Editing American Enterprise Institute (section)

==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.

===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".<ref name="AR">{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20081205_2008AnnualReportweb.pdf | title=2008 Annual Report | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | access-date=October 17, 2018 | archive-date=May 14, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514050017/http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20081205_2008AnnualReportweb.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref name="AEI-About">{{cite web|url=http://www.aei.org/about|title=AEI's Organization and Purposes|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212000018/http://www.aei.org/about|archive-date=February 12, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====2008 financial crisis====
During the [[2008 financial crisis]], ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' stated that predictions by AEI staff about the involvement of [[Government-sponsored enterprise#United States|housing GSEs]] had come true.<ref name="WSJ-Wallison">{{cite news | last=McKinnon | first=John D.|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121582252066647817 | title=Critic of the Firms Sadly Says 'Told You' |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=July 12, 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524070502/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121582252066647817.html|archive-date=May 24, 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref name="NYT-Wallison">{{cite news|last=Holmes|first=Stephen A.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html|title=Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending|work=The New York Times|page=C2|date=September 30, 1999|access-date=April 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323141815/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html|archive-date=March 23, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> "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."<ref name="Two Masters">{{cite book|last=Wallison|first=Peter J.|author-link=Peter J. Wallison|year=2001|contribution=Introduction|editor-last=Wallison|editor-first=Peter J.|editor-link=Peter J. Wallison|title=Serving Two Masters, Yet Out of Control: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac|series=AEI Studies on Financial Market Deregulation|place=Washington, DC|publisher=AEI Press|page=4|isbn=978-0-8447-4166-6|url=http://www.aei.org/books/filter.all,bookID.233/book_detail.asp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418152140/http://www.aei.org/books/filter.all%2CbookID.233/book_detail.asp|archive-date=April 18, 2009}}</ref>

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 Freddie<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1392/event_detail.asp | title=Breakfast with Jim Lockhart and Senator Chuck Hagel | date=September 13, 2006 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418123537/http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1392/event_detail.asp | archive-date=April 18, 2009 | access-date=October 17, 2018 }}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite news|last=Wallison|first=Peter J.|author-link=Peter J. Wallison|date=August 26, 2008|title=Fannie and Freddie by Twilight|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.28517/pub_detail.asp|periodical=Financial Services Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418011610/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.28517/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 18, 2009}}</ref> The following month, Lockhart and Treasury Secretary [[Henry Paulson]] took the former path by putting Fannie and Freddie into federal "[[Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac|conservatorship]]."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/business/08fannie.html|title=In Rescue to Stabilize Lending, U.S. Takes Over Mortgage Finance Titans|last1=Labaton|first1=Stephen|author2-link=Edmund L. Andrews|date=September 7, 2008|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 20, 2018|last2=Andrews, Edmund L.|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=December 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221043318/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/business/08fannie.html|url-status=live}}</ref> As the housing crisis unfolded, AEI sponsored a series of conferences featuring commentators including [[Desmond Lachman]], and [[Nouriel Roubini]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1468/event_detail.asp | title=Mortgage Credit and Subprime Lending: Implications of a Deflating Bubble | date=March 28, 2007 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418135510/http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1468/event_detail.asp | archive-date=April 18, 2009 | access-date=October 17, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1519/event_detail.asp | title=The Deflating Mortgage and Housing Bubble, Part II | date=October 11, 2007 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418135416/http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1519/event_detail.asp | archive-date=April 18, 2009 | access-date=October 17, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/events/filter.all,eventID.1678/event_detail.asp | title=The Deflating Mortgage and Housing Bubble, Part III: What Next? | date=March 12, 2008 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419183408/http://www.aei.org/events/filter.all%2CeventID.1678/event_detail.asp | archive-date=April 19, 2009 | access-date=October 17, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/events/filter.all,eventID.1813/event_detail.asp | title=The Deflating Mortgage and Housing Bubble, Part IV: Where Is the Bottom? | date=October 30, 2008 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418054852/http://www.aei.org/events/filter.all,eventID.1813/event_detail.asp | archive-date=April 18, 2009 | access-date=October 17, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/event/100022 | title=The Deflating Bubble, Part V: Forecast and Policy Recommendations for the Next Six Months | date=March 17, 2009 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091228173734/http://www.aei.org/event/100022 | archive-date=December 28, 2009 | access-date=October 17, 2018 }}</ref> Makin had been warning about the effects of a housing downturn on the broader economy for months.<ref>{{cite news|last=Makin|first=John H.|author-link=John H. Makin|date=December 2006|title=Housing and American Recessions|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.25209/pub_detail.asp|periodical=Economic Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418001515/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.25209/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 18, 2009}}</ref> Amid charges that many homebuyers did not understand their complex [[mortgage loan|mortgages]], Alex J. Pollock crafted a prototype of a one-page mortgage disclosure form.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pollock|first=Alex J.|author-link=Alex J. Pollock|date=May 2, 2007|title=To Make Mortgages Fair, Keep Disclosures To a Page|periodical=The American|url=http://www.american.com/archive/2007/may-0507/to-make-mortgages-fair-keep-disclosures-to-a-page|access-date=April 7, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626234144/http://www.american.com/archive/2007/may-0507/to-make-mortgages-fair-keep-disclosures-to-a-page|archive-date=June 26, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Rucker|first=Patrick|date=June 15, 2007|title=One-page mortgage form pitched as simplicity tool|periodical=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN1526578520070615|access-date=April 7, 2009|archive-date=November 9, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081109121237/http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN1526578520070615|url-status=live}}</ref>

The claim that AEI predicted the [[2008 financial crisis]] is heavily disputed. In her book, ''[[Dark Money (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 [[2008 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mayer|first=Jane|year=2016|title=[[Dark Money (book)|Dark Money]]|publisher=Doubleday|isbn=978-0-385-53559-5|pages=291–293}}</ref>

====Tax and fiscal policy====
{{primary sources|section|date=September 2024}}
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 inequality|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]]".<ref name="Highlight">American Enterprise Institute, [http://www.aei.org/researchhighlights Research Highlights], accessed April 7, 2008. [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20111103040557/http%3A//www%2Eaei%2Eorg/researchhighlights Archived copy] at the [[Library of Congress]] (November 3, 2011).</ref> Hassett has coedited several volumes on tax reform.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Hassett|editor-first=Kevin A.|editor2-last=Hubbard|editor2-first=R. Glenn|editor2-link=R. Glenn Hubbard|year=2001|title=Transition Costs of Fundamental Tax Reform|place=Washington, DC|publisher=AEI Press|isbn=978-0-8447-4112-3|url=http://www.aei.org/books/bookID.264/book_detail.asp|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110611001536/http://www.aei.org/books/bookID.264/book_detail.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 11, 2011}} {{cite book|editor-last=Auerbach|editor-first=Alan J.|editor-link=Alan Auerbach|editor2-last=Hassett|editor2-first=Kevin A.|year=2005|title=Toward Fundamental Tax Reform|place=Washington, DC|publisher=AEI Press|isbn=978-0-8447-4234-2|url=https://archive.org/details/towardfundamenta0000unse|access-date=April 7, 2009|url-access=registration}}</ref>

