The following are books, monographs, papers, and events by authors and fellows affiliated with the National Research Initiative. For more information on publishing with the NRI, click here to contact the NRI.

Current NRI Projects

Jeffrey Brown (University of Illinois) will host a one-day conference at AEI and compile an edited volume addressing the costs and vulnerabilities of various government insurance programs, such as terrorism risk insurance and deposit insurance, and exploring private market alternatives. Contributors include Kent Smetters (AEI and University of Pennsylvania) and George Pennacchi (University of Illinois).

Barry Chiswick (University of Illinois, Chicago) is compiling an edited volume that examines the positive experiences highly-skilled immigrants have had on the U.S. and other developed countries, and analyzes whether a U.S. policy should encourage more high-skill immigration.

In a book entitled Including Marginal Damages: The Next Step in Market-Driven Air Pollution Regulation, Robert Mendelsohn (Yale University) and Nicholas Muller (Middlebury College) argue that establishing cap-and-trade policies on the damage caused by pollutants such as SO2 and particulate matter is the next step in efficient pollution control.

Richard Rogerson (Arizona State University) will write a monograph detailing the effect of increased taxes on labor supply.

Rick Geddes (Cornell University) is working on a monograph on private sector involvement in surface transportation issues. His work will show how market pricing and private-public partnerships can ameliorate many of our surface transportation shortcomings.

Arthur C. Brooks (AEI and Syracuse) is working on a book, titled The Virtue of Vice, which sets out overwhelming evidence that moderate indulgence, not abstinence, makes us healthier, happier, and richer.

Edward L. Glaeser (Harvard University) and coauthor Joseph Gyourko (University of Pennsylvania) are working on a monograph that analyzes government intervention in the housing market.

Magnus Henrekson (Stockholm School of Economics) and Andreas Bergh (Lund University) are writing a monograph analyzing the evidence regarding the effect of the size of government as a percentage of GDP on economic growth.

Steven J. Davis (AEI and University of Chicago) is organizing a monograph series on social and economic well-being and inequality with Erik Hurst (University of Chicago), Mark Aguiar (University of Rochester), Orazio Attanasio (University College London), Eric Battistin (University of Chicago), Mario Padula (University of Salerno), David E. Weinstein (Columbia University) and Christian Broda (University of Chicago). The first monograph of the series, Prices, Poverty, and Inequality by Christian Broda and David E. Weinstein, was released in November, 2008. The series aims to broaden the discussion on economic well-being beyond income inequality and poverty indices to present a more detailed picture of social economic well-being.

Richard Burkhauser (Cornell University) will be an AEI visiting scholar this winter and spring 2008. He will write a monograph on reforming U.S. disability insurance policy.

Scott Kieff (Washington University) will write a monograph exploring a property rights-based approach to the dangers and controversies around patent law reform.

Bryan Dowd (University of Minnesota), Roger Feldman (University of Minnesota), and Bob Coulam (Simmons College) will investigate and refine how a more accurate system of paying for Medicare services would help the program's fiscal solvency.

Bob Maranto (Villanova University), Richard Redding (Villanova University), and Frederick M. Hess are compiling an edited volume on political correctness in academia. A conference featuring these papers will be forthcoming.

Daniel Botkin (University of California, Santa Barbara) will be using whaling logbooks to remap the ice levels of portions of the Arctic Ocean from 1849-1912 to determine whether the nature of global warming is cyclical or linear.

Christopher Yoo (University of Pennsylvania Law) will write a monograph making a case for flexible prices and free markets for the internet.

Jon Entine (NRI visiting fellow) is writing a book, titled All Men are Created Equal? The Egalitarian's Guide to Understanding Human Differences, which explores the policy implications of fast-evolving DNA research.

Ken Lehn (University of Pittsburgh) will write a monograph on public regulation of hedge funds.

Richard Vedder (AEI and Ohio University) is writing a book on economic growth and income inequality.

Andy Moriss (University of Illinois College of Law) is writing a book arguing that while offshore financial centers are typically portrayed as havens for corrupt financial practices such as money laundering, they have become key players in the financial services industry.

Political science professors Shep Melnick (Boston College) and Marc Landy (Boston College) are collaborating with AEI scholar Michael S. Greve to continue organizing seminars at AEI featuring papers on federalism.

