees.WEB,weblink Board of Trustees, American Enterprise Institute, June 27, 2019, January 13, 2017,weblink live, Approximately 185 authors are associated with AEI.WEB,weblink Authors, American Enterprise Institute, June 27, 2019, April 8, 2020,weblink live, Arthur C. Brooks served as president of AEI from January 2009 through July 1, 2019. He was succeeded by Robert Doar.NEWS, Costa, Robert, January 18, 2019, AEI names Robert Doar as new president as conservative movement tries to find its way in Trump era, The Washington Post,weblink May 22, 2023,

History

Beginnings (1938–1954)

AEI grew out of the American Enterprise Association (AEA), which was founded in 1938 by a group of New York businessmen led by Lewis H. Brown.WEB, AEI, History of AEI,weblink July 6, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090708195505weblink">weblink July 8, 2009, dead, AEI's founders included executives from Bristol-Myers, Chemical Bank, Chrysler, Eli Lilly, General Mills, and Paine Webber.In 1943, AEA's main offices were moved from New York City to Washington, D.C. during a time when Congress's portfolio had vastly increased during World War II. AEA opposed the New Deal, and aimed to propound classical liberal arguments for limited government.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} In 1944, AEA convened an Economic Advisory Board to set a high standard for research; this eventually evolved into the Council of Academic Advisers, which over the decades included economists and social scientists, including Ronald Coase, Martin Feldstein, Milton Friedman, Roscoe Pound, and James Q. Wilson.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}AEA's early work in Washington, D.C. involved commissioning and distributing legislative analyses to Congress, which developed AEA's relationships with Melvin Laird and Gerald Ford.BOOK, Van Atta, Dale, With Honor: Melvin Laird in War, Peace, and Politics, University of Wisconsin Press, 2008, Madison, Wisc., 55–56, 509, 978-0-299-22680-0, Brown eventually shifted AEA's focus to commissioning studies of government policies. These subjects ranged from fiscal to monetary policy and including health care and energy policy, and authors such as Earl Butz, John Lintner, former New Dealer Raymond Moley, and Felix Morley. Brown died in 1951, and AEA languished as a result. In 1952, a group of young policymakers and public intellectuals including Laird, William J. Baroody Sr., Paul McCracken, and Murray Weidenbaum, met to discuss resurrecting AEA. In 1954, Baroody became executive vice president of the association.

William J. Baroody Sr. (1954–1980)

Baroody was executive vice president from 1954 to 1962 and president from 1962 to 1978. Baroody raised money for AEA to expand its financial base beyond the business leaders on the board.BOOK, Abelson, Donald E., A Capitol Idea, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006, Montreal, 978-0-7735-3115-4, During the 1950s and 1960s, AEA's work became more pointed and focused, including monographs by Edward Banfield, James M. Buchanan, P. T. Bauer, Alfred de Grazia, Rose Friedman, and Gottfried Haberler,.JOURNAL, Essay in Apportionment and Representative Government, Political Science Quarterly, 79, 4, 612–614, Grazia, Alfred de, December 1964, 2146715, 10.2307/2146715, JOURNAL, Review: New Perspectives on the Presidency?, Public Administration Review, 29, 6, 670–679, Schlesinger, Arthur, December 1969, 974112, 10.2307/974112, In 1962, AEA changed its name to the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) to avoid any confusion with a trade association representing business interests attempting to influence politicians.BOOK, Phillips-Fein, Kim, 2009, Invisible Hands, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 978-0-393-05930-4, 66, In 1964, William J. Baroody Sr., and several of his top staff at AEI, including Karl Hess, moonlighted as policy advisers and speechwriters for presidential nominee Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election. "Even though Baroody and his staff sought to support Goldwater on their own time without using the institution's resources, AEI came under scrutiny of the IRS in the years following the campaign," author Andrew Rich wrote in 2004.BOOK, Rich, Andrew, Think tanks, public policy, and the politics of expertise,weblink registration, Cambridge University Press, 2004, Cambridge, UK, 54, Representative Wright Patman subpoenaed the institute's tax papers, and the IRS initiated a two-year investigation of AEI.BOOK, Judis, John B., The paradox of American democracy, Taylor and Francis, 2001, London, After this, AEI's officers attempted to avoid the appearance of partisan political advocacy.Baroody recruited a resident research faculty; Harvard University economist Gottfried Haberler was the first to join in 1972. In 1977, former president Gerald Ford joined AEI as a "distinguished fellow." Ford brought several of his administration officials with him, including Robert Bork, Arthur Burns, David Gergen, James C. Miller III, Laurence Silberman, and Antonin Scalia. Ford also founded the AEI World Forum, which he hosted until 2005. Other staff hired during this time included Walter Berns and Herbert Stein. Baroody's son, William J. Baroody Jr., a Ford White House official, also joined AEI, and later became president of AEI, succeeding his father in that role in 1978.The elder Baroody made an effort to recruit neoconservatives who had supported the New Deal and Great Society but were disaffected by what they perceived as the failure of the welfare state. This also included Cold War hawks who rejected the peace agenda of 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. Baroody brought Jeane Kirkpatrick, Irving Kristol, Michael Novak, and Ben Wattenberg to AEI.BOOK, Kristol, Irving, Irving Kristol, Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea, Free Press, 1995, New York, While at AEI, Kirkpatrick authored "Dictatorships and Double Standards", which brought her to the attention of Ronald Reagan, and Kirkpatrick was later named U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations.NEWS, Tim, Weiner, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Reagan's Forceful Envoy, Dies,weblink The New York Times, December 9, 2006, September 13, 2008, September 8, 2012,weblink" title="archive.today/20120908012629weblink">weblink live, AEI also became a home for supply-side economists during the late 1970s and early 1980s.NEWS, Wallace-Wells, Benjamin, In the Tank: The Intellectual Decline of AEI, Washington Monthly, December 2003,weblinkweblink" title="archive.today/20130205221215weblink">weblink dead, February 5, 2013, July 6, 2009, By 1980, AEI had grown from a budget of $1 million and a staff of ten to a budget of $8 million and a staff of 125.

William J. Baroody Jr. (1980–1986)

Baroody Sr. retired in 1978, and was replaced by his son, William J. Baroody Jr. Baroody Sr. died in 1980, shortly before Reagan took office as U.S. president in January 1981.During the Reagan administration, several AEI staff were hired by the administration. But this, combined with prodigious growth, diffusion of research activities,See AEI's Annual Reports, 1980–1985.{{original research inline|date=June 2018}} and managerial problems, proved costly. Some foundations then supporting AEI perceived a drift toward the center politically. Centrists like Ford, Burns, and Stein clashed with rising movement conservatives. In 1986, the John M. Olin Foundation and the Smith Richardson Foundation withdrew funding for AEI, pushing it to the brink of bankruptcy. The board of trustees fired Baroody Jr. and, after Paul McCracken then served briefly as interim president. In December 1986, AEI hired Christopher DeMuth as its new president, and DeMuth served in the role for 22 years.JOURNAL, Spackman, Andy, December 22, 2009, The American Enterprise Institute (www.aei.org), Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, 15, 1, 44–50, 10.1080/08963560903017607, 58839559, 0896-3568,

Christopher DeMuth (1986–2008)

File:CheneyatAEI.jpg|thumb|Then U.S. vice president Dick Cheney speaks at AEI on the war on terror, arguing against a withdrawal from the Iraq WarIraq WarIn 1990, AEI hired Charles Murray (and received his Bradley Foundation support for The Bell Curve) after the Manhattan Institute dropped him.NEWS, DeParle, Jason, Daring Research or 'Social Science Pornography'?, The New York Times Magazine, October 9, 1994,weblink July 6, 2009, January 29, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110129125309weblink">weblink live, Others brought to AEI by DeMuth included John Bolton, Dinesh D'Souza, Richard Cheney, Lynne Cheney, Michael Barone, James K. Glassman, Newt Gingrich, John Lott, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} During DeMuth's tenure, the organization turned further to the political right.BOOK, Lampton, David M., Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War, 2024, Rowman & Littlefield, 978-1-5381-8725-8, Lanham, MD, 266, David M. Lampton, AEI had severe financial problems when DeMuth began his presidency. During the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations, AEI's revenues grew from $10 million to $18.9 million.See AEI Annual Reports, 1988–89 and 2000. Academic David M. Lampton writes that DeMuth was responsive to the financial power of "America's hard right".The institute's publications Public Opinion and The AEI Economist were merged into The American Enterprise, edited by Karlyn Bowman from 1990 to 1995 and by Karl Zinsmeister from 1995 to 2006, when Glassman created The American.AEI was closely tied to the George W. Bush administration.Arin, Kubilay Yado (2013): Think Tanks, the Brain Trusts of US Foreign Policy. Wiesbaden: VS Springer. More than twenty AEI staff members served in the Bush administration, and Bush addressed the institute on three occasions. "I admire AEI a lot—I'm sure you know that", Bush said. "After all, I have been consistently borrowing some of your best people."PRESS RELEASE, President Bush Discusses Progress in Afghanistan, Global War on Terror, The White House, February 15, 2007,weblink July 6, 2009, March 12, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110312112836weblink">weblink live, Cabinet officials also frequented AEI. In 2002, Danielle Pletka joined AEI to promote the foreign policy department. AEI and several of its staff—including Michael Ledeen and Richard Perle—became associated with the start of the Iraq War.NEWS, Rose, David, Neo Culpa, Vanity Fair, January 2007,weblink July 6, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090530092345weblink">weblink May 30, 2009, live, President George W. Bush used a February 2003 AEI dinner to advocate for a democratized Iraq, which was intended to inspire the remainder of the Mideast.WEB,weblink George Bush's speech to the American Enterprise Institute, February 27, 2003, The Guardian, October 17, 2018, October 11, 2018,weblink live, In 2006–07, AEI staff, including Frederick W. Kagan, provided a strategic framework for the 2007 surge in Iraq. The Bush administration also drew on AEI work in other areas, such as Leon Kass's appointment as the first chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics and Norman J. Ornstein's work drafting the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act that Bush signed in 2002.