Viard edited a book on tax policy lessons from the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush administration]].<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Viard|editor-first=Alan D.|editor-link=Alan D. Viard|year=2009|title=Tax Policy Lessons from the 2000s|place=Washington, DC|publisher=AEI Press|isbn=978-0-8447-4278-6|url=http://www.aei.org/books/bookID.975/book_detail.asp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416233152/http://www.aei.org/books/bookID.975/book_detail.asp|archive-date=April 16, 2009}}</ref> 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 tax]]ation<ref name="Taxes and Wages">{{cite web|last1=Hassett|first1=Kevin A.|first2=Aparna |last2=Mathur|title=Taxes and Wages|version=working paper|website=American Enterprise Institute|date=July 6, 2006|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.24629/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417194127/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.24629/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 17, 2009|url-status=dead }}</ref> was cited by ''[[The Economist]]'';<ref>{{cite news|date=June 29, 2006|title=A toll on the common man|newspaper=The Economist}}</ref> figures from another paper by Hassett and Brill on maximizing corporate income tax revenue<ref name="Corporate Tax">{{cite web|last=Brill|first=Alex|first2=Kevin A. |last2=Hassett|title=Revenue-Maximizing Corporate Income Taxes: The Laffer Curve in OECD Countries|version=working paper|website=American Enterprise Institute|date=July 31, 2007|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26577/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417193733/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26577/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 17, 2009|url-status=dead }}</ref> was cited by ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Editorial|date=December 26, 2006|title=The Wages of Growth|periodical=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116709216692759243|access-date=April 7, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527123643/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116709216692759243.html|archive-date=May 27, 2008}}</ref>

====Center for Regulatory and Market Studies====
{{primary sources|section|date=September 2024}}
From 1998 to 2008, the Reg-Markets Center was the AEI-[[Brookings Institution|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 E. Kahn|Alfred Kahn]], [[Sam Peltzman]], [[Richard Posner]], and [[Cass Sunstein]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.reg-markets.org/events/index.php?menuid=4&PHPSESSID=79a6a3b2a14f081b6935a564afcd17dd | title=Events | website=Reg-Markets Center | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090712041018/http://www.reg-markets.org/events/index.php?menuid=4&PHPSESSID=79a6a3b2a14f081b6935a564afcd17dd | archive-date=July 12, 2009 | access-date=October 17, 2018 }}</ref>

Research in AEI's Financial Markets Program also includes banking, insurance and [[Security (finance)|securities]] regulation, [[accounting]] reform, [[corporate governance]], and consumer finance.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/aei-website/managed-content/site-pages/about/research-highlights.html | archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20111103131120/http://www.aei.org/aei-website/managed-content/site-pages/about/research-highlights.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 3, 2011 | title=Research Highlights | date=November 3, 2011 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | access-date=October 17, 2018 }}</ref>

====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.<ref name="Hayward">{{cite web|last=Hayward|first=Steven F.|date=February 15, 2005|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.21974/pub_detail.asp|title=Climate Change Science: Time for 'Team B'?|publisher=AEI|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212205027/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.21974/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=February 12, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Bate">{{cite web|last=Bate|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Bate|date=August 2, 2005|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.22944/pub_detail.asp|title=Climate Change Policy after the G8 Summit|publisher=AEI|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212050954/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.22944/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=February 12, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to AEI, it "emphasizes the need to design environmental policies that protect not only nature but also democratic institutions and human liberty".<ref name="Highlight" />  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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Oreskes|first1=Naomi|last2=Conway|first2=Erik M.|title=[[Merchants of Doubt]]|year=2010|publisher=Bloomsbury Press|isbn=978-1-59691-610-4|pages=125, 165, 217, 232, 234, 247}}</ref>

When the [[Kyoto Protocol]] (designed to reduce [[carbon emissions]] globally) 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.<ref name="aei">{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/article/energy-and-the-environment/climate-change-caps-vs-taxes/ | title=Climate Change: Caps vs. Taxes | last=Hassett | first=Kevin A. | date=June 1, 2007 | website=American Enterprise Institute | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825050345/http://www.aei.org/article/energy-and-the-environment/climate-change-caps-vs-taxes/ | archive-date=August 25, 2013 | access-date=October 17, 2018 }}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=September 2024}}

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]].<ref name="Sample">{{cite news|last=Sample|first=Ian|title=Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=February 2, 2007|url=http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2004397,00.html|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517124831/http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0%2C%2C2004397%2C00.html|archive-date=May 17, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> This offer was criticized as [[bribery]].<ref name="Floyd">{{cite news|last=Floyd|first=Chris|title=American Enterprise Institute allegedly offers bribes to scientists for disputing UN climate change report|work=Atlantic Free Press|date=February 3, 2007|url=http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/883-bush-backers-offer-bribes-to-undercut-global-warming-report.html|access-date=May 20, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101029200754/http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/883-bush-backers-offer-bribes-to-undercut-global-warming-report.html|archive-date=October 29, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Wendland">{{cite news|last=Wendland|first=Joel|title=Big Oil, the American Enterprise Institute, and their War on Science|work=Political Affairs Magazine|date=February 6, 2007|url=http://www.politicalaffairs.net/big-oil-the-american-enterprise-institute-and-their-war-on-science|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725191116/http://www.politicalaffairs.net/big-oil-the-american-enterprise-institute-and-their-war-on-science/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 25, 2014|access-date=July 17, 2014}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Eilperin">{{cite news|first=Juliet|last=Eilperin|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/04/AR2007020401213.html|title=AEI Critiques of Warming Questioned: Think Tank Defends Money Offers to Challenge Climate Report|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|page=A04|date=February 5, 2007|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-date=February 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215024009/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/04/AR2007020401213.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="TP-HaywardGreen">{{cite web|last=American Enterprise Institute|title=Letter to Prof. Steve Schroeder|website=ThinkProgress|url=http://websrvr80il.audiovideoweb.com/il80web20037/ThinkProgress/2007/aeiletter.pdf|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227044206/http://websrvr80il.audiovideoweb.com/il80web20037/ThinkProgress/2007/aeiletter.pdf|archive-date=February 27, 2008}}</ref>

