The U.S. and World Economies
Part of AEI's core mission is the preservation and promotion of free market economies—in the United States and around the world. AEI's economic policy team consists of leading thinkers from government, academia, and the private sector including Kevin A. Hassett, R. Glenn Hubbard, Desmond Lachman, Adam Lerrick, John H. Makin, N. Gregory Mankiw, Allan H. Meltzer, and Vincent R. Reinhart. These scholars study the national budget, monetary policy, and international markets and provide commentary on pressing matters such as the nation's budget deficit, financial crisis, and economic stimulus plan. Mr. Makin writes the highly regarded monthly Economic Outlook, which addresses topics such as budget deficits, the financial crisis, China's economic growth, and the role of the Federal Reserve. Mr. Lachman is focusing on the scope for the multilateral coordination of macroeconomic policies across the major economies to address the current crisis, and Mr. Meltzer is working on the second of three volumes of his momentous project, A History of the Federal Reserve. Messrs. Hassett and Philip Levy are working on a project examining the impact of various policies - tax, regulatory, or employee benefits - on U.S. businesses' infrastructure decisions and how to optimize U.S. competitiveness.
Health Care
AEI's Health Policy Studies Program is deeply engaged in the current policy debates. Joseph Antos and Thomas P. Miller just released a report entitled, "A Better Prescription: AEI Scholars on Realistic Health Reform," proposing an enterprise-oriented roadmap toward an affordable health care system that maintains high quality and promotes innovation. Messrs. Antos and Miller, and Roger Bate, John E. Calfee, Newt Gingrich, Scott Gottlieb, Robert Helms, Leon R. Kass, Aparna Mathur, and Sally Satel are providing leading ideas on the financing of health reform, the regulation of health care, coverage for the uninsured, Medicare reform, and the effects of price controls on pharmaceutical R&D. They are identifying and explaining the significance and future impact of the problems facing our health care system; providing response and evaluation of the current legislation on Capitol Hill; and offering alternative, pro-market, innovative solutions to our nation's health care crisis that will promote greater efficiency, increased consumer involvement, and smarter health purchasing decisions. Mr. Antos recently edited with Bob Helms the monograph in AEI's series of studies on Medicare reform, Bring Market Prices to Medicare: Essential Reform at a Time of Fiscal Crisis (Robert Coulam, Roger Feldman, and Bryan E. Dowd). On a wider front, AEI's program also devotes attention to global health issues like counterfeit medicines and the role of international institutions such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Mr. Bate is writing a book on how to improve drug quality in developing countries, incorporating his research on counterfeiting, drug testing, drug tariffs, procurement and local production failure, drug resistance, and more.
Tax and Entitlement Reform
AEI's program on tax and entitlement reform includes the work of Andrew G. Biggs, Alex Brill, Kevin A. Hassett, R. Glenn Hubbard, Bill Thomas, Aparna Mathur, and Alan D. Viard. This program places particular emphasis on research about income distribution, transition costs, marginal tax rates, and economic effects of corporate taxation. AEI scholars also examine topics such as the dynamic scoring and the effects of taxation on investment, savings, and entrepreneurial activity; and options to fix the alternative minimum tax. Mr. Hassett and Ms. Mathur recently completed a world history of taxation that describes trends in tax policy in the United States and elsewhere, providing a data-driven guide for the coming tax policy debate, and Messrs. Hassett and Viard are working on a project looking specifically at California tax reform. Messrs. Hassett and Brill organized a major AEI conference in January that examined various policy aspects relating to the taxation of multinational corporations. Mr. Biggs is currently evaluating the benefits of Social Security reforms, and started a project that will seek to connect entitlements to imbalances in the broader financial system. He addresses a number of wide-ranging issues in AEI's Retirement Policy Outlook series. Mr. Viard is engaged in a project with Robert Carroll of the Tax Foundation to consider the merits of a progressive consumption tax, which are outlined in a recent Tax Policy Outlook. (Mr. Viard's most recent Tax Policy Outlook is on the millionaire surtax.) Last year, Mr. Viard was nominated for the Tax Notes Person of the Year. Also last year, AEI Council of Academic Advisers member Martin Feldstein was named chairman of the new Tax Panel set up by the White House's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide recommendations for policy change in this area.