Arthur C. Brooks (2008–2019)

When DeMuth retired as president at the end of 2008, AEI's staff numbered 185, with 70 scholars and several dozen adjuncts, and revenues of $31.3 million. Arthur C. Brooks succeeded him as president at the start of the Late-2000s recession.NEWS, Weigel, David, Conservative Think Tank Adjusts to Tough Times, Washington Independent, March 13, 2009,weblink July 6, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090619215450weblink">weblink June 19, 2009, dead, In a 2009 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Brooks positioned AEI to be much more aggressive in responding to the policies of the Barack Obama administration.NEWS, Brooks, Arthur C., Arthur C. Brooks, The Real Culture War Is Over Capitalism, Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2009,weblink July 6, 2009, December 31, 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20141231032428weblink">weblink live, In 2018, Brooks announced that he would step down effective July 1, 2019.NEWS, Martin, Rachel, Arthur Brooks To Step Down As President Of AEI,weblink June 21, 2019, NPR, May 15, 2018, June 21, 2019,weblink live,

Termination of David Frum's residency

On March 25, 2010, AEI resident fellow David Frum announced that his position at the organization had been "terminated."WEB,weblink AEI Says Goodbye, Frumforum.com, June 10, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180612162426weblink">weblink June 12, 2018, dead, MAGAZINE,weblink A Farewell to Frum, Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair, June 10, 2018, June 14, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110614135425weblink">weblink live, Following this announcement, media outlets speculated that Frum had been "forced out"WEB,weblink GOP Commentator David Frum Loses Job After Criticizing Party, Montopoli, Brian, March 25, 2010, CBS News,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130513213743weblink">weblink May 13, 2013, October 18, 2018, WEB,weblink PostPartisan - AEI hits David Frum where it hurts, April 5, 2018, March 14, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180314104537weblink">weblink live, MAGAZINE,weblink Amid Column Furor, The American Enterprise Institute Dismisses David Frum, Michael, Scherer, Time, March 25, 2010, April 5, 2018, swampland.blogs.time.com, May 30, 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100530084345weblink">weblink live, for writing a post to his FrumForum blog called "Waterloo", in which he criticized the Republican Party's unwillingness to bargain with Democrats on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In the editorial, Frum claimed that his party's failure to reach a deal "led us to abject and irreversible defeat."WEB,weblink Waterloo, Frum, David, March 21, 2010, FrumForum,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100325040735weblink">weblink March 25, 2010, October 18, 2018, After his termination, Frum clarified that his article had been "welcomed and celebrated" by AEI President Arthur Brooks, and that he had been asked to leave because "these are hard times." Brooks had offered Frum the opportunity to write for AEI on a nonsalaried basis, but Frum declined. The following day, journalist Mike Allen published a conversation with Frum, in which Frum expressed a belief that his termination was the result of pressure from donors. According to Frum, "AEI represents the best of the conservative world{{nbsp}}... But the elite isn't leading anymore{{nbsp}}... I think Arthur [Brooks] took no pleasure in this. I think he was embarrassed."WEB,weblink Frum thinks critique of GOP led to boot -- 2 big bipartisan bashes -- Chris Matthews, cornered -- HHS Secretary is vastly more powerful -- Jackie Calmes to White House beat -- Kimberly Dozier to AP, Politico,weblink Allen, Mike, March 26, 2010, March 29, 2010, 2381-1595, 864712228, April 5, 2018,

Robert Doar (2019–present)

In January 2019, Robert Doar was selected by AEI's board of trustees to be AEI's 12th president, succeeding Arthur Brooks on July 1, 2019.NEWS,weblink AEI names Robert Doar new President, The Washington Post, January 18, 2019, February 2, 2020, May 13, 2019,weblink live, In October 2023, Doar led an AEI delegation (including Kori Schake, Dan Blumenthal, Zack Cooper, and Nicholas Eberstadt, among others) to visit Taiwan to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen.WEB, President Tsai meets delegation from American Enterprise Institute,weblink 2023-10-17, english.president.gov.tw, en, WEB, 2023-10-16, US think tank commits to strengthening US-Taiwan defense ties {{!, Taiwan News {{!}} 2023-10-16 15:56:00 |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/5021018 |access-date=2023-10-17 |website=Taiwan News}}

Personnel

(File:American Enterprise Institute 01.jpg|thumb|American Enterprise Institute marker)AEI's officers include Robert Doar, Danielle Pletka, Yuval Levin, Michael R. Strain, and Ryan Streeter.WEB, Officers,weblink AEI, April 2, 2020, January 23, 2023,weblink live, AEI has a Council of Academic Advisers, which includes Alan J. Auerbach, Eliot A. Cohen, Eugene Fama, Aaron Friedberg, Robert P. George, Eric A. Hanushek, Walter Russell Mead, Mark V. Pauly, R. Glenn Hubbard, Sam Peltzman, Harvey S. Rosen, Jeremy A. Rabkin, and Richard Zeckhauser. The Council of Academic Advisers selects the annual winner of the Irving Kristol Award.WEB, Council of Academic Advisers,weblink AEI, April 2, 2020, July 25, 2020,weblink live, AEI was influential during the George W. Bush administration's public and foreign policy.NEWS, Michael, Abramowitz,weblink Conservative Anger Grows Over Bush's Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, A01, July 19, 2006, February 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20121108112901weblink">weblink November 8, 2012, live, More than 20 staff members served either in a Bush administration policy post or on one of the government's many panels and commissions,WEB,weblink Board of Trustees, AEI, January 13, 2017,weblink January 13, 2017, live, April 16, 2014, including Dick Cheney, John R. Bolton, Lynne Cheney, and Paul Wolfowitz.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Board of directors

AEI's board is chaired by Daniel A. D'Aniello. Current notable trustees include:WEB,weblink Board of Trustees, AEI, April 2, 2020, February 29, 2020,weblink live,

• Cliff Asness, hedge fund manager and the co-founder of AQR Capital Management
• Dick Cheney, former U.S. vice president
• Pete Coors, vice chairman of the board of Molson Coors Brewing Company
• Harlan Crow, chairman and CEO, Crow Holdings, the Trammell Crow family's investment company
• Ravenel B. Curry III, president, Eagle Capital Management
• Dick DeVos, president, Windquest Group
• John V. Faraci, chairman and CEO, International Paper
• Tully Friedman, chairman and CEO, Friedman Fleischer & Lowe
• Christopher Galvin, former CEO and chairman, Motorola
• Harvey Golub, retired chairman and CEO, American Express Company
• Robert F. Greenhill, founder and chairman, Greenhill & Co.
• Frank Hanna III, CEO, Hanna Capital
• Bruce Kovner, chairman, Caxton Alternative Associates (former AEI chairman)
• John A. Luke Jr., chairman and CEO, MeadWestvaco
• Kevin Rollins, former president and CEO, Dell
• Matthew K. Rose, executive chairman, BNSF Railway
• Edward B. Rust Jr., chairman and CEO, State Farm (former AEI chairman)
• Mel Sembler, chairman emeritus, Sembler Company

Political stance and impact

The institute has been described as a right-leaning counterpart to the left-leaning Brookings Institution;NEWS,weblink An insider's guide to the upcoming week, The Washington Post, A02, April 30, 2007, February 12, 2009, November 8, 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20121108112907weblink">weblink live, NEWS, Dana, Milbank, Dana Milbank, White House Hopes Gas Up A Think Tank: For Center-Right AEI, Bush Means Business, The Washington Post, A39, December 8, 2000, however, the two entities have often collaborated. From 1998 to 2008, they co-sponsored the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, and in 2006 they launched the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project.WEB,weblink Wayback Machine, February 11, 2009, June 10, 2018, {{dead link|date=November 2018|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} In 2015, a working group consisting of members from both institutions coauthored a report entitled Opportunity, Responsibility, and Security: A Consensus Plan for Reducing Poverty and Restoring the American Dream.WEB,weblink OPPORTUNITY, RESPONSIBILITY, AND SECURITY : A CONSENSUS PLAN FOR REDUCING POVERTY AND RESTORING THE AMERICAN DREAM, Brookings.edu, June 10, 2018, June 13, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160613145613weblink">weblink live, AEI is the most prominent think tank associated with American neoconservatism, in both the domestic and international policy arenas.NEWS, Steve, Schifferes,weblink Battle of the Washington think tanks, BBC News, April 3, 2003, February 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090106235248weblink">weblink January 6, 2009, live, Irving Kristol, widely considered to be one of the founding fathers of neoconservatism, was a senior fellow at AEI (arriving from the Congress for Cultural Freedom following the revelation of that group's CIA funding) and the AEI issues a 'Irving Kristol Award' in his honour.Saunders, Frances Stonor: The Cultural Cold War The New Press, 1999. Many prominent neoconservatives—including Jeane Kirkpatrick, Ben Wattenberg, and Joshua Muravchik—spent the bulk of their careers at AEI.WEB,weblink Scholars & Fellows, AEI, February 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090508082527weblink">weblink May 8, 2009, live, Paul Ryan has described the AEI as "one of the beachheads of the modern conservative movement".BOOK, Lofflmann, Georg, American Grand Strategy under Obama: Competing Discourses, 2017, Edinburgh University Press, 121, According to the 2011 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania), AEI is number 17 in the "Top Thirty Worldwide Think Tanks" and number 10 in the "Top Fifty United States Think Tanks".WEB, James G. McGann (director),weblink The Global Go To Think Tank Report, 2011, January 20, 2012, June 10, 2014, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131231020421weblink">weblink December 31, 2013, Other AEI "Top Think Tank" rankings include #32 in Security and International Affairs, #3 in Health Policy, #10 in Domestic Economic Policy, #9 in International Economic Policy, and #7 in Social Policy. By "Special Achievement" AEI's rating is #13 in Most Innovative Policy Ideas/Proposals, #13 in Outstanding Policy-Oriented Public Policy Research Programs, #20 in Best Use of the Internet or Social Media to Engage the Public, #13 in Best Use of the Media (Print or Electronic) to Communicate Programs and Research, #15 in Best External Relations/Public Engagement Programs, and #13 in Greatest Impact on Public Policy (Global). As of 2019, the American Enterprise Institute also leads in YouTube subscribers among free-market groups.WEB, Chafuen, Alejandro, The 2019 Ranking Of Free-Market Think Tanks Measured By Social Media Impact,weblink March 21, 2021, Forbes, en, June 27, 2021,weblink live,

