Editing American Enterprise Institute (section)

===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>