Financial Markets
Directed by Peter J. Wallison and Alex J. Pollock, and including the work of Vincent R. Reinhart and Charles W. Calomiris, AEI's Financial Markets Program covers banking, insurance and securities regulation, accounting reform, corporate governance, the mortgage and housing credit markets, and consumer finance. The turmoil in the financial world and call for increased regulation prompted a large body of work by AEI scholars. A history of developments and links to past publications, such as Mr. Wallison's prescient warnings about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are available on AEI's website. In the months ahead, Mr. Pollock will publish his monograph, How to Think About Financial Cycles, Bubbles, and Crises and Mr. Wallison will coauthor a book on the causes of the financial crisis. Mr. Reinhart is leading a book-and-conference project that brings together academics and market players to tell an honest narrative of the crisis and to outline the way forward. Next month, Mr. Pollock will host part VII of his Deflating Bubble conference series. Last summer, Congress appointed Mr. Wallison and AEI visiting fellow Bill Thomas to serve on the new Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
International Trade and Finance
AEI's Program on International Economics includes the work of Claude Barfield, Charles W. Calomiris, Desmond Lachman, Philip I. Levy, and Allan H. Meltzer. Their research is concerned with international economic bodies, the impact of globalization on developing countries, free trade agreements, and the reform of international financial institutions. The program publishes AEI's International Economic Outlook, which addresses contemporary issues in international economics. Mr. Barfield is tracking and analyzing trade policies under the Obama administration, and Mr. Levy is writing a monograph that will address new critiques of international trade.
AEI Center for Regulatory and Market Studies
AEI's Center for Regulatory and Market Studies has played, and continues to play, a crucial "watchdog" role on areas of first importance to the U.S. economy, examining the impact of federal regulation on consumers, businesses, and government and aiming to improve the process of regulatory decision-making. Ken Green has been organizing a regular seminar series to address regulatory issues that include food safety regulations in the United States, Sarbanes Oxley, environmental regulations, climate change, and net neutrality. The Center recently held an AEI conference titled "Deregulation Under Bush 43 - Myths and Realities," and last summer held a conference to assess Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's proposed plan for a "systemic regulator" to oversee the entire financial system. Alan Greenspan gave the keynote address. This month, the Center will hold two conferences - the first on electricity regulation (highlighting the recent AEI Press book Electricity Restructuring: The Texas Story), and the second conference on the Consumer Product Safety Commission's de facto ban of toys containing lead. The Center will continue to address key policy issues in its Regulatory Outlook series of essays, the most recent of which is entitled, "A Silver Lining to the Financial Crisis: A More Realistic View of Capitalism." Christopher DeMuth is contributing important new work to the Center, focusing his research on the growth of government.
Energy and Environment Studies
AEI's Energy and Environment Studies Program, led by Steven F. Hayward, emphasizes the need to design environmental policies that protect not only nature but also democratic institutions and human liberty. The program covers a wide range of research areas, including climate change, energy policy, carbon taxes, and the Clean Air Act, as well as biotechnology, agriculture, and the debate over genetically modified organisms. Future issues of AEI's Energy and Environment Outlook will examine adaptation to climate change, potential energy savings and GHG reducations from a telecommuting program for Federal employees, and on developed countries' obligation to "go first" in reducing GHGs. Messrs. Hayward and Green are analyzing various energy sources for their practicality and cost-effectiveness, aiming to promote policies that minimize cost and maximize abundance of energy, while also addressing environmental degradation, health hazards, and national security. This year, Mr. Green will author a monograph on How to Think About Energy, aimed at a college audience. Other upcoming projects will examine electricity deregulation and the feasibility of implementing renewable energy technology on a large sclae in the short-term. Lee Lane, author of Strategic Options for Bush Administration Climate Policy, and Samuel Thernstrom are examining "geoengineering" options to address global climate change, and will shortly launch a new section of AEI's website devoted to geoengineering issues. Roger Bate is researching water and pesticide policies in developing countries. Mr. Hayward's annual report, The Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, will become a full-fledged Almanac of Environmental Trends, to be updated annually following its first publication next month. Resident scholar Roger Scruton researches environmental protection from a cultural and philosophical perspective, and is writing a book on the subject.
Research Highlights