In 2007, ''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.<ref name="Guardian 2007">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/feb/02/frontpagenews.climatechange |title=Global Warming Smear |work=The Guardian |date=February 2, 2007 |accessdate=February 5, 2021 |archive-date=November 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104143233/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/feb/02/frontpagenews.climatechange |url-status=live }}</ref> 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."<ref name="Samuelson">{{cite news|first=Robert J.|last=Samuelson|author-link=Robert J. Samuelson|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/32312|title=Greenhouse Simplicities|work=[[Newsweek]]|page=47|date=August 20–27, 2007|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-date=December 17, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091217112302/http://www.newsweek.com/id/32312|url-status=live}}</ref> ''The Guardian'' article was disputed in a ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' editorial.<ref name="Newsweek-GWSmear">{{cite news|last=Editorial|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009649|title=Global Warming Smear|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=February 9, 2007|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-date=December 19, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091219130151/http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009649|url-status=live}}</ref> 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."<ref name="WSJ 2007">{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117099332237703363 |title=Global Warming Smear |work=Wall Street Journal |date=February 9, 2007 |accessdate=February 5, 2021 |archive-date=July 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724215536/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117099332237703363 |url-status=live }}</ref>

AEI has promoted [[carbon tax]]ation 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."<ref name="Caps-vs-Taxes">AEI also backs the carbon taxation policy due to an incentive to reduce the use of [[emission intensity|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".{{cite news|last1=Green|first1=Kenneth P.|author-link=Kenneth P. Green|last2=Hassett|first2=Kevin A.|author2-link=Kevin Hassett|last3=Hayward|first3=Stephen F.|author3-link=Steven F. Hayward|date=June 1, 2007|title=Climate Change: Caps vs. Taxes?|periodical=Environmental Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26286/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418013543/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26286/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 18, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other AEI staff have argued for similar policies.<ref name="Lane-Thernstrom-1">{{cite book|last=Lane|first=Lee|author-link=Lee Lane|title=Strategic Options for Bush Administration Climate Policy|publisher=AEI Press|place=Washington, DC|year=2006|url=http://www.aei.org/books/bookID.866,filter.all/book_detail.asp|access-date=April 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418055346/http://www.aei.org/books/bookID.866%2Cfilter.all/book_detail.asp|archive-date=April 18, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Lane|first1=Lee|last2=Thernstrom|first2=Samuel|date=January 19, 2007|title=A New Direction for Bush Administration Climate Policy|periodical=Environmental Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.25481/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418013326/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.25481/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 18, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> Thernstrom and Lane are codirecting a project on whether [[climate engineering|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".<ref>{{cite news|last=Thernstrom|first=Samuel|date=June 23, 2008|title=Resetting Earth's Thermostat|periodical=Los Angeles Times|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.28169/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 7, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610211355/http://www.aei.org/article/28169|archive-date=June 10, 2011}}</ref> Green, who departed AEI in 2013, expanded its work on [[energy]] policy. He has hosted conferences on [[nuclear power]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1394/event_detail.asp | title=Is Nuclear Power a Solution to Global Warming and Rising Energy Prices? | date=October 6, 2006 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418200634/http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1394/event_detail.asp | archive-date=April 18, 2009 | access-date=October 17, 2018 }}</ref> and [[ethanol]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1410/event_detail.asp | title=Ethanol: Boon or Boondoggle? | date=November 8, 2006 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421082755/http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1410/event_detail.asp | archive-date=April 21, 2009 | access-date=October 18, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Green|first=Kenneth P.|author-link=Kenneth P. Green|date=July 29, 2008|title=Ethanol and the Environment|periodical=Environmental Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.28396/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418013921/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.28396/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 18, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> With Aparna Mathur, he evaluated Americans' indirect energy use to discover unexpected areas in which [[Efficient energy use|energy efficiencies]] can be achieved.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Green|first1=Kenneth P.|author-link=Kenneth P. Green|last2=Mathur|first2=Aparna|author2-link=Aparna Mathur|date=December 4, 2008|title=Measuring and Reducing Americans' Indirect Energy Use|periodical=Environmental Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.29020/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418020832/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.29020/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 18, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Green|first1=Kenneth P.|author-link=Kenneth P. Green|last2=Mathur|first2=Aparna|author2-link=Aparna Mathur|date=March 4, 2009|title=Indirect Energy and Your Wallet|periodical=Environmental Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/outlook/100017|access-date=April 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513222405/http://www.aei.org/outlook/100017|archive-date=May 13, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=September 2024}}

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.<ref>{{cite web|first=Robert W.|last=Hahn|date=October 1, 2007|url=http://www.aei.org/article/27153|title=Time to Change U.S. Climate Policy|publisher=AEI|access-date=June 11, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610174623/http://www.aei.org/article/27153|archive-date=June 10, 2009|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>}}{{primary source inline|date=September 2024}}

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."<ref>{{cite web|title=One Answer to Global Warming: A New Tax|publisher=AEI|access-date=June 14, 2009|date=September 16, 2007|url=http://www.aei.org/article/26825|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610205436/http://www.aei.org/article/26825|archive-date=June 10, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> After [[United States Secretary of Energy|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."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://american.com/archive/2009/june/white-makes-right-steven-chu2019s-helpful-idea | title=White Makes Right? Steven Chu's Helpful Idea | last=Thernstrom | first=Samuel | date=June 5, 2009 | website=American Enterprise Institute | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113062233/http://american.com/archive/2009/june/white-makes-right-steven-chu2019s-helpful-idea | archive-date=January 13, 2010 | access-date=October 18, 2018 }}</ref> ''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."<ref>{{cite web|access-date=June 14, 2009|title=To Slow Climate Change, Tax Carbon|date=February 13, 2009|url=http://www.aei.org/article/100058|publisher=AEI|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610174527/http://www.aei.org/article/100058|archive-date=June 10, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Former scholar Steven Hayward has described efforts to reduce global warming as being "based on exaggerations and conjecture rather than science".<ref name="Hayward-Acclimatizing">{{cite web|last=Hayward|first=Steven F.|date=June 12, 2006|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.24545/pub_detail.asp|title=Acclimatizing: How to Think Sensibly about Global Warming|publisher=AEI|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212015338/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.24545/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=February 12, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Hayward-Ridiculously">{{cite web|last=Hayward|first=Steven F.|date=May 15, 2006|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.24401/pub_detail.asp|title=How to Think Sensibly, or Ridiculously, About Global Warming|publisher=AEI|access-date=February 12, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226012342/http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all%2CpubID.24401/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=December 26, 2008}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Green">{{cite news|first=Kenneth|last=Green|url=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDAyN2Y4OWMzZjQ3ZjFlZDc4ZTAxMTIzZjYxNTUwN2I=|title=Clouds of Global-Warming Hysteria|work=[[National Review Online]]|date=May 8, 2006|access-date=February 12, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226024432/http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDAyN2Y4OWMzZjQ3ZjFlZDc4ZTAxMTIzZjYxNTUwN2I%3D|archive-date=December 26, 2008}}</ref>