Research programs

AEI's research is divided into seven broad categories: economic policy studies, foreign and defense policy studies, health care policy studies, political and public opinion studies, social and cultural studies, education, and poverty studies. Until 2008, AEI's work was divided into economics, foreign policy, and politics and social policy. AEI research is presented at conferences and meetings, in peer-reviewed journals and publications on the institute's website, and through testimony before and consultations with government panels.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}WEB,weblink Research, AEI, en-US, September 11, 2019, August 25, 2019,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20190825211708weblink">weblink live,

Economic policy studies

Economic policy was the original focus of the American Enterprise Association, and "the Institute still keeps economic policy studies at its core".WEB,weblink 2008 Annual Report, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, October 17, 2018, May 14, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160514050017weblink">weblink live, According to AEI's annual report, "The principal goal is to better understand free economies—how they function, how to capitalize on their strengths, how to keep private enterprise robust, and how to address problems when they arise". Michael R. Strain directs economic policy studies at AEI. Throughout the beginning of the 21st-century, AEI staff have pushed for a more conservative approach to aiding the recession that includes major tax-cuts. AEI supported President Bush's tax cuts in 2002 and claimed that the cuts "played a large role in helping to save the economy from a recession". AEI also suggested that further taxes were necessary in order to attain recovery of the economy. An AEI staff member said that the Democrats in congress who opposed the Bush stimulus plan were foolish for doing so as he saw the plan as a major success for the administration.WEB,weblink AEI's Organization and Purposes, American Enterprise Institute, February 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090212000018weblink">weblink February 12, 2009, dead,

Financial crisis of 2007–2008

As the financial crisis of 2007–2008 unfolded, The Wall Street Journal stated that predictions by AEI staff about the involvement of housing GSEs had come true.NEWS, McKinnon, John D.,weblink Critic of the Firms Sadly Says 'Told You', The Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2008, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120524070502weblink">weblink May 24, 2012, In the late 1990s, Fannie Mae eased credit requirements on the mortgages it purchased and exposed itself to more risk. Peter J. Wallison warned that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's public-private status put taxpayers on the line for increased risk.NEWS, Holmes, Stephen A.,weblink Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending, The New York Times, C2, September 30, 1999, April 7, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090323141815weblink">weblink March 23, 2009, live, "Because of the agencies' dual public and private form, various efforts to force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to fulfill their public mission at the cost of their profitability have failed—and will likely continue to fail", he wrote in 2001. "The only viable solution would seem to be full privatization or the adoption of policies that would force the agencies to adopt this course themselves."BOOK, Wallison, Peter J., Peter J. Wallison, 2001, Introduction, Wallison, Peter J., Peter J. Wallison, Serving Two Masters, Yet Out of Control: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AEI Studies on Financial Market Deregulation, Washington, DC, AEI Press, 4, 978-0-8447-4166-6,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418152140weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, Wallison ramped up his criticism of the GSEs throughout the 2000s. In 2006, and 2007, he moderated conferences featuring James B. Lockhart III, the chief regulator of Fannie and FreddieWEB,weblink Breakfast with Jim Lockhart and Senator Chuck Hagel, September 13, 2006, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418123537weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, October 17, 2018, In August 2008, after Fannie and Freddie had been backstopped by the US Treasury Department, Wallison outlined several ways of dealing with the GSEs, including "nationalization through a receivership," outright "privatization," and "privatization through a receivership."NEWS, Wallison, Peter J., Peter J. Wallison, August 26, 2008, Fannie and Freddie by Twilight,weblink Financial Services Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418011610weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, The following month, Lockhart and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson took the former path by putting Fannie and Freddie into federal "conservatorship."NEWS,weblink In Rescue to Stabilize Lending, U.S. Takes Over Mortgage Finance Titans, Labaton, Stephen, Edmund L. Andrews, September 7, 2008, The New York Times, December 20, 2018, Andrews, Edmund L., en-US, 0362-4331, December 21, 2018,weblink live, As the housing crisis unfolded, AEI sponsored a series of conferences featuring commentators including Desmond Lachman, and Nouriel Roubini.WEB,weblink Mortgage Credit and Subprime Lending: Implications of a Deflating Bubble, March 28, 2007, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418135510weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, October 17, 2018, WEB,weblink The Deflating Mortgage and Housing Bubble, Part II, October 11, 2007, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418135416weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, October 17, 2018, WEB,weblink The Deflating Mortgage and Housing Bubble, Part III: What Next?, March 12, 2008, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090419183408weblink">weblink April 19, 2009, October 17, 2018, WEB,weblink The Deflating Mortgage and Housing Bubble, Part IV: Where Is the Bottom?, October 30, 2008, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418054852weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, October 17, 2018, WEB,weblink The Deflating Bubble, Part V: Forecast and Policy Recommendations for the Next Six Months, March 17, 2009, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20091228173734weblink">weblink December 28, 2009, October 17, 2018, Makin had been warning about the effects of a housing downturn on the broader economy for months.NEWS, Makin, John H., John H. Makin, December 2006, Housing and American Recessions,weblink Economic Outlook, American Enterprise Institute, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418001515weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, Amid charges that many homebuyers did not understand their complex mortgages, Alex J. Pollock crafted a prototype of a one-page mortgage disclosure form.NEWS, Pollock, Alex J., Alex J. Pollock, May 2, 2007, To Make Mortgages Fair, Keep Disclosures To a Page, The American,weblink April 7, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090626234144weblink">weblink June 26, 2009, NEWS, Rucker, Patrick, June 15, 2007, One-page mortgage form pitched as simplicity tool, Reuters,weblink April 7, 2009, November 9, 2008,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20081109121237weblink">weblink live, The claim that AEI predicted and warned about the financial crisis of 2007–2008 is heavily disputed. In her book, Dark Money (2016), American investigative journalist Jane Mayer writes that contrary to their claims, AEI took the "lead role" in crafting a revisionist narrative about the financial crisis, promoting what equities analyst Barry Ritholtz called "Wall Street's 'big lie'". AEI's argument, "that government programs that helped low-income home buyers get mortgages caused the collapse", did not "withstand even casual scrutiny", according to Ritholz. Multiple studies, including those from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies and the U.S. Government Accountability Office, did not support the conclusions about mortgages reached by AEI. Ritholz argues that AEI intentionally shifted the blame from the financial sector, many of whom worked or were affiliated with AEI, according to Mayer, to the government and the consumer, so as to continue promoting the questionable idea that the free market does not need regulation.BOOK, Mayer, Jane, 2016, Dark Money (book), Dark Money, Doubleday, 978-0-385-53559-5, 291–293,

Tax and fiscal policy

Kevin Hassett and Alan D. Viard are AEI's principal tax policy experts, although Alex Brill, R. Glenn Hubbard, and Aparna Mathur also work on the subject. Specific subjects include "income distribution, transition costs, marginal tax rates, and international taxation of corporate income... the Pension Protection Act of 2006; dynamic scoring and the effects of taxation on investment, savings, and entrepreneurial activity; and options to fix the alternative minimum tax".American Enterprise Institute, Research Highlights, accessed April 7, 2008. Archived copy at the Library of Congress (November 3, 2011). Hassett has coedited several volumes on tax reform.BOOK, Hassett, Kevin A., Hubbard, R. Glenn, R. Glenn Hubbard, 2001, Transition Costs of Fundamental Tax Reform, Washington, DC, AEI Press, 978-0-8447-4112-3, http:www.aei.org/books/bookID.264/book_detail.asp,weblink" title="archive.today/20110611001536weblink">weblink dead, June 11, 2011, BOOK, Auerbach, Alan J., Alan Auerbach, Hassett, Kevin A., 2005, Toward Fundamental Tax Reform, Washington, DC, AEI Press, 978-0-8447-4234-2,weblink April 7, 2009, registration, Viard edited a book on tax policy lessons from the Bush administration.BOOK, Viard, Alan D., Alan D. Viard, 2009, Tax Policy Lessons from the 2000s, Washington, DC, AEI Press, 978-0-8447-4278-6,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090416233152weblink">weblink April 16, 2009, AEI's working paper series includes developing academic works on economic issues. One paper by Hassett and Mathur on the responsiveness of wages to corporate taxationJOURNAL, Hassett, Kevin A., Aparna Mathur, Taxes and Wages, working paper, American Enterprise Institute, July 6, 2006,weblink April 7, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090417194127weblink">weblink April 17, 2009, dead, was cited by The Economist;NEWS, June 29, 2006, A toll on the common man, The Economist, figures from another paper by Hassett and Brill on maximizing corporate income tax revenueJOURNAL, Brill, Alex, Kevin A. Hassett, Revenue-Maximizing Corporate Income Taxes: The Laffer Curve in OECD Countries, working paper, American Enterprise Institute, July 31, 2007,weblink April 7, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090417193733weblink">weblink April 17, 2009, dead, was cited by The Wall Street Journal.NEWS, Editorial, December 26, 2006, The Wages of Growth, Wall Street Journal,weblink April 7, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080527123643weblink">weblink May 27, 2008,