Long-time Congressional Budget Office Economist Marvin Phaup is writing a book on federal budget concepts and measures. It argues that the cash-basis of accounting, currently used in most of the federal budget, fails to properly represent the true opportunity cost of most government expenditures.

Joel Schwartz (NRI visiting fellow) is writing a monograph on the federal government's policy on grants for building new roads on compliance with the EPA's clean air regulations.

Lynn Kiesling (Northwestern University) and Andrew Kleit (Penn State University) will be contributing to an edited volume on electricity deregulation.

Richard Tren (Africans Fighting Malaria) and Donald Roberts (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences) are collaborating on a book titled The Coming Plagues that addresses the public health problems that are emerging from the ban on the use of DDT and other insecticides.

Abby Thernstrom (Manhattan Institute) will write a book discussing the entire Voting Rights Act, examining the law's impact on society.

John Weicher (Hudson Institute) is writing a book examining changes in the past decade in causes and trends of wealth and equality.

Eric Helland (Claremont McKenna College) and Alex Tabarrok (George Mason University) are completing a monograph that discusses whether product liability law serves a deterrent function, using aviation safety as an example.

Richard Redding (Villanova University) is undertaking a study that illustrates the importance of sociopolitical diversity in determining educational outcomes.

In Housing Policy at a Crossroads, John Weicher (Hudson Institute) examines the impact of current U.S. housing policy with particular emphasis on housing vouchers.

Completed NRI Projects

During the Fall of 2008, Harvey C. Mansfield (AEI and Harvard University) presented a series of lectures on Alexis de Tocqueville's work and its relevance to America's current political landscape.

Michael S. Greve (AEI) hosted a two-day conference, titled "Transatlantic Law Forum: Citizenship in Europe and the United States," which explored and debated the differing American and European concepts of citizenship and republicanism. The papers presented are being compiled into an edited volume, titled Citizenship and the Nation State.

Frederick M. Hess (AEI) has established the AEI Future of American Education Project and Working Paper Series to research current K-12 education issues. A committee consisting of many of the nation's leading reform-minded education researchers will meet twice a year and publish working papers on important topics in K-12 education policy.

R. Glenn Hubbard (AEI and Columbia Business School) and John L. Chapman (NRI Fellow) convened some of the world's leading corporate finance scholars for a conference in November, "The History, Impact, and Future of Private Equity: Ownership, Governance, and Firm Performance," addressing the role of private equity in today's economy. Among the scholars that participated were: Michael C. Jensen (Harvard Business School), Josh Lerner (Harvard Business School), Steven N. Kaplan (University of Chicago), Karen H. Wruck (Ohio State University), and Adam Lerrick (AEI and Carnegie-Mellon).

Kate Litvak (University of Texas Law) prepared a working paper on the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley on corporate risk-taking, using cross-listed companies to isolate the effects of the legislation. She focuses on risk-taking behavior by measuring the cost of debt and credit default swap rates (controlling for leverage), by examining share price volatility, changes in R&D investment, variations in earnings, and differences between market and book ratios, among other figures. The paper was presented at an AEI conference, "Is Sarbanes-Oxley Impairing Corporate Risk-Taking?" Henry N. Butler (Northwestern University), Richard Geddes (Cornell University), and Alex J. Pollock (AEI) were discussants at the conference; Peter J. Wallison (AEI) moderated.

Ken Lehn (University of Pittsburgh), with Leonce Bargeron (University of Pittsburgh) and Chad Zutter (University of Pittsburgh), released a study that analyzes the effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 on corporate risk-taking. Click here for more information on the corresponding event, "Is Sarbanes-Oxley Impairing Corporate Risk-Taking?," and to download the Lehn, Bargeron, and Zutter paper.

Support

NRI provides its scholars with extensive resources and support while at AEI by offering:

• Financial assistance to conduct research and writing
• Research and editorial assistance
• Organization of workshops for review and discussion of work-in-progress
• Publication and dissemination of completed work
• Op-Ed and article placement
• Opportunities for Congressional testimony
• Opportunities to participate in NRI events as presenters, panelists, or discussants