[[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".<ref name="DeMuth-Kyoto">{{cite web|last=DeMuth|first=Christopher|date=September 2001|url=http://www.chrisdemuth.com/id90.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209093055/http://www.chrisdemuth.com/id90.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 9, 2008|title=The Kyoto Treaty Deserved to Die|work=The American Enterprise|access-date=February 12, 2009}}</ref> Fellow James Glassman also disputes the [[scientific consensus on climate change]], having written numerous articles criticizing the Kyoto accords and climate science more generally for [[Tech Central Station]].<ref name="Confessore">{{cite news|first=Nicholas|last=Confessore|author-link=Nicholas Confessore|url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0312.confessore.html|title=How James Glassman reinvented journalism—as lobbying|work=[[Washington Monthly]]|date=December 2003|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20080918011339/http%3A//www%2Ewashingtonmonthly%2Ecom/features/2003/0312%2Econfessore%2Ehtml|archive-date=September 18, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> 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,'"<ref name="Glassman-Hoax">{{cite news|first=James K.|last=Glassman|author-link=James K. Glassman|url=http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3400|title=Certainty of Catastrophic Global Warming is a Hoax|work=Capitalism Magazine|date=December 15, 2003|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-date=October 21, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021052711/http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3400|url-status=live}}</ref> and, like Green, cites Crichton's novel ''[[State of Fear]]'', which "casts serious doubt on global warming and extremists who espouse it".<ref name="Glassman-Extremists">{{cite web|first=James K. |last=Glassman |date=December 14, 2004|url=http://aei.org/publications/filter.social,pubID.21703/pub_detail.asp|title=Global Warming: Extremists on the Run|publisher=AEI|access-date=February 12, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103034250/http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.social%2CpubID.21703/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=January 3, 2006}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Schwartz-CitGuide">{{cite web|last=Schwartz|first=Joel|date=July 2007|url=http://www.johnlocke.org/acrobat/policyReports/globalwarmingguide.pdf|title=A North Carolina Citizen's Guide to Global Warming|publisher=[[John Locke Foundation]]|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213041312/http://www.johnlocke.org/acrobat/policyReports/globalwarmingguide.pdf|archive-date=February 13, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2013, the magazine of the UK's [[Institute of Economic Affairs]] published an article by AEI fellow [[Roger Bate]] entitled "20 years denouncing eco-militants", in which he argued that "evidence of climate impact is still hard to prove, and harm even more difficult to establish", and dismissed calls for a ban on the [[insecticide]] DDT as "green alarmism".<ref name="n551">{{cite web | title=Right-wing think tank accused of promoting tobacco and oil industry "propaganda" in schools | website=openDemocracy | date=28 November 2018 | url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/right-wing-think-tank-accused-of-promoting-tobacco-oil-indu/ | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref> In 2018, British investigative website [[openDemocracy]] repeated that AEI "has long been funded by ExxonMobile",<ref name="n551"/> an allegation repeated by ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' the same year, describing AEI's [[Danielle Pletka]] of spreading [[disinformation]] about climate change on the ''[[Meet the Press]]'' TV show.<ref name="n220">{{cite web | last=Holmes | first=Jack | title=Chuck Todd's 'Meet The Press' Hosts Danielle Pletka of American Enterprise Institute to Dispute Climate Change | website=Esquire | date=26 November 2018 | url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a25304542/meet-the-press-climate-change-chuck-todd-danielle-pletka/ | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref>

===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".<ref name="AR" /> 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]].{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

AEI takes a pro-Israel stance. In 2015 it awarded Israeli Prime Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] its 'Irving Kristol Award'.<ref name=aei.org>{{cite web |title=Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to receive 2015 AEI Irving Kristol Award |url=https://www.aei.org/press/israeli-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-to-receive-2015-aei-irving-kristol-award/ |publisher=aei.org |access-date=January 13, 2023 |archive-date=January 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113185834/https://www.aei.org/press/israeli-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-to-receive-2015-aei-irving-kristol-award/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

AEI's foreign and defense policy studies department, directed by [[Danielle Pletka]], is the part of the institute most commonly associated with neoconservatism.<ref name="Schifferes" /> According to ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', in 2002 it was seen "as the intellectual command post of the neoconservative campaign for [[regime change]] in [[Iraq]]".<ref name="k448"/> Prominent foreign-policy neoconservatives at AEI include [[Richard Perle]], [[Gary Schmitt]], and [[Paul Wolfowitz]].{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} [[Joshua Muravchik]] and [[Michael Ledeen]] (the latter seen as an "ultra neo-conservative"<ref name="s398">{{cite web | title=Michael Ledeen | website=BBC NEWS | date=18 May 2003 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/3031803.stm | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref>) 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",<ref name="Heilbrunn-2">{{cite news|last=Heilbrunn|first=Jacob|author-link=Jacob Heilbrunn|date=December 19, 2008|title=Flight of the Neocons|periodical=The National Interest|url=http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=20400|access-date=April 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417213901/http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=20400|archive-date=April 17, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> although Muravchik later said it was the result of personality and management conflicts.<ref name="Weigel">{{cite news|last=Weigel|first=David|author-link=David Weigel|date=March 11, 2009|title=Former AEI Scholar Blasts Danielle Pletka|periodical=The Washington Independent|url=http://washingtonindependent.com/33489/former-aei-scholar-blasts-danielle-pletka|access-date=June 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620103121/http://washingtonindependent.com/33489/former-aei-scholar-blasts-danielle-pletka|archive-date=June 20, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====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.<ref name="Choosing Victory">{{cite web|last=Kagan|first=Frederick W.|author-link=Frederick W. Kagan|title=Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq|version=Phase I Report|website=American Enterprise Institute|date=January 5, 2007|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.25396/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408021749/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.25396/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 8, 2009|url-status=dead }}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=September 2024}}

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 Schoomaker|[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."<ref name="WarWithin">{{cite book|last=Woodward|first=Bob|author-link=Bob Woodward|title=The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006–2008|url=https://archive.org/details/warwithinsecretw00wood_0|url-access=registration|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2008|location=New York|isbn=9781416558989 }}</ref>