Center for Regulatory and Market Studies

From 1998 to 2008, the Reg-Markets Center was the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, directed by Robert W. Hahn. The center, which no longer exists, sponsored conferences, papers, and books on regulatory decision-making and the impact of federal regulation on consumers, businesses, and governments. It covered a range of disciplines. It also sponsored an annual Distinguished Lecture series. Past lecturers in the series have included William Baumol, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Alfred Kahn, Sam Peltzman, Richard Posner, and Cass Sunstein.WEB,weblink Events, Reg-Markets Center,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090712041018weblink">weblink July 12, 2009, October 17, 2018, Research in AEI's Financial Markets Program also includes banking, insurance and securities regulation, accounting reform, corporate governance, and consumer finance.WEB,weblinkweblink dead, November 3, 2011, Research Highlights, November 3, 2011, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, October 17, 2018,

Energy and environmental policy

AEI's work on climate change has been subject to controversy. Some AEI staff and fellows have been critical of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the international scientific body tasked to evaluate the risk of climate change caused by human activity.WEB, Hayward, Steven F., February 15, 2005,weblink Climate Change Science: Time for 'Team B'?, AEI, February 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090212205027weblink">weblink February 12, 2009, dead, WEB, Bate, Roger, Roger Bate, August 2, 2005,weblink Climate Change Policy after the G8 Summit, AEI, February 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090212050954weblink">weblink February 12, 2009, dead, According to AEI, it "emphasizes the need to design environmental policies that protect not only nature but also democratic institutions and human liberty". American historian of science Naomi Oreskes notes that this idea became prominent during the conservative turn towards anti-environmentalism in the 1980s. Corporations claimed to uphold a kind of laissez-faire capitalism that promoted individual rights by pushing for deregulation. To do this successfully, companies would fund think tanks like AEI to cast doubt on science and spread disinformation by arguing that environmental dangers were unproven.BOOK, Oreskes, Naomi, Conway, Erik M., Merchants of Doubt, 2010, Bloomsbury Press, 978-1-59691-610-4, 125, 165, 217, 232, 234, 247, When the Kyoto Protocol was approaching in 1997, AEI was hesitant to encourage the U.S. to join. In an essay from the AEI outlook series of 2007, the authors discuss the Kyoto Protocol and state that the United States "should be wary of joining an international emissions-trading regime". To back this statement, they point out that committing to the Kyoto emissions goal would be a significant and unrealistic obligation for the United States. In addition, they state that the Kyoto regulations would have an impact not only on governmental policies, but also the private sector through expanding government control over investment decisions. AEI staff said that "dilution of sovereignty" would be the result if the U.S. signed the treaty.WEB,weblink Climate Change: Caps vs. Taxes, Hassett, Kevin A., June 1, 2007, American Enterprise Institute,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130825050345weblink">weblink August 25, 2013, October 17, 2018, In February 2007, a number of sources, including the British newspaper The Guardian, reported that the AEI had offered scientists $10,000 plus travel expenses and additional payments, asking them to dispute the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.NEWS, Sample, Ian, Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study, The Guardian, February 2, 2007,weblink February 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080517124831weblink">weblink May 17, 2008, live, This offer was criticized as bribery.NEWS, Floyd, Chris, American Enterprise Institute allegedly offers bribes to scientists for disputing UN climate change report, Atlantic Free Press, February 3, 2007,weblink May 20, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20101029200754weblink">weblink October 29, 2010, NEWS, Wendland, Joel, Big Oil, the American Enterprise Institute, and their War on Science, Political Affairs Magazine, February 6, 2007,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140725191116weblink">weblink dead, July 25, 2014, July 17, 2014, The letters alleged that the IPCC was "resistant to reasonable criticism and dissent, and prone to summary conclusions that are poorly supported by the analytical work" and asked for essays that "thoughtfully explore the limitations of climate model outputs".NEWS, Juliet, Eilperin,weblink AEI Critiques of Warming Questioned: Think Tank Defends Money Offers to Challenge Climate Report, The Washington Post, A04, February 5, 2007, February 12, 2009, February 15, 2018,weblink live, WEB, American Enterprise Institute, Letter to Prof. Steve Schroeder, ThinkProgress,weblink February 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080227044206weblink">weblink February 27, 2008, In 2016, The Guardian reported that the AEI received $1.6 million in funding from ExxonMobil, and further notes that former ExxonMobil CEO Lee R. Raymond is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees.NEWS,weblink Global Warming Smear, The Guardian, February 2, 2007, February 5, 2021, November 4, 2016,weblink live, This story was repeated by Newsweek, which drew criticism from its contributing editor Robert J. Samuelson because "this accusation was long ago discredited, and Newsweek shouldn't have lent it respectability."NEWS, Robert J., Samuelson, Robert J. Samuelson,weblink Greenhouse Simplicities, Newsweek, 47, August 20–27, 2007, February 12, 2009, December 17, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20091217112302weblink">weblink live, The Guardian article was disputed in a The Wall Street Journal editorial.NEWS, Editorial,weblink Global Warming Smear, The Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2007, February 12, 2009, December 19, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20091219130151weblink">weblink live, The editorial stated: "AEI doesn't lobby, didn't offer money to scientists to question global warming, and the money it did pay for climate research didn't come from Exxon."NEWS,weblink Global Warming Smear, Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2007, February 5, 2021, July 24, 2021,weblink live, AEI has promoted carbon taxation as an alternative to cap-and-trade regimes. "Most economists believe a carbon tax (a tax on the quantity of CO2 emitted when using energy) would be a superior policy alternative to an emissions-trading regime," wrote Kenneth P. Green, Kevin Hassett, and Steven F. Hayward. "In fact, the irony is that there is a broad consensus in favor of a carbon tax everywhere except on Capitol Hill, where the 'T word' is anathema."AEI also backs the carbon taxation policy due to an incentive to reduce the use of carbon-intensive energy that would result. "The increased costs of energy would flow through the economy, ultimately giving consumers incentives to reduce their use of electricity, transportation fuels, home heating oil, and so forth". Along with consumers reducing their use of carbon-energy, they will be inclined to buy more efficient appliances, cars, and homes that apply "more attention to energy conservation".NEWS, Green, Kenneth P., Kenneth P. Green, Hassett, Kevin A., Kevin Hassett, Hayward, Stephen F., Steven F. Hayward, June 1, 2007, Climate Change: Caps vs. Taxes?, Environmental Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink April 7, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418013543weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, dead, Other AEI staff have argued for similar policies.BOOK, Lane, Lee, Lee Lane, Strategic Options for Bush Administration Climate Policy, AEI Press, Washington, DC, 2006,weblink April 7, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418055346weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, live, NEWS, Lane, Lee, Thernstrom, Samuel, January 19, 2007, A New Direction for Bush Administration Climate Policy, Environmental Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink April 7, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418013326weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, dead, Thernstrom and Lane are codirecting a project on whether geoengineering would be a feasible way to "buy us time to make [the] transition [from fossil fuels] while protecting us from the worst potential effects of warming".NEWS, Thernstrom, Samuel, June 23, 2008, Resetting Earth's Thermostat, Los Angeles Times,weblink April 7, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110610211355weblink">weblink June 10, 2011, Green, who departed AEI in 2013, expanded its work on energy policy. He has hosted conferences on nuclear powerWEB,weblink Is Nuclear Power a Solution to Global Warming and Rising Energy Prices?, October 6, 2006, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418200634weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, October 17, 2018, and ethanolWEB,weblink Ethanol: Boon or Boondoggle?, November 8, 2006, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090421082755weblink">weblink April 21, 2009, October 18, 2018, NEWS, Green, Kenneth P., Kenneth P. Green, July 29, 2008, Ethanol and the Environment, Environmental Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink April 7, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418013921weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, dead, With Aparna Mathur, he evaluated Americans' indirect energy use to discover unexpected areas in which energy efficiencies can be achieved.NEWS, Green, Kenneth P., Kenneth P. Green, Mathur, Aparna, Aparna Mathur, December 4, 2008, Measuring and Reducing Americans' Indirect Energy Use, Environmental Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink April 7, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090418020832weblink">weblink April 18, 2009, dead, NEWS, Green, Kenneth P., Kenneth P. Green, Mathur, Aparna, Aparna Mathur, March 4, 2009, Indirect Energy and Your Wallet, Environmental Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink April 7, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090513222405weblink">weblink May 13, 2009, live, In October 2007, resident scholar and executive director of the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies Robert W. Hahn commented:{{blockquote|Fending off both sincere and sophistic opposition to cap-and-trade will no doubt require some uncomfortable compromises. Money will be wasted on unpromising R&D; grotesquely expensive renewable fuels may gain a permanent place at the subsidy trough. And, as noted above, there will always be a risk of cheating. But the first priority should be to seize the day, putting a domestic emissions regulation system in place. Without America's political leadership and economic muscle behind it, an effective global climate stabilization strategy isn't possible.WEB, Robert W., Hahn, October 1, 2007,weblink Time to Change U.S. Climate Policy, AEI, June 11, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610174623weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, mdy-all, }}AEI visiting scholar N. Gregory Mankiw wrote in The New York Times in support of a carbon tax on September 16, 2007. He remarked that "there is a broad consensus. The scientists tell us that world temperatures are rising because humans are emitting carbon into the atmosphere. Basic economics tells us that when you tax something, you normally get less of it."WEB, One Answer to Global Warming: A New Tax, AEI, June 14, 2009, September 16, 2007,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610205436weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, After Energy Secretary Steven Chu recommended painting roofs and roads white in order to reflect sunlight back into space and therefore reduce global warming, AEI's magazine The American endorsed the idea. It also stated that "ultimately we need to look more broadly at creative ways of reducing the harmful effects of climate change in the long run."WEB,weblink White Makes Right? Steven Chu's Helpful Idea, Thernstrom, Samuel, June 5, 2009, American Enterprise Institute,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100113062233weblink">weblink January 13, 2010, October 18, 2018, The American{{'s}} editor-in-chief and fellow Nick Schulz endorsed a carbon tax over a cap and trade program in The Christian Science Monitor on February 13, 2009. He stated that it "would create a market price for carbon emissions and lead to emissions reductions or new technologies that cut greenhouse gases."WEB, June 14, 2009, To Slow Climate Change, Tax Carbon, February 13, 2009,weblink AEI,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610174527weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, Former scholar Steven Hayward has described efforts to reduce global warming as being "based on exaggerations and conjecture rather than science".WEB, Hayward, Steven F., June 12, 2006,weblink Acclimatizing: How to Think Sensibly about Global Warming, AEI, February 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090212015338weblink">weblink February 12, 2009, dead, He has stated that "even though the leading scientific journals are thoroughly imbued with environmental correctness and reject out of hand many articles that don't conform to the party line, a study that confounds the conventional wisdom is published almost every week".WEB, Hayward, Steven F., May 15, 2006,weblink How to Think Sensibly, or Ridiculously, About Global Warming, AEI, February 12, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20081226012342weblink">weblink December 26, 2008, Likewise, former AEI scholar Kenneth Green has referred to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as "the positively silly idea of establishing global-weather control by actively managing the atmosphere's greenhouse-gas emissions", and endorsed Michael Crichton's novel State of Fear for having "educated millions of readers about climate science".NEWS, Kenneth, Green,weblink Clouds of Global-Warming Hysteria, National Review Online, May 8, 2006, February 12, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20081226024432weblink">weblink December 26, 2008, Christopher DeMuth, former AEI president, accepted that the earth has warmed in recent decades, but he stated that "it's not clear why this happened" and charged as well that the IPCC "has tended to ignore many distinguished physicists and meteorologists whose work casts doubt on the influence of greenhouse gases on global temperature trends".WEB, DeMuth, Christopher, September 2001,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20081209093055weblink">weblink dead, December 9, 2008, The Kyoto Treaty Deserved to Die, The American Enterprise, February 12, 2009, Fellow James Glassman also disputes the prevailing scientific opinion on climate change, having written numerous articles criticizing the Kyoto accords and climate science more generally for Tech Central Station.NEWS, Nicholas, Confessore, Nicholas Confessore,weblink How James Glassman reinvented journalism—as lobbying, Washington Monthly, December 2003, February 12, 2009,weblinkwww%2Ewashingtonmonthly%2Ecom/features/2003/0312%2Econfessore%2Ehtml, September 18, 2008, live, He supported the views of U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), who claims that "global warming is 'the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,'"NEWS, James K., Glassman, James K. Glassman, http:www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3400, Certainty of Catastrophic Global Warming is a Hoax, Capitalism Magazine, December 15, 2003, February 12, 2009, October 21, 2007,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20071021052711weblink">weblink live, and, like Green, cites Crichton's novel State of Fear, which "casts serious doubt on global warming and extremists who espouse it".WEB, James K., Glassman, December 14, 2004,weblink Global Warming: Extremists on the Run, AEI, February 12, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060103034250weblink">weblink January 3, 2006, Joel Schwartz, an AEI visiting fellow, stated: "The Earth has indeed warmed during the last few decades and may warm further in the future. But the pattern of climate change is not consistent with the greenhouse effect being the main cause."WEB, Schwartz, Joel, July 2007,weblink A North Carolina Citizen's Guide to Global Warming, John Locke Foundation, February 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090213041312weblink">weblink February 13, 2009, live,

