AEI welcomes two new members to its faculty of distinguished fellows and scholars: Michael R. Auslin and Arthur C. Brooks. Auslin is a resident scholar at AEI who specializes in Japanese foreign relations with the United States and in the Asian-Pacific region. He is the author of Negotiating with Imperialism. Brooks is a visiting scholar at AEI and the author of Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism. While at the Institute, he will write books on happiness research and social entrepreneurship.

Senior Fellow James K. Glassman

The U.S. Senate confirmed James K. Glassman as chairman and a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, with a three-year term expiring in 2010. The board's mission is "to promote the open communication of information and ideas, in support of democracy, and the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information, worldwide." Mr. Glassman will continue editing AEI's magazine, The American. The latest issue looks at the new Japan.

Resident Scholar Alan D. Viard

Several Democratic presidential candidates have announced plans to raise taxes on the richest Americans if they are elected. AEI resident scholar Alan D. Viard has looked into these proposals. In his most recent Tax Policy Outlook, "The Trouble with Taxing Those at the Top," Viard addresses the merits of raising taxes on the top 1-2 percent and concludes that such marginal rate increases are inefficient and undesirable ways to raise revenue. 

Representative Mark Kirk

At a panel discussion at AEI on June 14 moderated by Desmond Lachman, Representative Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) spoke about the challenges Robert Zoellick will face when he becomes president of the World Bank on July 1. Kirk and a panel, including New York University's William Easterly and AEI's Adam Lerrick, also considered how the Bank should deal with corruption and how it can make its lending to poorer member countries more effective. In an article on American.com, Philip I. Levy addresses the distinctive qualities that Zoellick will bring to the job and the challenges he will face.

Resident Fellow Scott Gottlieb, M.D.

On May 21, Scott Gottlieb, M.D., received the Sarcoma Foundation of America's Visionary in Medicine Award at the foundation's annual gala in New York. Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deputy commissioner, received the award for his work at the FDA on improving patient access to experimental--and potentially lifesaving--drugs.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Law of the Sea Treaty. Congress has never ratified the treaty, but the George W. Bush administration has urged its approval. For many years, AEI scholars have been wrestling with complex issues of treaty commitments and U.S. sovereignty. In 1990, the AEI Press published a collection of essays by resident scholar emeritus Robert A. Goldwin. Two of the essays in the collection, "Locke and the Law of the Sea" and "Common Sense versus the Common Heritage," deal with the treaty, and will soon be part of the AEI Classics collection. Jack Landman Goldsmith, Jeremy A. Rabkin, and John Yoo continue to write on various facets of sovereignty debates, and AEI will hold a conference on the treaty in July.

The Pollock Prototype

On June 15, Representative Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) delivered the keynote speech at an AEI event on improving mortgage disclosure. Following Representative McHenry's speech, a panel addressed a number of topics related to mortgage disclosure, including simplifying disclosure and better preparing borrowers for their loans. Alex J. Pollock, who moderated the event, proposed a simple, one-page mortgage disclosure form in a May On the Issues, which can be found at www.aei.org/publication26179/.

In June, members of the environmental policy and economics departments at AEI collaborated to produce an Environmental Policy Outlook on climate change policy. Environmental scholars Kenneth P. Green and Steven F. Hayward teamed up with director of economic policy studies Kevin A. Hassett to debate the merits of two ways of regulating greenhouse gas emissions: through a carbon tax--which the authors find preferable--or by using a "cap-and-trade" system.