Kagan, Keane, and Senators [[John McCain]] and [[Joseph Lieberman]] presented the plan at a January 5, 2007, event at AEI. Bush announced the [[Iraq War troop surge of 2007|change of strategy]] on January 10.<ref name="NYT-Surge">{{cite news|last=Gordon|first=Michael R.|title=Troop 'Surge' Took Place Amid Doubt and Debate|work=The New York Times|date=August 30, 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/washington/31military.html|access-date=April 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310155552/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/washington/31military.html|archive-date=March 10, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Kagan authored three subsequent reports monitoring the progress of the surge.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kagan|first=Frederick W.|author-link=Frederick W. Kagan|title=Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq|version=Phase II Report|website=American Enterprise Institute|date=April 25, 2007|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26028/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409000536/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26028/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 9, 2009|url-status=dead }}; {{cite web|last=Kagan|first=Frederick W.|author-link=Frederick W. Kagan|title=No Middle Way: The Challenge of Exit Strategies from Iraq|version=Phase III Report|website=American Enterprise Institute|date=September 6, 2007|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26760/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409000545/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26760/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 9, 2009|url-status=dead }}; {{cite web|last=Kagan|first=Frederick W.|author-link=Frederick W. Kagan|title=Iraq: The Way Ahead|version=Phase IV Report|website=American Enterprise Institute|date=March 24, 2008|url=http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.27686/pub_detail.asp|access-date=April 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409000611/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.27686/pub_detail.asp|archive-date=April 9, 2009|url-status=dead }}</ref>

AEI's defense policy researchers, who also include Schmitt and [[Giselle Donnelly|Thomas Donnelly]], also work on issues related to the [[U.S. Armed Forces|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".<ref name="Highlight"/>

====Area studies====
{{primary sources|section|date=September 2024}}
Its Asia studies program is directed by [[Dan Blumenthal]]. The program 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".<ref name="Highlight"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=AEI Expands Asian Studies Program |url=https://www.aei.org/articles/aei-expands-asian-studies-program/ |access-date=2023-10-17 |website=American Enterprise Institute - AEI |language=en-US}}</ref> Blumenthal and his team wrote several articles for [[ForeignPolicy.com]] and other outlets during the Obama presidency advocating for military support and funding for Taiwan.<ref name="NationTaiwan">{{cite magazine | url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/secret-foreign-donor-behind-american-enterprise-institute/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319083252/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/secret-foreign-donor-behind-american-enterprise-institute/ | archive-date=March 19, 2020 | title=The Secret Foreign Donor Behind the American Enterprise Institute | date=June 25, 2013 | last=Clifton | first=Eli |magazine=[[The Nation]] }}</ref>

Papers in AEI's Tocqueville on China Project series "elicit the underlying civic culture of post-[[Mao Zedong|Mao]] China, enabling policymakers to better understand the internal forces and pressures that are shaping China's future".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/publication/why-tocqueville-on-china/ | title=Why Tocqueville on China? | last=Ceaser | first=James W. | date=January 25, 2010 | website=American Enterprise Institute | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206185253/http://www.aei.org/publication/why-tocqueville-on-china/ | archive-date=February 6, 2016 | access-date=October 18, 2018 }}</ref>

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.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} [[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".<ref name="Highlight"/>

[[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 [[United States embargo against Cuba|U.S. trade embargo]] would be difficult for an island scarred by a half-century of poverty and civil turmoil.<ref>{{cite book|last=Falcoff|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Falcoff|title=Cuba the Morning After: Confronting Castro's Legacy|publisher=AEI Press|year=2003|location=Washington}}</ref> [[Roger Noriega]]'s focuses at AEI are on Venezuela, [[Brazil]], the [[Mérida Initiative]] with Mexico and [[Central America]],<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1584/event_detail.asp | title=Battling the Deadly Drug Cartels in Mexico: A Shared Responsibility | date=November 8, 2007 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417232934/http://www.aei.org/events/eventID.1584/event_detail.asp | archive-date=April 17, 2009 | access-date=October 18, 2018 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Azarva|first1=Jeffrey|first2=Danielle|last2=Pletka|last3=Rubin|first3=Michael|title=Dissent and Reform in the Arab World: Empowering Democrats|publisher=AEI Press|year=2008|location=Washington}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Highlight"/> The project includes IranTracker.org,<ref name="IranTracker">{{cite web|url=http://www.irantracker.org/|title=Critical Threats|website=Critical Threats|access-date=April 5, 2018|archive-date=January 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130055928/http://www.irantracker.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> with contributions from [[Ali Alfoneh]], [[Ahmad Majidyar]] and [[Michael Rubin (historian)|Michael Rubin]], among others.

====International organizations and economic development====
{{primary sources|section|date=September 2024}}
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]], [[nongovernmental organization|NGOs]], and related international organizations".<ref name="Highlight"/> NGOWatch returned as a subsite of Global Governance Watch, led by [[Jon Entine]]. AEI scholars focusing on international organizations includes [[John R. Bolton|John Bolton]], the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bolton|first=John R.|author-link=John R. Bolton|title=Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2007|location=New York}}</ref> and [[John Yoo]], who researches [[international law]] and sovereignty.<ref name="Highlight"/>

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,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bauer|first=P. T.|author-link=P. T. Bauer|title=United States Aid and Indian Economic Development|publisher=AEI Press|year=1959|location=Washington|url=http://www.aei.org/book/876|access-date=June 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612211858/http://www.aei.org/book/876|archive-date=June 12, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Edward C. Banfield|Edward Banfield]] published a booklet on the theory behind foreign aid in 1970.<ref>{{cite book|last=Banfield|first=Edward C.|author-link=Edward C. Banfield|title=American Foreign Aid Doctrines|publisher=AEI Press|year=1970|location=Washington|url=http://www.aei.org/book/873|access-date=June 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612211921/http://www.aei.org/book/873|archive-date=June 12, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aei.org/eventSeries/18|title=- AEI|website=AEI|date=October 19, 2012|access-date=June 10, 2018|archive-date=April 2, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402014506/http://www.aei.org/eventSeries/18|url-status=live}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=September 2024}} Notable lecturers have included [[Angus Maddison]] and [[Deepak Lal]].{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

[[Nicholas Eberstadt]] holds the Henry Wendt Chair, focusing on [[demographics]], [[population growth]] and human capital development; he served on the federal [[HELP Commission]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Eberstadt |first=Nicholas |date=2024-05-08 |title=East Asia's Coming Population Collapse |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/china/east-asias-coming-population-collapse |access-date=2024-09-24 |work=Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |issn=0015-7120}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nicholas Eberstadt {{!}} Scholars |url=https://www.aei.org/profile/nicholas-eberstadt/ |access-date=24 September 2024 |website=American Enterprise Institute}}</ref>

[[Paul Wolfowitz]], the former president of the [[World Bank]], researches development policy in Africa.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

[[Roger Bate]] focuses his research on [[malaria]], [[HIV/AIDS]], [[Counterfeit medications|counterfeit and substandard drugs]],<ref name="MAK">{{cite book|last=Bate|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Bate|title=Making a Killing|publisher=AEI Press|year=2008|location=Washington}}</ref> access to water,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bate|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Bate|title=All the Water in the World|publisher=Centre for Independent Studies|year=2006|location=St. Leonard's, Australia}}</ref> and other problems endemic in the developing world.{{primary source inline|date=September 2024}}