Foreign and defense policy studies

AEI's foreign and defense policy studies researchers focus on "how political and economic freedom—as well as American interests—are best promoted around the world". AEI staff have tended to be advocates of a hard U.S. line on threats or potential threats to the United States, including the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the People's Republic of China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Russia, and terrorist or militant groups like al Qaeda and Hezbollah. Likewise, AEI staff have promoted closer U.S. ties with countries whose interests or values they view as aligned with America's, such as Israel, the Republic of China (Taiwan), India, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Colombia, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and emerging post-Communist states such as Poland.AEI takes a pro-Israel stance. In 2015 it awarded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu its 'Irving Kristol Award'.WEB, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to receive 2015 AEI Irving Kristol Award,weblink aei.org, January 13, 2023, January 13, 2023,weblink live, AEI's foreign and defense policy studies department, directed by Danielle Pletka, is the part of the institute most commonly associated with neoconservatism, especially by its critics.NEWS, Heilbrunn, Jacob, Jacob Heilbrunn, January 12, 2009, Where Have All the Neocons Gone?, The American Conservative,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090304014343weblink">weblink March 4, 2009, live, NEWS, Lobe, Jim, March 27, 2003, All in the Neocon Family, Alternet,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090519014748weblink">weblink May 19, 2009, live, Prominent foreign-policy neoconservatives at AEI include Richard Perle, Gary Schmitt, and Paul Wolfowitz. John Bolton, often said to be a neoconservative,NEWS, Adam, Zagorin, John Bolton: The Angriest Neocon, Time/CNN, November 16, 2007,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20071120023951weblink">weblink dead, November 20, 2007, April 6, 2009, BOOK, Murray, Douglas, Douglas Murray (author), Neoconservatism: Why We Need It, Encounter Books, 2006, New York, 87, has said he is not one, as his primary focus is on American interests, not democracy promotion.NEWS, Bolton, John, 'Bush's Foreign Policy Is in Free Fall', Der Spiegel, December 18, 2007,weblink April 8, 2009, May 25, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090525153100weblink">weblink live, WEB,weblink Hardball with Chris Matthews, MSNBC, June 6, 2014, October 18, 2018, October 18, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20181018161842weblink">weblink live, Joshua Muravchik and Michael Ledeen spent many years at AEI, although they departed at around the same time as Reuel Marc Gerecht in 2008 in what was rumored to be a "purge" of neoconservatives at the institute, possibly "signal[ing] the end of [neoconservatism's] domination over the think tank over the past several decades",NEWS, Heilbrunn, Jacob, Jacob Heilbrunn, December 19, 2008, Flight of the Neocons, The National Interest,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090417213901weblink">weblink April 17, 2009, dead, although Muravchik later said it was the result of personality and management conflicts.NEWS, Weigel, David, David Weigel, March 11, 2009, Former AEI Scholar Blasts Danielle Pletka, The Washington Independent,weblink June 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090620103121weblink">weblink June 20, 2009, dead,

U.S. national security strategy, defense policy, and the "surge"

In late 2006, the security situation in Iraq continued to deteriorate, and the Iraq Study Group proposed a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops and further engagement of Iraq's neighbors. Consulting with AEI's Iraq Planning Group, Frederick W. Kagan published an AEI report entitled Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq calling for "phase one" of a change in strategy to focus on "clearing and holding" neighborhoods and securing the population; a troop escalation of seven Army brigades and Marine regiments; and a renewed emphasis on reconstruction, economic development, and jobs.JOURNAL, Kagan, Frederick W., Frederick W. Kagan, Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq, Phase I Report, American Enterprise Institute, January 5, 2007,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090408021749weblink">weblink April 8, 2009, dead, While the report was being drafted, Kagan and Keane were briefing President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and other senior Bush administration officials behind the scenes. According to Bob Woodward, "[Peter J.] Schoomaker was outraged when he saw news coverage that retired Gen. Jack Keane, the former Army vice chief of staff, had briefed the president on December 11 about a new Iraq strategy being proposed by the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank. 'When does AEI start trumping the Joint Chiefs of Staff on this stuff?' Schoomaker asked at the next chiefs' meeting."BOOK, Woodward, Bob, Bob Woodward, The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006–2008,weblink registration, Simon and Schuster, 2008, New York, 9781416558989, Kagan, Keane, and Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman presented the plan at a January 5, 2007, event at AEI. Bush announced the change of strategy on January 10.NEWS, Gordon, Michael R., Troop 'Surge' Took Place Amid Doubt and Debate, The New York Times, August 30, 2008,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090310155552weblink">weblink March 10, 2009, live, Kagan authored three subsequent reports monitoring the progress of the surge.JOURNAL, Kagan, Frederick W., Frederick W. Kagan, Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq, Phase II Report, American Enterprise Institute, April 25, 2007,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090409000536weblink">weblink April 9, 2009, dead, ; JOURNAL, Kagan, Frederick W., Frederick W. Kagan, No Middle Way: The Challenge of Exit Strategies from Iraq, Phase III Report, American Enterprise Institute, September 6, 2007,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090409000545weblink">weblink April 9, 2009, dead, ; JOURNAL, Kagan, Frederick W., Frederick W. Kagan, Iraq: The Way Ahead, Phase IV Report, American Enterprise Institute, March 24, 2008,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090409000611weblink">weblink April 9, 2009, dead, AEI's defense policy researchers, who also include Schmitt and Thomas Donnelly, also work on issues related to the U.S. military forces' size and structure and military partnerships with allies (both bilaterally and through institutions such as NATO). Schmitt directs AEI's Program on Advanced Strategic Studies, which "analyzes the long-term issues that will impact America's security and its ability to lead internationally".

Area studies

Asian studies at AEI covers "the rise of China as an economic and political power; Taiwan's security and economic agenda; Japan's military transformation; the threat of a nuclear North Korea; and the impact of regional alliances and rivalries on U.S. military and economic relationships in Asia".WEB, AEI Expands Asian Studies Program,weblink 2023-10-17, American Enterprise Institute - AEI, en-US, AEI has published numerous reports on Asia.JOURNAL, Auslin, Michael, Griffin, Christopher, Securing Freedom: The U.S.-Japanese Alliance in a New Era, American Enterprise Institute, December 1, 2008,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090417124935weblink">weblink April 17, 2009, dead, ; JOURNAL, Blumenthal, Dan, Schriver, Randall, Randall Shriver, Strengthening Freedom in Asia: A Twenty-First-Century Agenda for the U.S.-Taiwan Partnership, American Enterprise Institute, February 22, 2008,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090417125125weblink">weblink April 17, 2009, dead, ; JOURNAL, Blumenthal, Dan, Friedberg, Aaron, An American Strategy for Asia, American Enterprise Institute, January 12, 2009,weblink April 8, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090415000047weblink">weblink April 15, 2009, dead, Papers in AEI's Tocqueville on China Project series "elicit the underlying civic culture of post-Mao China, enabling policymakers to better understand the internal forces and pressures that are shaping China's future".WEB,weblink Why Tocqueville on China?, Ceaser, James W., January 25, 2010, American Enterprise Institute,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160206185253weblink">weblink February 6, 2016, October 18, 2018, AEI's Europe program was previously housed under the auspices of the New Atlantic Initiative, which was directed by Radek Sikorski before his return to Polish politics in 2005. Leon Aron's work forms the core of the institute's program on Russia. AEI staff tend to view Russia as posing "strategic challenges for the West".Mark Falcoff, now retired, was previously AEI's resident Latinamericanist, focusing on the Southern Cone, Panama, and Cuba. He has warned that the road for Cuba after Fidel Castro's rule or the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo would be difficult for an island scarred by a half-century of poverty and civil turmoil.BOOK, Falcoff, Mark, Mark Falcoff, Cuba the Morning After: Confronting Castro's Legacy, AEI Press, 2003, Washington, Roger Noriega's focuses at AEI are on Venezuela, Brazil, the Mérida Initiative with Mexico and Central America,WEB,weblink Battling the Deadly Drug Cartels in Mexico: A Shared Responsibility, November 8, 2007, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090417232934weblink">weblink April 17, 2009, October 18, 2018, and hemispheric relations.AEI has historically devoted significant attention to the Middle East, especially through the work of former resident scholars Ledeen and Muravchik. Pletka's research focus also includes the Middle East, and she coordinated a conference series on empowering democratic dissidents and advocates in the Arab World.BOOK, Azarva, Jeffrey, Danielle, Pletka, Rubin, Michael, Dissent and Reform in the Arab World: Empowering Democrats, AEI Press, 2008, Washington, In 2009, AEI launched the Critical Threats Project, led by Kagan, to "highlight the complexity of the global challenges the United States faces with a primary focus on Iran and al Qaeda's global influence". The project includes IranTracker.org,WEB,weblink Critical Threats, Critical Threats, April 5, 2018, January 30, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170130055928weblink">weblink live, with contributions from Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin, among others.

International organizations and economic development

For several years, AEI and the Federalist Society cosponsored NGOWatch, which was later subsumed into Global Governance Watch, "a web-based resource that addresses issues of transparency and accountability in the United Nations, NGOs, and related international organizations". NGOWatch returned as a subsite of Global Governance Watch, led by Jon Entine. AEI scholars focusing on international organizations includes John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,BOOK, Bolton, John R., John R. Bolton, Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad, Simon and Schuster, 2007, New York, and John Yoo, who researches international law and sovereignty.AEI's research on economic development dates back to the early days of the institute. P. T. Bauer authored a monograph on development in India in 1959,BOOK, Bauer, P. T., P. T. Bauer, United States Aid and Indian Economic Development, AEI Press, 1959, Washington,weblink June 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090612211858weblink">weblink June 12, 2009, dead, and Edward Banfield published a booklet on the theory behind foreign aid in 1970.BOOK, Banfield, Edward C., Edward C. Banfield, American Foreign Aid Doctrines, AEI Press, 1970, Washington,weblink June 12, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090612211921weblink">weblink June 12, 2009, dead, Since 2001, AEI has sponsored the Henry Wendt Lecture in International Development, named for Henry Wendt, an AEI trustee emeritus and former CEO of SmithKline Beckman.WEB,weblink - AEI, AEI, October 19, 2012, June 10, 2018, April 2, 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120402014506weblink">weblink live, Notable lecturers have included Angus Maddison and Deepak Lal.Nicholas Eberstadt holds the Henry Wendt Chair, focusing on demographics, population growth and human capital development; he served on the federal HELP Commission.Paul Wolfowitz, the former president of the World Bank, researches development policy in Africa.Roger Bate focuses his research on malaria, HIV/AIDS, counterfeit and substandard drugs,BOOK, Bate, Roger, Roger Bate, Making a Killing, AEI Press, 2008, Washington, access to water,BOOK, Bate, Roger, Roger Bate, All the Water in the World, Centre for Independent Studies, 2006, St. Leonard's, Australia, and other problems endemic in the developing world.