===Health policy studies===
{{primary sources|section|date=September 2024}}
AEI scholars have engaged in health policy research since the institute's early days. A Center for Health Policy Research was established in 1974.<ref name="1981 AR">American Enterprise Institute, ''Annual Report'', 1981–82.</ref> For many years, [[Robert B. Helms]] led the health department. AEI's long-term focuses in health care have included [[national health insurance|national insurance]], [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]], [[Medicaid]], [[pharmaceuticals|pharmaceutical innovation]], health care competition, and cost control.<ref name="Highlight"/>

The center was replaced in the mid-1980s with the Health Policy Studies Program. The AEI Press has published dozens of books on health policy since the 1970s.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} 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'' in February 2010 to outline their ideal plan to healthcare reform, calling for putting the money and control in the hands of the consumers and continuing the market-based system of healthcare, a form of healthcare that "relies on financial incentives rather than central direction and control."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Antos |first1=Joseph |url=https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ABetterPrescription.pdf?x85095 |title=A Better Prescription |last2=P. Miller |first2=Thomas |date=23 February 2010 |publisher=American Enterprise Institute }}</ref>

According to [[openDemocracy]], "In the late 1990s, while he was funded by the tobacco industry, [[Roger Bate|[AEI fellow Roger] Bate]] argued against the science which shows that exposure to tobacco causes cancer."<ref name="n551"/>

Helms long argued against the tax break for [[employer-sponsored health insurance]], arguing that it distorts insurance markets and limits [[consumer choice]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cogan|first1=John F.|last2=Hubbard|first2=R. Glenn|author-link2=R. Glenn Hubbard|last3=Kessler|first3=Daniel P.|author-link3=Daniel P. Kessler|title=Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Five Steps to a Better Health Care System|publisher=AEI Press|year=2005|location=Washington|url=http://www.aei.org/book/831|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610213220/http://www.aei.org/book/831|archive-date=June 10, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Glied|author-link1=Sherry Glied|first=Sherry|title=Revising the Tax Treatment of Employer-Provided Health Insurance|publisher=AEI Press|year=1994|location=Washington|url=http://www.aei.org/book/355|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617074109/http://www.aei.org/book/355|archive-date=June 17, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Helms|editor-first=Robert B.|title=American Health Policy: Critical Issues for Reform|publisher=AEI Press|year=1993|location=Washington|url=http://www.aei.org/book/10|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610212558/http://www.aei.org/book/10|archive-date=June 10, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Helms|first=Robert B.|date=January 2005|title=Tax Reform and Health Insurance|periodical=Health Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/outlook/21921|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090613073930/http://www.aei.org/outlook/21921|archive-date=June 13, 2009|url-status=dead}} {{cite web|last=Dowd|first=Bryan E.|author-link=Bryan E. Dowd|date=September 2007|title=The Bush Administration's Health Insurance Tax Reform Proposal|periodical=Health Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/outlook/26768|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090613010535/http://www.aei.org/outlook/26768|archive-date=June 13, 2009|url-status=dead}} {{cite web|last=Helms|first=Robert B.|date=June 2009|title=Taxing Health Insurance: A Tax Designed to Be Avoided|periodical=Health Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/outlook/100046|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617023942/http://www.aei.org/outlook/100046|archive-date=June 17, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Scott Gottlieb]], also a medical doctor, rejoined AEI after a term as commissioner with the [[Food and Drug Administration]].<ref name="ProPublica"/> He has expressed concern about relatively unreliable [[comparative effectiveness research]] being used to restrict treatment options under a public plan.<ref name="CER">{{cite web|last=Gottlieb|first=Scott|author-link=Scott Gottlieb|date=February 2009|title=Promoting and Using Comparative Research: What Are the Promises and Pitfalls of a New Federal Effort?|periodical=Health Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/outlook/100010|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619150420/http://www.aei.org/outlook/100010|archive-date=June 19, 2009|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last1=Gottlieb|first1=Scott|last2=Klasmeier|first2=Coleen|date=June 2009|title=Comparative Effectiveness Research: The Need for a Uniform Standard|periodical=Health Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/outlook/100044|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619150850/http://www.aei.org/outlook/100044|archive-date=June 19, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=September 2024}}

[[Roger Bate]]'s work includes international health policy, especially pharmaceutical quality, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and multilateral health organizations.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} 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''.<ref name="MAK" /><ref>See conference information at {{cite web|url=http://www.aei.org/event/1700|title=AEI - Cracking Down on Killer Drugs: Dora Akunyili and the Nigerian Success Story|access-date=June 16, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620140701/http://www.aei.org/event/1700|archive-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=September 2024}}

[[Paul Ryan (politician)|Paul Ryan]], then-minority point man for health care in the House of Representatives, delivered the keynote address at a 2009 AEI conference on mandated universal coverage, insurance exchanges, the public plan option, medical practice and treatment, and revenue to cover federal health care costs.<ref>See conference information at {{cite web|url=http://www.aei.org/event/100070|title=AEI - the Five (Not So) Easy Pieces of Health Reform|access-date=June 16, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618065401/http://www.aei.org/event/100070|archive-date=June 18, 2009}}.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=September 2024}}

In 2004, as [[Purdue Pharma]], a company known as the maker of [[OxyContin]], one of the many drugs abused in the [[opioid epidemic in the United States]], was facing a threat to its sales due to rising lawsuits against it, resident fellow [[Sally Satel]] wrote an op ed for the ''[[New York Times]]''. She commented, “When you scratch the surface of someone who is addicted to painkillers, you usually find a seasoned drug abuser with a previous habit involving pills, alcohol, heroin or cocaine. Contrary to media portrayals, the typical OxyContin addict does not start out as a pain patient who fell unwittingly into a drug habit.”<ref name="ProPublica"/> According to [[Associated Press|AP]], Satel "sometimes cited Purdue-funded studies and doctors in her articles on addiction for major news outlets and occasionally shared drafts of the pieces with Purdue officials in advance, including on occasions in 2004 and 2016." In 2018, she was hired by [[JD Vance]]'s charity, [[Our Ohio Renewal]], to a residency in Ohio. When this was criticised because of her ties to Purdue, Satel said she “never consulted with” or “took a cent from Purdue” and didn’t know Purdue had donated money to AEI.<ref name="c638">{{cite web | last=Smyth | first=Julie Carr | title=Vance's anti-drug charity enlisted doctor echoing Big Pharma | website=AP News | date=18 August 2022 | url=https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-entertainment-health-175153d8a80d93b2c9c6654a6a730de9 | access-date=9 September 2024}}</ref>

After undergoing a [[kidney transplant]] in 2006,<ref>{{cite web|last=Satel|first=Sally|author-link=Sally Satel|date=December 16, 2007|title=Desperately Seeking a Kidney|periodical=[[The New York Times Magazine]]|url=http://www.aei.org/article/27236|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617194413/http://www.aei.org/article/27236|archive-date=June 17, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Satel|editor-first=Sally|editor-link=Sally Satel|title=When Altruism Isn't Enough: The Case for Compensating Kidney Donors|publisher=AEI Press|year=2009|location=Washington|url=http://www.aei.org/book/970|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615104227/http://www.aei.org/book/970|archive-date=June 15, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In addition to their work on pharmaceutical innovation and [[Food and Drug Administration|FDA]] regulation, Gottlieb and John E. Calfee have examined [[vaccine]] and [[antiviral drug]] supplies in the wake of the [[2009 flu pandemic]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Gottlieb|first=Scott|date=May 2009|title=Vaccine Readiness in a Time of Pandemic: Policy Promises Realized and the Challenges That Remain |periodical=Health Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/outlook/100033|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619150111/http://www.aei.org/outlook/100033|archive-date=June 19, 2009|url-status=live}} {{cite web|last=Calfee|first=John E.|date=June 2009|title=And Now, a Few Words about Antivirals for Pandemic Flu|periodical=Health Policy Outlook|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|url=http://www.aei.org/outlook/100040|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610085649/http://www.aei.org/outlook/100040|archive-date=June 10, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Legal and constitutional studies===
{{primary sources|section|date=September 2024}}
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)|Regulation]]'' magazine and AEI Press books. [[Robert Bork]] published ''[[The Antitrust Paradox]]'' with AEI support.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bork|first=Robert H.|author-link=Robert H. Bork|title=The Antitrust Paradox|url=https://archive.org/details/antitrustparadox00bork|url-access=registration|publisher=Basic Books|year=1978|location=New York|isbn=9780465003693 }}</ref> Other jurists, legal scholars, and constitutional scholars who have conducted research at AEI include [[Walter Berns]], [[Richard Allen Epstein|Richard Epstein]], [[Bruce Fein]], [[Robert Goldwin]], [[Antonin Scalia]],<ref name="ProPublica"/> and [[Laurence Silberman]].{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

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]].<ref>[http://www.aei.org/eventSeries/20 Gauer Distinguished Lecture in Law and Public Policy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618070919/http://www.aei.org/eventSeries/20 |date=June 18, 2009 }}.</ref>

[[Ted Frank]], the director of the AEI Legal Center, focuses on [[legal liability|liability]] law and [[tort reform]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/scholar/101 | title=Ted Frank Biography | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702001512/http://www.aei.org/scholar/101 | archive-date=July 2, 2010 | access-date=October 18, 2018 }}</ref> [[Michael S. Greve]] focuses on constitutional law and [[federalism]], including [[federal preemption]].<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Greve|editor-first=Michael S.|editor-link=Michael S. Greve|title=Federal Preemption: States' Powers, National Interests|publisher=AEI Press|year=2007|location=Washington|url=http://www.aei.org/book/885|access-date=June 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610110610/http://www.aei.org/book/885|archive-date=June 10, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Rauch">{{cite news|last=Rauch|first=Jonathan|author-link=Jonathan Rauch|date=June 6, 2009|title=The Peculiar Problem Of 'Peekaboo'|periodical=[[National Journal]]}}</ref>

===Political and public opinion studies===
{{primary sources|section|date=September 2024}}
AEI's "Political Corner"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aei.org/politicalcorner|title=American Enterprise Institute's Political Corner|access-date=June 17, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420061323/http://www.aei.org/politicalcorner|archive-date=April 20, 2009 }}</ref> includes a range of political viewpoints, from the center-left<ref name="OrnsteinNeocon">{{cite news|last=Ornstein|first=Norman J.|author-link=Norman J. Ornstein|date=September 10, 2007|title=My Neocon Problem|magazine=[[The New Republic]]|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/politics/my-neocon-problem|access-date=June 17, 2009|archive-date=May 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502004720/http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/my-neocon-problem|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Clemons|first=Steve|author-link=Steven Clemons|date=August 31, 2007|title=Norm Ornstein's Neocon Problem|periodical=The Washington Note|url=http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002316.php|access-date=June 17, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516180103/http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002316.php |archive-date=May 16, 2008}}</ref> [[Norman J. Ornstein]] to the conservative [[Michael Barone (pundit)|Michael Barone]]. The Political Corner sponsors the biannual Election Watch series,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/eventSeries/11 | title=Corporate Cash Balances and Economic Activity | last=Hassett | first=Kevin A. | date=July 11, 2011 | website=American Enterprise Institute | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317031846/http://www.aei.org/eventSeries/11 | archive-date=March 17, 2014 | access-date=October 18, 2018 }}</ref> the "longest-running election program in Washington", featuring Barone, Ornstein, [[Karlyn Bowman]], and—formerly—[[Ben Wattenberg]] and [[Bill Schneider (journalist)|Bill Schneider]], among others.<ref name="AR"/> Ornstein and Fortier (an expert on absentee and early voting<ref>{{cite book|last=Fortier|first=John C.|title=Absentee and Early Voting|publisher=AEI Press|year=2006|location=Washington|url=http://www.aei.org/book/863|access-date=June 17, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617192244/http://www.aei.org/book/863|archive-date=June 17, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>) collaborate on a number of election- and governance-related projects, including the Election Reform Project.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.electionreformproject.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211235108/http://www.electionreformproject.org/|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 11, 2009|title=AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project|date=February 11, 2009|access-date=June 10, 2018}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org/event/1663 | title=The Future of Red, Blue, and Purple America | date=February 28, 2008 | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704155708/http://www.aei.org/event/1663 | archive-date=July 4, 2009 | access-date=October 18, 2018 }}</ref>

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 convention (political meeting)|constitutional conventions]] and elections worldwide. In the early 1980s, AEI scholars were commissioned by the U.S. government to monitor [[plebiscite]]s in [[Palau]], the [[Federated States of Micronesia]], and the [[Marshall Islands]].<ref>American Enterprise Institute, ''Annual Report'', 1982-1983; {{cite book|editor-last=Ranney|editor-first=Austin|editor-link=Austin Ranney|title=Democracy in the Islands: The Micronesian Plebiscites of 1983|publisher=AEI Press|year=1985|location=Washington, DC}}</ref>