Health policy studies

AEI scholars have engaged in health policy research since the institute's early days. A Center for Health Policy Research was established in 1974.American Enterprise Institute, Annual Report, 1981–82. For many years, Robert B. Helms led the health department. AEI's long-term focuses in health care have included national insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, pharmaceutical innovation, health care competition, and cost control.The center was replaced in the mid-1980s with the Health Policy Studies Program, which continues to this day. The AEI Press has published dozens of books on health policy since the 1970s. Since 2003, AEI has published the Health Policy Outlook series on new developments in U.S. and international health policy. AEI also published "A Better Prescription" to outline their ideal plan to healthcare reform. In the report, a great amount of emphasis is placed on placing the money and control in the hands of the consumers and continuing the market-based system of healthcare. They also acknowledge that this form of healthcare "relies on financial incentives rather than central direction and control, and it recognizes that a one-size-fits-all approach will not work in a country as diverse as ours".In 2009, AEI researchers were active in assessing the Obama administration's health care proposals.WEB,weblink A Healthcare Collision Course: Treating Different People Differently, May 8, 2009, American Enterprise Institute,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090510105553weblink">weblink May 10, 2009, October 18, 2018, NEWS, Miller, Thomas P., Thomas P. Miller, April 2, 2009, Obama Healthcare 2.0, The American,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090626002226weblink">weblink June 26, 2009, Paul Ryan, then-minority point man for health care in the House of Representatives, delivered the keynote address at an AEI conference on five key elements of health reform: mandated universal coverage, insurance exchanges, the public plan option, medical practice and treatment, and revenue to cover federal health care costs.See conference information at WEB,weblink AEI - the Five (Not So) Easy Pieces of Health Reform, June 16, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090618065401weblink">weblink June 18, 2009, .AEI scholars have long argued against the tax break for employer-sponsored health insurance, arguing that it distorts insurance markets and limits consumer choices.BOOK, Cogan, John F., Hubbard, R. Glenn, R. Glenn Hubbard, Kessler, Daniel P., Daniel P. Kessler, Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Five Steps to a Better Health Care System, AEI Press, 2005, Washington,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610213220weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, BOOK, Glied, Sherry Glied, Sherry, Revising the Tax Treatment of Employer-Provided Health Insurance, AEI Press, 1994, Washington,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090617074109weblink">weblink June 17, 2009, dead, BOOK, Helms, Robert B., American Health Policy: Critical Issues for Reform, AEI Press, 1993, Washington,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610212558weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, NEWS, Helms, Robert B., January 2005, Tax Reform and Health Insurance, Health Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090613073930weblink">weblink June 13, 2009, dead, NEWS, Dowd, Bryan E., Bryan E. Dowd, September 2007, The Bush Administration's Health Insurance Tax Reform Proposal, Health Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090613010535weblink">weblink June 13, 2009, dead, NEWS, Helms, Robert B., June 2009, Taxing Health Insurance: A Tax Designed to Be Avoided, Health Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090617023942weblink">weblink June 17, 2009, live, In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, John McCain advocated this plan while Barack Obama disparaged it; in 2009, however, members of the Obama administration indicated that lifting the exemption was "on the table."NEWS, Levey, Noam M., March 28, 2009, Lawmakers consider taxes on healthcare benefits, Los Angeles Times,weblink June 16, 2009, July 15, 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120715012704weblink">weblink live, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a medical doctor, has expressed concern about relatively unreliable comparative effectiveness research being used to restrict treatment options under a public plan.NEWS, Gottlieb, Scott, Scott Gottlieb, February 2009, Promoting and Using Comparative Research: What Are the Promises and Pitfalls of a New Federal Effort?, Health Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090619150420weblink">weblink June 19, 2009, live, NEWS, Gottlieb, Scott, Klasmeier, Coleen, June 2009, Comparative Effectiveness Research: The Need for a Uniform Standard, Health Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090619150850weblink">weblink June 19, 2009, live, AEI publishes a series of monographs on Medicare reform, edited by Helms and Antos.BOOK, Rettenmaier, Andrew J., Andrew J. Rettenmeier, Saving, Thomas R., Thomas R. Saving, The Diagnosis and Treatment of Medicare, AEI Press, 2007, Washington, DC,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090611205825weblink">weblink June 11, 2009, dead, BOOK, Pauly, Mark V., Mark V. Pauly, Markets Without Magic: How Competition Might Save Medicare, AEI Press, 2008, Washington, DC,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090611205747weblink">weblink June 11, 2009, dead, BOOK, Feldman, Roger, Roger Feldman, How to Fix Medicare: Let's Pay Patients, Not Physicians, AEI Press, 2008, Washington, DC,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090619131340weblink">weblink June 19, 2009, dead, Roger Bate's work includes international health policy, especially pharmaceutical quality, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and multilateral health organizations. In 2008, Dora Akunyili, then Nigeria's top drug safety official, spoke at an AEI event coinciding with the launch of Bate's book Making a Killing.See conference information at WEB,weblink AEI - Cracking Down on Killer Drugs: Dora Akunyili and the Nigerian Success Story, June 16, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090620140701weblink">weblink June 20, 2009, After undergoing a kidney transplant in 2006,NEWS, Satel, Sally, Sally Satel, December 16, 2007, Desperately Seeking a Kidney, The New York Times Magazine,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090617194413weblink">weblink June 17, 2009, dead, Sally Satel expanded her work from drug addiction treatment and mental health to include studies of compensation systems that she argues would increase the supply of organs for transplant.BOOK, Satel, Sally, Sally Satel, When Altruism Isn't Enough: The Case for Compensating Kidney Donors, AEI Press, 2009, Washington,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090615104227weblink">weblink June 15, 2009, dead, In addition to their work on pharmaceutical innovation and FDA regulation, Gottlieb and John E. Calfee have examined vaccine and antiviral drug supplies in the wake of the 2009 flu pandemic.NEWS, Gottlieb, Scott, May 2009, Vaccine Readiness in a Time of Pandemic: Policy Promises Realized and the Challenges That Remain, Health Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090619150111weblink">weblink June 19, 2009, live, NEWS, Calfee, John E., June 2009, And Now, a Few Words about Antivirals for Pandemic Flu, Health Policy Outlook, American Enterprise Institute,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610085649weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, live,

Legal and constitutional studies

The AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest, formed in 2007 from the merger of the National Legal Center for the Public Interest, houses all legal and constitutional research at AEI. Legal studies have a long pedigree at AEI; the institute was in the vanguard of the law and economics movement in the 1970s and 1980s with the publication of Regulation magazine and AEI Press books. Robert Bork published The Antitrust Paradox with AEI support.BOOK, Bork, Robert H., Robert H. Bork, The Antitrust Paradox,weblink registration, Basic Books, 1978, New York, 9780465003693, Other jurists, legal scholars, and constitutional scholars who have conducted research at AEI include Walter Berns, Richard Epstein, Bruce Fein, Robert Goldwin, Antonin Scalia, and Laurence Silberman.The AEI Legal Center sponsors the annual Gauer Distinguished Lecture in Law and Public Policy. Past lecturers include Stephen Breyer, George H. W. Bush, Christopher Cox, Douglas Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, Colin Powell, Ronald Reagan, William Rehnquist, Condoleezza Rice, Margaret Thatcher, and William H. Webster.Gauer Distinguished Lecture in Law and Public Policy {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618070919weblink |date=June 18, 2009 }}.Ted Frank, the director of the AEI Legal Center, focuses on liability law and tort reform.WEB,weblink Ted Frank Biography, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100702001512weblink">weblink July 2, 2010, October 18, 2018, Michael S. Greve focuses on constitutional law and federalism, including federal preemption.BOOK, Greve, Michael S., Michael S. Greve, Federal Preemption: States' Powers, National Interests, AEI Press, 2007, Washington,weblink June 16, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610110610weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, Greve is a fixture in the conservative legal movement. According to Jonathan Rauch, in 2005, Greve convened "a handful of free-market activists and litigators met in a windowless 11th-floor conference room at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington" in opposition to the legality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. "By the time the meeting finished, the participants had decided to join forces and file suit... . No one paid much attention. But the yawning stopped on May 18, [2009,] when the Supreme Court announced it will hear the case."NEWS, Rauch, Jonathan, Jonathan Rauch, June 6, 2009, The Peculiar Problem Of 'Peekaboo', National Journal,

Political and public opinion studies

AEI's "Political Corner"See the Political Corner website at WEB,weblink Archived copy, June 17, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090420061323weblink">weblink April 20, 2009, includes a range of political viewpoints, from the center-leftNEWS, Ornstein, Norman J., Norman J. Ornstein, September 10, 2007, My Neocon Problem, The New Republic,weblink June 17, 2009, May 2, 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140502004720weblink">weblink live, NEWS, Clemons, Steve, Steven Clemons, August 31, 2007, Norm Ornstein's Neocon Problem, The Washington Note,weblink June 17, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080516180103weblink">weblink May 16, 2008, Norman J. Ornstein to the conservative Michael Barone. The Political Corner sponsors the biannual Election Watch series,WEB,weblink Corporate Cash Balances and Economic Activity, Hassett, Kevin A., July 11, 2011, American Enterprise Institute,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140317031846weblink">weblink March 17, 2014, October 18, 2018, the "longest-running election program in Washington", featuring Barone, Ornstein, Karlyn Bowman, and—formerly—Ben Wattenberg and Bill Schneider, among others. Ornstein and Fortier (an expert on absentee and early votingBOOK, Fortier, John C., Absentee and Early Voting, AEI Press, 2006, Washington,weblink June 17, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090617192244weblink">weblink June 17, 2009, dead, ) collaborate on a number of election- and governance-related projects, including the Election Reform Project.WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090211235108weblink">weblink dead, February 11, 2009, AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project, February 11, 2009, June 10, 2018, AEI and Brookings are sponsoring a project on election demographics called "The Future of Red, Blue, and Purple America", co-directed by Bowman and Ruy Teixeira.WEB,weblink The Future of Red, Blue, and Purple America, February 28, 2008, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090704155708weblink">weblink July 4, 2009, October 18, 2018, AEI's work on political processes and institutions has been a central part of the institute's research programs since the 1970s. The AEI Press published a series of several dozen volumes in the 1970s and 1980s called "At the Polls"; in each volume, scholars would assess a country's recent presidential or parliamentary election. AEI scholars have been called upon to observe and assess constitutional conventions and elections worldwide. In the early 1980s, AEI scholars were commissioned by the U.S. government to monitor plebiscites in Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands.American Enterprise Institute, Annual Report, 1982-1983; BOOK, Ranney, Austin, Austin Ranney, Democracy in the Islands: The Micronesian Plebiscites of 1983, AEI Press, 1985, Washington, DC, Another landmark in AEI's political studies is After the People Vote.The first two editions (in 1980 and 1992) were edited by Walter Berns; the 2004 edition was edited by John C. Fortier and included contributions from Berns, Norman J. Ornstein, Akhil Amar, Vikram Amar, and Martin Diamond. BOOK,weblink After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College, AEI Press, 2004, Fortier, John C., Washington, June 17, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090619133249weblink">weblink June 19, 2009, dead, AEI's work on election reform continued into the 1990s and 2000s; Ornstein led a working group that drafted the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.NEWS, Ornstein, Norman J., Norman J. Ornstein, Carrado, Anthony, April 1, 2007, Reform That Has Really Paid Off, The Washington Post,weblink June 17, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090619132854weblink">weblink June 19, 2009, dead, NEWS, Richey, Warren, December 11, 2003, Court upholds 'soft money' ban, The Christian Science Monitor,weblink June 17, 2009, January 7, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090107151211weblink">weblink live, AEI published Public Opinion magazine from 1978 to 1990 under the editorship of Seymour Martin Lipset and Ben Wattenberg, assisted by Karlyn Bowman. The institute's work on polling continues with public opinion features in The American Enterprise and The American and Bowman's AEI Studies in Public Opinion.WEB,weblink AEI Studies in Public Opinion, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20101031054127weblink">weblink October 31, 2010, October 18, 2018, dead, mdy-all,

Social and cultural studies

AEI's social and cultural studies program dates to the 1970s, when William J. Baroody Sr., perceiving the importance of the philosophical and cultural underpinnings of modern economics and politics,WEB,weblink Remembrances of William J. Baroody, Sr., Kristol, Irving, Novak, Michael, December 11, 1980, June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090615204719weblink">weblink June 15, 2009, dead, invited social and religious thinkers like Irving Kristol and Michael Novak to take up residence at AEI. Since then, AEI has sponsored research on a wide variety of issues, including education, religion, race and gender, and social welfare.Supported by the Bradley Foundation, AEI has hosted since 1989 the Bradley Lecture Series, "which aims to enrich debate in the Washington policy community through exploration of the philosophical and historical underpinnings of current controversies". Notable speakers in the series have included Kristol, Novak, Allan Bloom, Robert Bork, David Brooks, Lynne Cheney, Ron Chernow, Tyler Cowen, Niall Ferguson, Francis Fukuyama, Eugene Genovese, Robert P. George, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Samuel P. Huntington (giving the first public presentation of his "clash of civilizations" theory in 1992), Paul Johnson, Leon Kass, Charles Krauthammer, Bernard Lewis, Seymour Martin Lipset, Harvey C. Mansfield, Michael Medved, Allan H. Meltzer, Edmund Morris, Charles Murray, Steven Pinker, Norman Podhoretz, Richard Posner, Jonathan Rauch, Andrew Sullivan, Cass Sunstein, Sam Tanenhaus, James Q. Wilson, John Yoo, and Fareed Zakaria.WEB,weblink Bradley Lecture Series, American Enterprise Institute, October 18, 2018, February 20, 2020,weblink live,

Education

Education policy studies at AEI are directed by Frederick M. Hess, who has authored, coauthored, or edited a number of volumes based on major conferences held at AEI on subjects like urban school reform,BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., Frederick M. Hess, Spinning Wheels: The Politics of Urban School Reform, Brookings Institution Press, 1998, Washington,weblink June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610151543weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., Frederick M. Hess, Revolution at the Margins: The Impact of Competition on Urban School Systems, Brookings Institution Press, 2002, Washington,weblink June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610153107weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., Urban School Reform: Lessons from San Diego, Harvard Education Press, 2005, Cambridge, Massachusetts,weblink Frederick M. Hess, June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610152117weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., Frederick M. Hess, Tough Love for Schools: Essays on Competition, Accountability, and Excellence, AEI Press, 2006, Washington,weblink June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610151557weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, school choice,BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., School Choice in the Real World: Lessons from Arizona Charter Schools, Westview Press, 2001,weblink Frederick M. Hess, Maranto, Robert, Milliman, Scott, Gresham, April, June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610153002weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, No Child Left Behind,BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., Leaving No Child Behind? Options for Kids in Failing Schools, Palgrave MacMillan, 2001,weblink Frederick M. Hess, Finn, Chester E. Jr., Chester E. Finn Jr.,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20091002021128weblink">weblink October 2, 2009, dead, BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., Frederick M. Hess, Petrilli, Michael J., No Child Left Behind Primer, Peter Lang, 2006,weblink June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610153235weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., No Remedy Left Behind: Lessons from a Half-Decade of NCLB, AEI Press, Washington, DC, 2007,weblink Frederick M. Hess, Finn, Chester E. Jr., Chester E. Finn Jr.,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20091003152947weblink">weblink October 3, 2009, dead, teacher qualification,BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., A Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom? Appraising Old Answers and New Ideas, Harvard Education Press, 2004, Cambridge, Massachusetts,weblink Frederick M. Hess, Rotherham, Andrew J., Andrew Rotherham, Walsh, Kate, June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610152218weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, "educational entrepreneurship,"BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., With the Best of Intentions: How Philanthropy Is Reshaping K–12 Education, Harvard Education Press, 2005, Cambridge, Massachusetts,weblink Frederick M. Hess, June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610154858weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., Educational Entrepreneurship: Realities, Challenges, Possibilities, Harvard Education Press, 2006, Cambridge, Massachusetts,weblink Frederick M. Hess, June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610155750weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., The Future of Educational Entrepreneurship: Possibilities for School Reform, Harvard Education Press, 2008, Cambridge, Massachusetts,weblink Frederick M. Hess, June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090621152636weblink">weblink June 21, 2009, dead, student loans,BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., Footing the Tuition Bill: The New Student Loan Sector, AEI Press, 2007, Washington,weblink Frederick M. Hess, June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610152142weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, and education research.BOOK, Hess, Frederick M., When Research Matters: How Scholarship Influences Education Policy, Harvard Education Press, 2008, Cambridge, Massachusetts,weblink Frederick M. Hess, June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090610151709weblink">weblink June 10, 2009, dead, Hess co-directs AEI's weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090429194419weblink">Future of American Education Project, whose working group includes Washington, D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee and Michael Feinberg, the cofounder of KIPP. Hess works closely with Rhee:NEWS, DeBonis, Mike, Fund and Games, City Paper, Washington, March 4, 2009,weblink June 18, 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100111055107weblink">weblink January 11, 2010, she has spoken at AEI on several occasions and appointed Hess to be one of two independent reform evaluators for the District of Columbia Public Schools. Hess coauthored Diplomas and Dropouts,CONFERENCE, Frederick M., Hess, Frederick M. Hess, Mark Schneider, Kevin Carey, Andrew P. Kelly, Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don't), American Enterprise Institute, 2009,weblink June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090621132315weblink">weblink June 21, 2009, live, a report on university graduation rates that was widely publicized in 2009.See, for example: NEWS, Lozada, Carlos, Making It to Pomp and Circumstance, The Washington Post, June 3, 2009,weblink June 18, 2009, November 8, 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20121108112912weblink">weblink live, ; NEWS, Marklein, Mary Beth, 4-year colleges graduate 53% of students in 6 years, USA Today, June 3, 2009,weblink June 18, 2009, June 6, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090606075545weblink">weblink live, The report, along with other education-related projects, was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.PRESS RELEASE, Diplomas and Dropouts Report Exposes Dramatic Variation in Completion Rates at Colleges and Universities Across the Country, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, June 3, 2009,weblink June 10, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120217203539weblink">weblink February 17, 2012, dead, WEB,weblink American Enterprise Institute For Public Policy Research, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110929090226weblink">weblink September 29, 2011, October 18, 2018, AEI is often identified as a supporter of vouchers,WEB,weblink Right Wing Watch, June 18, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090701194700weblink">weblink July 1, 2009, live, but Hess has been critical of school vouchers: "[I]t is by now clear that aggressive reforms to bring market principles to American education have failed to live up to their billing. ... In the school choice debate, many reformers have gotten so invested in the language of 'choice' that they seem to forget choice is only half of the market equation. Markets are about both supply and demand—and, while 'choice' is concerned with emboldening consumer demand, the real action when it comes to prosperity, productivity, and progress is typically on the supply side."JOURNAL, Hess, Frederick M., Frederick M. Hess, After Milwaukee, The American, September–October 2009,weblink June 10, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131013042818weblink">weblink October 13, 2013, dead,

Funding

In the 1980s about 60% of its funding came from organizations like Lilly Endowment, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Trust and the Earhart Foundation. The remaining of their funding was from major corporations like Bethlehem Steel, Exxon, J.C. Penney and the Chase Manhattan Bank.NEWS, Weinraub, Bernard, INSTITUTE PLAYS KEY ROLE IN SHAPING REAGAN PROGRAMS,weblink The New York Times, 15 January 1981, AEI's revenues for the fiscal year ending June 2015 were $84,616,388 against expenses of $38,611,315.WEB, IRS Form 990,weblink GuideStar, Internal Revenue Service, September 14, 2016, September 20, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160920082936weblink">weblink live, In 2014, the charity evaluating service American Institute of Philanthropy gave AEI an "A−" grade in its CharityWatch "Top-Rated Charities" listing.WEB,weblink Top Rated Charities, Charity Watch, October 18, 2018, October 18, 2018,weblink live, {{as of|2005}} AEI had received $960,000 from ExxonMobil.WEB,weblink Put a Tiger In Your Think Tank, April 5, 2018, April 17, 2018,weblink live, In 2010, AEI received a {{USD}}2.5 million grant from the Donors Capital Fund, a donor-advised fund.NEWS, Inside The Secretive Dark-Money Organization That's Keeping The Lights On For Conservative Groups, Walter, Hickley,weblink Business Insider, February 12, 2013, April 30, 2015, September 24, 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150924043939weblink">weblink live, A 2013 study by Drexel University Sociologist Robert J. Brulle noted that AEI received $86.7 million between 2003 and 2010.{{citation|url=http://www.drexel.edu/~/media/Files/now/pdfs/Institutionalizing%20Delay%20-%20Climatic%20Change.ashx/|title=Institutionalizing delay: foundation funding and the creation of U.S. climate change counter-movement organizations|first=Robert J.|last=Brulle|date=January 25, 2013|journal=Climatic Change|volume=122|issue=4|page=681|doi=10.1007/s10584-013-1018-7|bibcode=2014ClCh..122..681B|s2cid=27538787|access-date=October 12, 2019|archive-date=October 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009112708weblink|url-status=live}}

See also

• List of American Enterprise Institute scholars and fellows
• Francis Boyer Award
• Irving Kristol Award

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• {{Official websiteweblink}}
• {{Curlie|Regional/North_America/United_States/Society_and_Culture/Politics/Policy_Institutes/American_Enterprise_Institute}}

{{Neoconservatism}}{{Authority control}}