Another landmark in AEI's political studies is ''After the People Vote''.<ref>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]]. {{cite book |url=http://www.aei.org/book/786 |title=After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College |publisher=AEI Press |year=2004 |editor-last=Fortier |editor-first=John C. |location=Washington |access-date=June 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619133249/http://www.aei.org/book/786 |archive-date=June 19, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ornstein|first1=Norman J.|author-link=Norman J. Ornstein|last2=Carrado|first2=Anthony|date=April 1, 2007|title=Reform That Has Really Paid Off|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=http://www.aei.org/article/25876|access-date=June 17, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619132854/http://www.aei.org/article/25876|archive-date=June 19, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Richey|first=Warren|date=December 11, 2003|title=Court upholds 'soft money' ban|periodical=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1211/p01s01-usju.html|access-date=June 17, 2009|archive-date=January 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107151211/http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1211/p01s01-usju.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

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 (magazine)|The American]]'' and Bowman's AEI Studies in Public Opinion.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.aei.org:80/raBasicPages/14?page=AEI+Studies+in+Public+Opinion | title=AEI Studies in Public Opinion | website=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031054127/http://www.aei.org/raBasicPages/14?page=AEI+Studies+in+Public+Opinion | archive-date=October 31, 2010 | access-date=October 18, 2018 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

===Social and cultural studies===
{{primary sources|section|date=September 2024}}
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,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aei.org/speech/15229|title=Remembrances of William J. Baroody, Sr.|last1=Kristol|first1=Irving|last2=Novak|first2=Michael|date=December 11, 1980|access-date=June 18, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615204719/http://www.aei.org/speech/15229|archive-date=June 15, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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 (journalist)|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 (writer)|Paul Johnson]], [[Leon Kass]], [[Charles Krauthammer]], [[Bernard Lewis]], [[Seymour Martin Lipset]], [[Harvey C. Mansfield]], [[Michael Medved]], [[Allan H. Meltzer]], [[Edmund Morris (writer)|Edmund Morris]], [[Charles Murray (political scientist)|Charles Murray]], [[Steven Pinker]], [[Norman Podhoretz]], [[Richard Posner]], [[Jonathan Rauch]], [[Andrew Sullivan]], [[Cass Sunstein]], [[Sam Tanenhaus]], [[James Q. Wilson]], [[John Yoo]], and [[Fareed Zakaria]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.aei.org/tag/bradley-lecture-series/ | title=Bradley Lecture Series | website=American Enterprise Institute | access-date=October 18, 2018 | archive-date=February 20, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220190951/https://www.aei.org/tag/bradley-lecture-series/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

====Education====
Education policy studies at AEI are directed by [[Frederick M. Hess]]. Hess co-directs AEI's [https://web.archive.org/web/20090429194419/http://www.aei.org/futureofeducation/ 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:<ref>{{cite news|last=DeBonis|first=Mike|title=Fund and Games|work=City Paper|place=Washington|date=March 4, 2009|url=http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=36893|access-date=June 18, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100111055107/http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=36893|archive-date=January 11, 2010}}</ref> 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]].{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} Hess coauthored ''Diplomas and Dropouts'', a report on university graduation rates that was widely publicized in 2009.<ref>See, for example: {{cite news|last=Lozada|first=Carlos|title=Making It to Pomp and Circumstance|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 3, 2009|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/03/AR2009060303172.html|access-date=June 18, 2009|archive-date=November 8, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108112912/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/03/AR2009060303172.html|url-status=live}} ; {{cite news|last=Marklein|first=Mary Beth|title=4-year colleges graduate 53% of students in 6 years|work=USA Today|date=June 3, 2009|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-06-03-diploma-graduation-rate_N.htm|access-date=June 18, 2009|archive-date=June 6, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606075545/http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-06-03-diploma-graduation-rate_N.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The report, along with other education-related projects, was supported by the [[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=Diplomas and Dropouts Report Exposes Dramatic Variation in Completion Rates at Colleges and Universities Across the Country|publisher=Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation|date=June 3, 2009|url=http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/Pages/aei-college-dropout-rates-study-090306.aspx|access-date=June 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217203539/http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/Pages/aei-college-dropout-rates-study-090306.aspx|archive-date=February 17, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Grants-2007/Pages/American-Enterprise-Institute-For-Public-Policy-Research-OPP49481.aspx | title=American Enterprise Institute For Public Policy Research | website=Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929090226/http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Grants-2007/Pages/American-Enterprise-Institute-For-Public-Policy-Research-OPP49481.aspx | archive-date=September 29, 2011 | access-date=October 18, 2018 }}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=September 2024}}

AEI is sometimes identified as a supporter of [[school vouchers]],<ref name="j090"/><ref name="n302">{{cite web | last=Kahlenberg | first=Richard D. | title=Are Vouchers the Answer to Obama's Failed School-Reform Initiative? | website=The Atlantic | date=31 January 2017 | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/01/can-vouchers-save-failing-schools/515061/ | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/american-enterprise-institute|title=Right Wing Watch|access-date=June 18, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090701194700/http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/american-enterprise-institute|archive-date=July 1, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> but Hess was critical of vouchers in 2009: "[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."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hess|first=Frederick M.|author-link=Frederick M. Hess|title=After Milwaukee|journal=The American|date=September–October 2009|url=http://www.american.com/archive/2008/september-october-magazine/after-milwaukee|access-date=June 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013042818/http://www.american.com/archive/2008/september-october-magazine/after-milwaukee|archive-date=October 13, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

AEI is a national allied organization of the [[American Federation for Children]] founded in 2010 by [[Dick DeVos|Dick]] and [[Betsy DeVos]] of the [[DeVos Family Foundation]].<ref name="j090"/> The AEI were supportive of [[Betsy DeVos]]' positions when she served under [[Donald Trump]] as Education Secretary in 2017-21. Hess supported her plan to gut the [[Borrower Defense Rule]], that enables defrauded students to seek debt relief. In a ''[[National Review]]'' op-ed, Hess praised DeVos’ proposal to base [[debt forgiveness]] on student income as “clearly better for colleges, taxpayers, and students”.<ref name="p618">{{cite web | last=Derysh | first=Igor | title=Exclusive: Betsy DeVos' family foundation funnels money to right-wing groups that boost her agenda | website=Salon | date=19 December 2019 | url=https://www.salon.com/2019/12/19/exclusive-betsy-devos-family-foundation-funnels-money-to-right-wing-groups-that-boost-her-agenda/ | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref>

In a 2024 report co-authored with [[The Heritage Foundation]], AEI argued that higher education institutions should not give faculty stipends to join or attend conferences of professional organizations because these groups make statements on political issues.<ref name="s275">{{cite web | last=Blake | first=Jessica | title=Academic associations face critique for political statements | website=Inside Higher Ed | date=27 August 2024 | url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2024/08/27/academic-associations-face-critique-political | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref>