Editing American Enterprise Institute

{{short description|American conservative think tank founded in 1938}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                     = American Enterprise Institute
| image                    = American Enterprise Institute (AEI) (53821618777).jpg
| caption                  = AEI's headquarters near [[Dupont Circle]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]
| size                     = 150px
| abbreviation             = AEI
| formation                = {{start date and age|1938}}
| logo                     = American Enterprise Institute logo.svg
| type                     = [[Public policy]] [[think tank]]
| headquarters             = [[Washington, D.C.]]
| location                 = United States
| coordinates              = {{Coord|38.909230|N|77.041470|W|display=title,inline}}
| leader_title             = President
| leader_name              = [[Robert Doar]]
| tax_id                   = 53-0218495
| revenue                  = $43.5 million<ref name="Ratings">{{cite web | url=https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-Annual-Report-LR-Final-1.pdf | title=Annual Report | website=American Enterprise Institute | access-date=September 10, 2021 | archive-date=September 10, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910142003/https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-Annual-Report-LR-Final-1.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>
| revenue_year             = 2020
| expenses                 = $47.8 million<ref name="Ratings" />
| expenses_year            = 2020
| website                  = {{Official URL}}
}}
{{conservatism US|think tanks}}

The '''American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research''', known simply as the '''American Enterprise Institute''' ('''AEI'''), is a [[Centre-right politics|center-right]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hounshell |first1=Blake |title=Democrats Ask if They Should Hit Back Harder Against the G.O.P. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/us/politics/democrats-mallory-mcmorrow-cultural-issues.html |access-date=May 9, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=April 27, 2022 |archive-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509143702/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/us/politics/democrats-mallory-mcmorrow-cultural-issues.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[think tank]] based in [[Washington, D.C.]], that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2014/04/02/why-the-american-enterprise-institute-chief-is-so-popular|title=Why the American Enterprise Institute chief is so popular|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=November 26, 2015|archive-date=October 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201014211210/https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2014/04/02/why-the-american-enterprise-institute-chief-is-so-popular/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Steinhauer|first1=Jennifer|title=In New Home, Policy Group Gets Big Gift|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/us/politics/in-new-home-policy-group-gets-big-gift.html|access-date=December 28, 2015|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 25, 2014|archive-date=February 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226184912/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/us/politics/in-new-home-policy-group-gets-big-gift.html|url-status=live}}</ref> AEI is an independent [[nonprofit organization]] supported primarily by contributions from [[Foundation (nonprofit)|foundations]], [[corporation]]s, and individuals.

Founded in 1938, the organization is aligned with [[Conservatism in the United States|conservatism]] but does not support political candidates.<ref name="Schifferes" /> AEI advocates in favor of [[Privately held company|private enterprise]], [[limited government]], and [[democratic capitalism]].<ref name=":0">{{cite encyclopedia|title=American Enterprise Institute|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|publisher=Britannica Group Inc.|location=Chicago, Illinois|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Enterprise-Institute|access-date=March 31, 2021|last=Bondarenko|first=Peter|date=February 5, 2015|archive-date=May 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507043319/https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Enterprise-Institute|url-status=live}}</ref>  Some of their positions have attracted controversy, including their defense policy recommendations for the [[Iraq War]], their analysis of the [[2008 financial crisis]], and their energy and environmental policies based on their more than two-decade-long opposition to the [[scientific consensus on climate change]].

AEI is governed by a 28-member Board of Trustees.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aei.org/about/board-of-trustees/|title=Board of Trustees|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|access-date=June 27, 2019|archive-date=January 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113152626/https://www.aei.org/about/board-of-trustees/|url-status=live}}</ref> Approximately 185 authors are associated with AEI.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aei.org/authors/|title=Authors|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|access-date=June 27, 2019|archive-date=April 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408034352/https://www.aei.org/authors/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Arthur C. Brooks]] served as president of AEI from January 2009 through July 1, 2019.<ref name=retirement/> He was succeeded by [[Robert Doar]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Costa |first=Robert |date=January 18, 2019 |title=AEI names Robert Doar as new president as conservative movement tries to find its way in Trump era |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/aei-names-robert-doar-as-new-president-as-conservative-movement-tries-to-find-its-way-in-trump-era/2019/01/18/129f54da-1b41-11e9-9ebf-c5fed1b7a081_story.html |access-date=May 22, 2023}}</ref>

==History==
===Beginnings (1938–1954)===
AEI grew out of the '''American Enterprise Association''' (AEA), which was founded in 1938 by a group of New York businessmen led by [[Lewis H. Brown]].<ref name="AEI History">{{cite web|last=AEI|title=History of AEI|url=http://www.aei.org/history|access-date=July 6, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090708195505/http://www.aei.org/history|archive-date=July 8, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> AEI's founders included executives from [[Bristol-Myers]], [[Chemical Bank]], [[Chrysler]], [[Eli Lilly and Company|Eli Lilly]], [[General Mills]], and [[Paine Webber]].<ref name="AEI-Trustees">{{cite web|url=https://www.aei.org/about-old/board-of-trustees/|title=Board of Trustees|publisher=AEI|access-date=April 2, 2020|archive-date=February 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229144128/https://www.aei.org/about-old/board-of-trustees/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1943, AEA's main offices were moved from New York City to Washington, D.C. during a time when [[United States Congress|Congress]]'s portfolio had vastly increased during [[World War II]]. AEA opposed the [[New Deal]], and aimed to propound [[classical liberalism|classical liberal]] arguments for limited government.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} In 1944, AEA convened an Economic Advisory Board to set a high standard for research; this eventually evolved into the Council of Academic Advisers, which over the decades included economists and social scientists, including [[Ronald Coase]], [[Martin Feldstein]], [[Milton Friedman]], [[Roscoe Pound]], and [[James Q. Wilson]].{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}

AEA's early work in Washington, D.C. involved commissioning and distributing legislative analyses to Congress, which developed AEA's relationships with [[Melvin Laird]] and [[Gerald Ford]].<ref name="Van Atta">{{cite book|last=Van Atta|first=Dale|title=With Honor: Melvin Laird in War, Peace, and Politics|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=2008|location=Madison, Wisc.|pages=55–56, 509|isbn=978-0-299-22680-0}}</ref> Brown eventually shifted AEA's focus to commissioning studies of government policies. These subjects ranged from [[fiscal policy|fiscal]] to [[monetary policy]] and including [[health care]] and [[energy]] policy, and authors such as [[Earl Butz]], [[John Lintner]], former New Dealer [[Raymond Moley]], and [[Felix Morley]]. Brown died in 1951, and AEA languished as a result. In 1952, a group of young policymakers and public intellectuals including Laird, [[William J. Baroody Sr.]], [[Paul McCracken (economist)|Paul McCracken]], and [[Murray Weidenbaum]], met to discuss resurrecting AEA.<ref name="Van Atta"/> In 1954, Baroody became executive vice president of the association.

===William J. Baroody Sr. (1954–1980)===
Baroody was executive vice president from 1954 to 1962 and president from 1962 to 1978. Baroody raised money for AEA to expand its financial base beyond the business leaders on the board.<ref name="Abelson">{{cite book|last=Abelson|first=Donald E.|title=A Capitol Idea|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=2006|location=Montreal|isbn=978-0-7735-3115-4}}</ref> During the 1950s and 1960s, AEA's work became more pointed and focused, including [[monograph]]s by [[Edward Banfield (political scientist)|Edward Banfield]], [[James M. Buchanan]], [[P. T. Bauer]], [[Alfred de Grazia]], [[Rose Friedman]], and [[Gottfried Haberler]].<ref>{{cite journal | title=Essay in Apportionment and Representative Government |journal = Political Science Quarterly|volume = 79|issue = 4|pages = 612–614| last=Grazia | first=Alfred de | date=December 1964 |jstor = 2146715|doi = 10.2307/2146715}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title=Review: New Perspectives on the Presidency? |journal = Public Administration Review|volume = 29|issue = 6|pages = 670–679| last=Schlesinger | first=Arthur | date=December 1969 |jstor = 974112|doi = 10.2307/974112}}</ref>

In 1962, AEA changed its name to the '''American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research''' (AEI) to avoid any confusion with a trade association representing business interests attempting to influence politicians.<ref>{{cite book|last=Phillips-Fein|first=Kim|year=2009|title=Invisible Hands|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0-393-05930-4 |pages=66}}</ref> In 1964, [[William J. Baroody Sr.]], and several of his top staff at AEI, including [[Karl Hess]], moonlighted as policy advisers and speechwriters for [[Republican Party (United States)|presidential nominee]] [[Barry Goldwater]] in the [[1964 United States presidential election|1964 presidential election]]. "Even though Baroody and his staff sought to support Goldwater on their own time without using the institution's resources, AEI came under scrutiny of the [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] in the years following the campaign," author Andrew Rich wrote in 2004.<ref name="Rich">{{cite book|last=Rich|first=Andrew|title=Think tanks, public policy, and the politics of expertise|url=https://archive.org/details/thinktankspublic00andr|url-access=registration|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2004|location=Cambridge, UK|page=[https://archive.org/details/thinktankspublic00andr/page/54 54]}}</ref> Representative [[Wright Patman]] subpoenaed the institute's tax papers, and the IRS initiated a two-year investigation of AEI.<ref name="Judis">{{cite book|last=Judis|first=John B.|title=The paradox of American democracy|publisher=Taylor and Francis|year=2001|location=London}}</ref> After this, AEI's officers attempted to avoid the appearance of partisan political advocacy.<ref name="Rich"/>

Baroody recruited a resident research faculty; [[Harvard University]] economist Gottfried Haberler was the first to join in 1972.<ref name="AEI History"/> In 1977, former president Gerald Ford joined AEI as a "distinguished fellow." Ford brought several of his [[Presidency of Gerald Ford|administration officials]] with him, including [[Robert Bork]], [[Arthur Burns]], [[David Gergen]], [[James C. Miller III]], [[Laurence Silberman]], and [[Antonin Scalia]]. Ford also founded the [[AEI World Forum]], which he hosted until 2005. Other staff hired during this time included  [[Walter Berns]] and [[Herbert Stein]]. Baroody's son, [[William J. Baroody Jr.]], a Ford [[White House]] official, also joined AEI, and later became president of AEI, succeeding his father in that role in 1978.<ref name="AEI History"/>

The elder Baroody made an effort to recruit [[neoconservatism|neoconservatives]] who had supported the New Deal and [[Great Society]] but were disaffected by what they perceived as the failure of the welfare state. This also included [[Cold War]] [[war hawks|hawks]] who rejected the peace agenda of [[1972 United States presidential election|1972 Democratic presidential candidate]] [[George McGovern]]. Baroody brought [[Jeane Kirkpatrick]],  [[Irving Kristol]], [[Michael Novak]], and [[Ben Wattenberg]] to AEI.<ref name="Kristol-Neoconservatism">{{cite book|last=Kristol|first=Irving|author-link=Irving Kristol|title=Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea|publisher=Free Press|year=1995|location=New York}}</ref>

While at AEI, Kirkpatrick authored "[[Dictatorships and Double Standards]]", which brought her to the attention of [[Ronald Reagan]], and Kirkpatrick was later named [[United States Ambassador to the United Nations|U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Tim|last=Weiner|title=Jeane Kirkpatrick, Reagan's Forceful Envoy, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/washington/09kirkpatrick.html|work=The New York Times|date=December 9, 2006|access-date=September 13, 2008|archive-date=September 8, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908012629/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/washington/09kirkpatrick.html?_r=1|url-status=live}}</ref> AEI also became a home for [[supply-side economics|supply-side economists]] during the late 1970s and early 1980s.<ref name="BWW">{{cite news|last=Wallace-Wells|first=Benjamin|title=In the Tank: The Intellectual Decline of AEI|newspaper=Washington Monthly|date=December 2003|url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0312.wallace-wells.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130205221215/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0312.wallace-wells.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 5, 2013|access-date=July 6, 2009}}</ref> By 1980, AEI had grown from a budget of $1 million and a staff of ten to a budget of $8 million and a staff of 125.<ref name="AEI History"/>

===William J. Baroody Jr. (1980–1986)===
Baroody Sr. retired in 1978, and was replaced by his son, William J. Baroody Jr. Baroody Sr. died in 1980, shortly before Reagan took office as U.S. president in January 1981.<ref name="AEI History"/>  According to ''[[Politico]]'', the think tank "rose to prominence" in this period "as the primary intellectual home of [[supply-side economics]] and [[neoconservatism]]."<ref name="c770"/>

During the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]], several AEI staff were hired by the administration. But this, combined with prodigious growth, diffusion of research activities,<ref>See AEI's Annual Reports, 1980–1985.</ref>{{original research inline|date=June 2018}} and managerial problems, proved costly.<ref name="Abelson"/> Some foundations then supporting AEI perceived a drift toward the center politically. Centrists like Ford, Burns, and Stein clashed with rising [[Movement conservatism|movement conservatives]]. In 1986, the [[John M. Olin Foundation]] and the [[Smith Richardson Foundation]] withdrew funding for AEI, pushing it to the brink of bankruptcy. The board of trustees fired Baroody Jr. and, after Paul McCracken then served briefly as interim president.

===Christopher DeMuth (1986–2008)===
[[File:CheneyatAEI.jpg|thumb|Then [[Vice President of the United States|U.S. vice president]] [[Dick Cheney]] speaks at AEI on the [[war on terror]], arguing against a withdrawal from the [[Iraq War]], in November 2005.]]
In December 1986, AEI hired [[Christopher DeMuth]] as its new president,<ref name="Abelson"/> and DeMuth served in the role for 22 years.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Spackman|first=Andy|date=December 22, 2009|title=The American Enterprise Institute (www.aei.org)|journal=Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship|volume=15|issue=1|pages=44–50|doi=10.1080/08963560903017607|s2cid=58839559|issn=0896-3568}}</ref>

In 1990, AEI hired [[Charles Murray (political scientist)|Charles Murray]] (and received his [[Bradley Foundation]] support for ''[[The Bell Curve]]'') after the [[Manhattan Institute]] dropped him.<ref>{{cite news|last=DeParle|first=Jason|title=Daring Research or 'Social Science Pornography'?|newspaper=The New York Times Magazine|date=October 9, 1994|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/magazine/daring-research-or-social-science-pornography-charles-murray.html|access-date=July 6, 2009|archive-date=January 29, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129125309/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/magazine/daring-research-or-social-science-pornography-charles-murray.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Others brought to AEI by DeMuth included [[John R. Bolton|John Bolton]], [[Dinesh D'Souza]], [[Richard Cheney]], [[Lynne Cheney]], [[Michael Barone (pundit)|Michael Barone]], [[James K. Glassman]], [[Newt Gingrich]], [[John R. Lott|John Lott]], and [[Ayaan Hirsi Ali]].{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} During DeMuth's tenure, the organization turned further to the political right.<ref name=":05">{{Cite book |last=Lampton |first=David M. |title=Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War |date=2024 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-1-5381-8725-8 |location=Lanham, MD |pages=266 |author-link=David M. Lampton}}</ref>

AEI had severe financial problems when DeMuth began his presidency.<ref name=":05" /> During the [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[Bill Clinton]] administrations, AEI's revenues grew from $10 million to $18.9 million.<ref>See AEI Annual Reports, 1988–89 and 2000.</ref> Academic [[David M. Lampton]] writes that DeMuth was responsive to the financial power of "America's hard right".<ref name=":05" />

The institute's publications ''Public Opinion'' and ''The AEI Economist'' were merged into ''[[The American Enterprise]]'', edited by [[Karlyn Bowman]] from 1990 to 1995 and by [[Karl Zinsmeister]] from 1995 to 2006, when Glassman created ''[[The American (magazine)|The American]]''.

AEI was closely tied to the [[George W. Bush administration]].<ref>Arin, Kubilay Yado (2013): Think Tanks, the Brain Trusts of US Foreign Policy. Wiesbaden: VS Springer.</ref><ref name="Abramowitz">{{cite news|first=Michael |last=Abramowitz |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071801373.html |title=Conservative Anger Grows Over Bush's Foreign Policy |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |page=A01 |date=July 19, 2006 |access-date=February 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108112901/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071801373.html|archive-date=November 8, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> More than 20 staff members served either in a Bush administration policy post or on one of the government's many panels and commissions, including [[Dick Cheney]], [[John R. Bolton]],<ref name=":0" /> [[Lynne Cheney]], and [[Paul Wolfowitz]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} Bush addressed the institute on three occasions.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} "I admire AEI a lot—I'm sure you know that", Bush said. "After all, I have been consistently borrowing some of your best people."<ref name="Bush 2007">{{cite press release|title=President Bush Discusses Progress in Afghanistan, Global War on Terror|publisher=The White House|date=February 15, 2007|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070215-1.html|access-date=July 6, 2009|archive-date=March 12, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312112836/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070215-1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Bush Cabinet officials also frequented AEI.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} In 2002, [[Danielle Pletka]] joined AEI to promote the foreign policy department. AEI and several of its staff—including [[Michael Ledeen]] and [[Richard Perle]]—became associated with the start of the [[Iraq War]].<ref name="VF">{{cite news|last=Rose|first=David|title=Neo Culpa|newspaper=Vanity Fair|date=January 2007|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/12/neocons200612|access-date=July 6, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530092345/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/12/neocons200612|archive-date=May 30, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Bush used a February 2003 AEI dinner to advocate for a democratized Iraq, which was intended to inspire the remainder of the Mideast.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/27/usa.iraq2 | title=George Bush's speech to the American Enterprise Institute | date=February 27, 2003 | website=The Guardian | access-date=October 17, 2018 | archive-date=October 11, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011115932/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/27/usa.iraq2 | url-status=live }}</ref> In 2006–07, AEI staff, including [[Frederick W. Kagan]], provided a strategic framework for the [[Iraq War troop surge of 2007|2007 surge]] in Iraq.<ref name="NYT-Surge"/><ref name="Choosing Victory"/> The Bush administration also drew on AEI scholars and their work in other areas, such as [[Leon Kass]]'s appointment as the first chairman of the [[President's Council on Bioethics]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wade |first=Nicholas |date=19 March 2002 |title=SCIENTIST AT WORK/Leon R. Kass; Moralist of Science Ponders Its Power |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/19/science/scientist-at-work-leon-r-kass-moralist-of-science-ponders-its-power.html |access-date=24 September 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> and [[Norman J. Ornstein]]'s work heading a campaign finance reform working group that helped draft the [[Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act]] that Bush signed in 2002.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gross |first=Terry |date=7 November 2012 |title=Could A Second Term Mean More Gridlock? |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/164609577 |access-date=24 September 2024 |work=[[NPR]]}}</ref>

===Arthur C. Brooks (2008–2019)===
When DeMuth retired as president at the end of 2008, AEI's staff numbered 185, with 70 scholars and several dozen adjuncts,<ref name="AEI History"/> and revenues of $31.3 million.<ref name="AR"/> [[Arthur C. Brooks]] succeeded him as president at the start of the [[Late-2000s recession]].<ref name="DavidWeigel">{{cite news|last=Weigel|first=David|title=Conservative Think Tank Adjusts to Tough Times|newspaper=Washington Independent|date=March 13, 2009|url=http://washingtonindependent.com/33697/conservative-think-tank-adjusts-to-tough-times|access-date=July 6, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619215450/http://washingtonindependent.com/33697/conservative-think-tank-adjusts-to-tough-times|archive-date=June 19, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> In a 2009 op-ed in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', Brooks positioned AEI to be much more aggressive in responding to the policies of the [[Barack Obama administration]].<ref name="Culture War">{{cite news|last=Brooks|first=Arthur C.|author-link=Arthur C. Brooks|title=The Real Culture War Is Over Capitalism|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=April 30, 2009|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124104689179070747|access-date=July 6, 2009|archive-date=December 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231032428/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124104689179070747|url-status=live}}</ref> Under his leadership, AEI identified itself with "[[compassionate conservativism]]" and the maximisation of happiness.<ref name="k448">{{cite magazine | last=Rose | first=David | title=Why Was the Dalai Lama Hanging Out with the Right-Wing American Enterprise Institute? | magazine=Vanity Fair | date=26 February 2014 | url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/02/dalai-lama-american-enterprise-institute | access-date=5 September 2024 }}</ref><ref name="j498">{{cite web | last=Young | first=Chris | title=Kochs, American Enterprise Institute, and happiness and well-being research: Center for Public Integrity on the billionaires' research initiative. | website=Slate Magazine | date=25 June 2014 | url=https://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/06/kochs_american_enterprise_institute_and_happiness_and_well_being_research.html | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref> [[Politico]] said that Brooks "helped elevate [AEI] into a bastion of free-market orthodoxy and center-right policy wonkery during the Obama years", before leaving to become a "happiness expert" and [[self-help]] guru.<ref name="c770">{{cite web | last=Ward | first=Ian | title=Arthur Brooks Is Now a Self-Help Guru Writing Books with Oprah | website=POLITICO | date=15 September 2023 | url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/09/15/arthur-brooks-journey-happiness-guru-00115752 | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref> In 2018, Brooks announced that he would step down effective July 1, 2019.<ref name=retirement>{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Rachel |title=Arthur Brooks To Step Down As President Of AEI |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/05/15/611199663/arthur-brooks-head-of-american-enterprise-institute-to-step-down |access-date=June 21, 2019 |publisher=NPR |date=May 15, 2018 |archive-date=June 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190621201348/https://www.npr.org/2018/05/15/611199663/arthur-brooks-head-of-american-enterprise-institute-to-step-down |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Termination of David Frum's residency====
On March 25, 2010, AEI resident fellow [[David Frum]] announced that his position at the organization had been "terminated."<ref name="frumgoodbye">{{cite web|url=http://www.frumforum.com/aei-says-goodbye|title=AEI Says Goodbye|website=Frumforum.com|access-date=June 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162426/http://www.frumforum.com/aei-says-goodbye/|archive-date=June 12, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="vanityfrum">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/03/a-farewell-to-frum.html|title=A Farewell to Frum|magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|access-date=June 10, 2018|archive-date=June 14, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614135425/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/03/a-farewell-to-frum.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Following this announcement, media outlets speculated that Frum had been "forced out"<ref name="cbsnewsfrum">{{cite web | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gop-commentator-david-frum-loses-job-after-criticizing-party/ | title=GOP Commentator David Frum Loses Job After Criticizing Party | last=Montopoli | first=Brian | date=March 25, 2010 | website=CBS News | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513213743/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20001204-503544.html | archive-date=May 13, 2013 | url-status=live | access-date=October 18, 2018 }}</ref><ref name="wapofrum">{{cite web|url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/03/aei_hits_david_frum_where_it_h.html|title=PostPartisan - AEI hits David Frum where it hurts|access-date=April 5, 2018|archive-date=March 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314104537/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/03/aei_hits_david_frum_where_it_h.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="timefrum">{{cite magazine|url=https://swampland.time.com/2010/03/25/amid-column-furor-the-american-enterprise-institute-dismisses-david-frum/|title=Amid Column Furor, The American Enterprise Institute Dismisses David Frum|first=Michael|last=Scherer|magazine=Time|date=March 25, 2010|access-date=April 5, 2018|via=swampland.blogs.time.com|archive-date=May 30, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530084345/http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/03/25/amid-column-furor-the-american-enterprise-institute-dismisses-david-frum/|url-status=live}}</ref> for writing a post to his FrumForum blog called "[[Waterloo (blog post)|Waterloo]]", in which he criticized the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]'s unwillingness to bargain with [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] on the [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act]]. In the editorial, Frum claimed that his party's failure to reach a deal "led us to abject and irreversible defeat."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.frumforum.com/waterloo | title=Waterloo | last=Frum | first=David | date=March 21, 2010 | website=FrumForum | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325040735/http://www.frumforum.com/waterloo | archive-date=March 25, 2010 | access-date=October 18, 2018 }}</ref>

After his termination, Frum clarified that his article had been "welcomed and celebrated" by AEI President Arthur Brooks, and that he had been asked to leave because "these are hard times." Brooks had offered Frum the opportunity to write for AEI on a nonsalaried basis, but Frum declined.<ref name=cbsnewsfrum/> The following day, journalist [[Michael Allen (journalist)|Mike Allen]] published a conversation with Frum, in which Frum expressed a belief that his termination was the result of pressure from donors. According to Frum, "AEI represents the best of the conservative world{{nbsp}}... But the elite isn't leading anymore{{nbsp}}... I think Arthur [Brooks] took no pleasure in this. I think he was embarrassed."<ref name="politico">{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/playbook/0310/playbook998.html|title=Frum thinks critique of GOP led to boot -- 2 big bipartisan bashes -- Chris Matthews, cornered -- HHS Secretary is vastly more powerful -- Jackie Calmes to White House beat -- Kimberly Dozier to AP|website= Politico |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100329133104/http://www.politico.com/playbook/0310/playbook998.html | last = Allen    |   first = Mike |date =  March 26, 2010 | archive-date = March 29, 2010 | issn = 2381-1595  | oclc = 864712228  |access-date=April 5, 2018}}</ref>

===Robert Doar (2019–present)===
In January 2019, [[Robert Doar]] was selected by AEI's board of trustees to be AEI's 12th president, succeeding Arthur Brooks on July 1, 2019.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/aei-names-robert-doar-as-new-president-as-conservative-movement-tries-to-find-its-way-in-trump-era/2019/01/18/129f54da-1b41-11e9-9ebf-c5fed1b7a081_story.html|title=AEI names Robert Doar new President|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=January 18, 2019|access-date=February 2, 2020|archive-date=May 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513130519/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/aei-names-robert-doar-as-new-president-as-conservative-movement-tries-to-find-its-way-in-trump-era/2019/01/18/129f54da-1b41-11e9-9ebf-c5fed1b7a081_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In October 2023, Doar led an AEI delegation (including [[Kori Schake]], [[Dan Blumenthal]], Zack Cooper, and [[Nicholas Eberstadt]], among others) to visit Taiwan to meet with President [[Tsai Ing-wen]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=President Tsai meets delegation from American Enterprise Institute |url=https://english.president.gov.tw/News/6626 |access-date=2023-10-17 |website=english.president.gov.tw |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-10-16 |title=US think tank commits to strengthening US-Taiwan defense ties {{!}} Taiwan News {{!}} 2023-10-16 15:56:00 |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/5021018 |access-date=2023-10-17 |website=Taiwan News}}</ref>

==Personnel==
[[File:American Enterprise Institute 01.jpg|thumb|American Enterprise Institute marker]]
As of 2025, AEI’s officers include [[Robert Doar]], [[Kori Schake]], [[Yuval Levin]], [[Michael R. Strain]], and [[Matthew Continetti]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Officers |url=https://www.aei.org/about/officers/ |website=aei.org |access-date=7 March 2025}}</ref>

AEI has a Council of Academic Advisers, which includes [[Alan J. Auerbach]], [[Eliot A. Cohen]], [[Eugene Fama]], [[Aaron Friedberg]], [[Robert P. George]], [[Eric A. Hanushek]], [[Walter Russell Mead]], [[Mark V. Pauly]], [[Glenn Hubbard (economist)|R. Glenn Hubbard]], [[Sam Peltzman]], [[Harvey S. Rosen]], [[Jeremy A. Rabkin]], and [[Richard Zeckhauser]]. The Council of Academic Advisers selects the annual winner of the [[Irving Kristol Award]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Council of Academic Advisers |url=https://www.aei.org/about-old/council-of-academic-advisers/ |publisher=AEI |access-date=April 2, 2020 |archive-date=July 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725050931/https://www.aei.org/about-old/council-of-academic-advisers/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Board of directors==
AEI's board is chaired by [[Daniel A. D'Aniello]]. As of 2025, notable trustees include:<ref>{{cite web |title=Board of Trustees |url=https://www.aei.org/about/board-of-trustees/ |website=aei.org |access-date=7 March 2025}}</ref>
* [[Cliff Asness]], hedge fund manager and the co-founder of [[AQR Capital Management]]
* [[Pete Coors]], vice chairman of the board of [[Molson Coors Brewing Company]]
* [[Harlan Crow]], chairman and CEO, Crow Holdings, the [[Trammell Crow]] family's investment company
* [[Ravenel B. Curry III]], president, Eagle Capital Management
* [[Dick DeVos]], president, Windquest Group
* [[Robert Doar]], president, American Enterprise Institute
* [[Behdad Eghbali]], managing partner and cofounder, [[Clearlake Capital]] 
* [[Tully Friedman]], chairman and CEO, [[Friedman Fleischer & Lowe]] 
* [[Christopher Galvin]], former CEO and chairman, [[Motorola]]
* [[Harvey Golub]], retired chairman and CEO, [[American Express Company]]
* [[Frank Hanna III]], CEO, Hanna Capital
* [[John A. Luke Jr.]], chairman and CEO, [[MeadWestvaco]]
* [[Pat Neal]], chairman of the executive committee, Neal Communities
* [[Ross Perot Jr.]], chairman, Hillwood Development Company
* [[Kevin Rollins]], former president and CEO, [[Dell]]
* [[Matthew K. Rose]], executive chairman, [[BNSF Railway]]
* [[Edward B. Rust Jr.]], chairman and CEO, [[State Farm]] (former AEI chairman)
* [[Will Weatherford]], managing partner, Weatherford Capital

==Political stance and impact==
AEI is a member of the [[Atlas Network]] of [[free market]] think tanks<ref name="t509">{{cite web | last1=Lawrence | first1=Felicity | last2=Evans | first2=Rob | last3=Pegg | first3=David | last4=Barr | first4=Caelainn | last5=Duncan | first5=Pamela | title=How the right's radical thinktanks reshaped the Conservative party | website=the Guardian | date=29 November 2019 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/29/rightwing-thinktank-conservative-boris-johnson-brexit-atlas-network | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref> and is an associate member of the [[State Policy Network]] of conservative and libertarian think tanks.<ref name="j090">{{cite web | title=Here Are The Corporations And Right-Wing Funders Backing The Education Reform Movement | website=Media Matters for America | date=27 April 2016 | url=https://www.mediamatters.org/daily-caller/here-are-corporations-and-right-wing-funders-backing-education-reform-movement | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2024}}

In the 2000s, AEI was the most prominent think tank associated with American [[neoconservatism]].<ref name="Schifferes">{{cite news|first=Steve|last=Schifferes|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2914969.stm|title=Battle of the Washington think tanks|work=BBC News|date=April 3, 2003|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106235248/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2914969.stm|archive-date=January 6, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Irving Kristol]], widely considered to be one of the founding fathers of neoconservatism, was a senior fellow at AEI and the AEI issues an 'Irving Kristol Award' in his honour.<ref>[[Saunders, Frances Stonor]]: ''[[The Cultural Cold War]]'' The New Press, 1999.<!-- ISSN/ISBN, page(s) needed --></ref><ref name=aei.org/> [[Paul Ryan]] has described the AEI as "one of the [[beachhead]]s of the modern conservative movement".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lofflmann |first1=Georg |title=American Grand Strategy under Obama: Competing Discourses |date=2017 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |page=121}}</ref>

AEI has close ties with pro-[[Brexit]] politicians in the British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]]. For instance, [[Sajid Javid]], [[Michael Gove]], [[Boris Johnson]], and [[Liz Truss]] have all made regular appearances at its World Forum and other events,<ref name="t509"/> and [[Suella Braverman]] and [[Liam Fox]] have been hosted by it.<ref name="x995">{{cite web | title=UK's Braverman lobbies in US for tougher asylum rules – DW – 09/26/2023 | website=dw.com | date=26 September 2023 | url=https://www.dw.com/en/uks-braverman-lobbies-in-us-for-tougher-asylum-rules/a-66931242 | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="l450">{{cite web | last=Lawless | first=Jill | title=The UK's hardline immigration chief says international rules make it too easy to seek asylum | website=AP News | date=26 September 2023 | url=https://apnews.com/article/uk-gay-refugees-suella-braverman-migration-asylum-b8bd501707a81732e067b742e20052f1 | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="a003">{{cite web | last=Withnall | first=Adam | title=Edward Snowden is a 'self-publicising narcissist' who committed | website=The Independent | date=17 April 2014 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/liam-fox-says-selfpublicising-narcissist-edward-snowden-committed-treason-with-nsa-leaks-9265331.html | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref>

The institute has been described as a [[Centre-right|right-leaning]] counterpart to the [[Centre-left|left-leaning]] [[Brookings Institution]];<ref name="WP-InsidersGuide">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/29/AR2007042901373.html|title=An insider's guide to the upcoming week|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=A02|date=April 30, 2007|access-date=February 12, 2009|archive-date=November 8, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108112907/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/29/AR2007042901373.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Milbank">{{cite news|first=Dana|last=Milbank|author-link=Dana Milbank|title=White House Hopes Gas Up A Think Tank: For Center-Right AEI, Bush Means Business|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=A39|date=December 8, 2000}}</ref> however, the two entities have often collaborated. From 1998 to 2008, they co-sponsored the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, and in 2006 they launched the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project.<ref name="ElecRefProj-home">{{cite web |url=http://www.electionreformproject.org/ |title=Election Reform Project |access-date=February 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211235108/http://www.electionreformproject.org/ |archive-date=February 11, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2015, a working group consisting of members from both institutions coauthored a report entitled ''Opportunity, Responsibility, and Security: A Consensus Plan for Reducing Poverty and Restoring the American Dream''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2015/12/aei-brookings-poverty-report/full-report.pdf|title=OPPORTUNITY, RESPONSIBILITY, AND SECURITY : A CONSENSUS PLAN FOR REDUCING POVERTY AND RESTORING THE AMERICAN DREAM|website=Brookings.edu|access-date=June 10, 2018|archive-date=June 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613145613/http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2015/12/aei-brookings-poverty-report/full-report.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Feeney |first=Lauren |date=2015-12-12 |title=To reduce poverty, a plan experts across the political spectrum can agree upon |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/to-reduce-poverty-a-plan-experts-across-the-political-spectrum-can-agree-upon |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=PBS News |language=en-us}}</ref>

According to the ''2011 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report'' ([[Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program]], [[University of Pennsylvania]]), AEI is number 17 in the "Top Thirty Worldwide Think Tanks" and number 10 in the "Top Fifty United States Think Tanks".<ref name="Global Go To">{{cite web|author=James G. McGann (director)|url=http://gotothinktank.com/dev1/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/2011-Global-Go-To-Think-Tanks-Index-Report.pdf|title=The Global Go To Think Tank Report, 2011|date=January 20, 2012|access-date=June 10, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231020421/http://gotothinktank.com/dev1/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/2011-Global-Go-To-Think-Tanks-Index-Report.pdf|archive-date=December 31, 2013}} Other AEI "Top Think Tank" rankings include #32 in Security and International Affairs, #3 in Health Policy, #10 in Domestic Economic Policy, #9 in International Economic Policy, and #7 in Social Policy. By "Special Achievement" AEI's rating is #13 in Most Innovative Policy Ideas/Proposals, #13 in Outstanding Policy-Oriented Public Policy Research Programs, #20 in Best Use of the Internet or Social Media to Engage the Public, #13 in Best Use of the Media (Print or Electronic) to Communicate Programs and Research, #15 in Best External Relations/Public Engagement Programs, and #13 in Greatest Impact on Public Policy (Global).</ref> As of 2019, the American Enterprise Institute also leads in YouTube subscribers among free-market groups.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chafuen|first=Alejandro|title=The 2019 Ranking Of Free-Market Think Tanks Measured By Social Media Impact|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alejandrochafuen/2019/04/10/the-2019-ranking-of-free-market-think-tanks-measured-by-social-media-impact/|access-date=March 21, 2021|website=Forbes|language=en|archive-date=June 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627213556/https://www.forbes.com/sites/alejandrochafuen/2019/04/10/the-2019-ranking-of-free-market-think-tanks-measured-by-social-media-impact/|url-status=live}}</ref>

However, despite having a conservative stance, the AEI has recently shown itself to be more critical of [[Donald Trump]] and [[Second presidency of Donald Trump|his second term]], especially with regard to [[Economic policy of the second Donald Trump administration|economic policy]] and [[Foreign policy of the second Donald Trump administration|foreign policy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aei.org/op-eds/trump-is-on-a-path-to-failure/|title=Trump Is on a Path to Failure|website=American Enterprise Institute|date=2025-04-12|access-date=2025-04-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aei.org/op-eds/is-donald-trump-starting-a-recession/|title=Is Donald Trump Starting a Recession?|website=American Enterprise Institute|date=2025-04-21|access-date=2025-04-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aei.org/op-eds/trumps-tariffs-are-as-bad-as-bidenomics/|title=Trump’s Tariffs Are as Bad as Bidenomics|website=American Enterprise Institute|date=2025-04-14|access-date=2025-04-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aei.org/economics/president-trumps-tariff-formula-makes-no-economic-sense-its-also-based-on-an-error/|title=President Trump’s Tariff Formula Makes No Economic Sense. It’s Also Based on an Error.|website=American Enterprise Institute|date=2025-04-23|access-date=2025-04-26}}</ref>

==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>

==Funding==
In the 1980s, about 60% of its funding came from organizations like [[Lilly Endowment]], the [[Smith Richardson Foundation]], the Rockefeller Brothers Trust and the [[Earhart Foundation]]. The remaining of their funding was from major corporations like [[Bethlehem Steel]], [[Exxon]], [[J.C. Penney]] and the [[Chase Manhattan Bank]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weinraub |first1=Bernard |title=INSTITUTE PLAYS KEY ROLE IN SHAPING REAGAN PROGRAMS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/15/us/institute-plays-key-role-in-shaping-reagan-programs.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=15 January 1981}}</ref>

{{as of|2005}}, AEI had received $960,000 from [[ExxonMobil]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/05/put-tiger-your-think-tank|title=Put a Tiger In Your Think Tank|access-date=April 5, 2018|archive-date=April 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417081333/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/05/put-tiger-your-think-tank/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Purdue Pharma]], a company known as the maker of [[OxyContin]], one of the many drugs abused in the [[opioid epidemic in the United States]], donated $50,000 a year to the AEI from 2003 through 2019, plus contributions for special events, adding to a total greater than $800,000.<ref name="ProPublica">{{Cite web|title=Inside Purdue Pharma's Media Playbook: How It Planted the Opioid 'Anti-Story'|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-purdue-pharma-media-playbook-how-it-planted-the-opioid-anti-story|last=Armstrong|first=David|date=19 November 2019|work=[[ProPublica]]|access-date=6 August 2021}}</ref>

In the 2009 tax year, its four largest funders were a [[donor-advised fund]], [[Donors Capital Fund]] ($2,000,000), [[Paul Singer (businessman)|Paul Singer]] ($1,100,000), the [[Kern Family Foundation]] ($1,071,912) and the [[Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office]] (TECRO), [[Taiwan]]’s equivalent to an embassy. Seventh largest was the [[US Chamber of Commerce]] ($473,000).<ref name="NationTaiwan"/> In 2010, AEI received a {{USD}}2.5 million grant from the Donors Capital Fund.<ref name=businessinsider>{{cite news|title=Inside The Secretive Dark-Money Organization That's Keeping The Lights On For Conservative Groups|first=Walter|last=Hickley|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/donors-trust-capital-fund-conservative-dark-money-2013-2|newspaper=[[Business Insider]]|date=February 12, 2013|access-date=April 30, 2015|archive-date=September 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924043939/http://www.businessinsider.com/donors-trust-capital-fund-conservative-dark-money-2013-2|url-status=live}}</ref> Foundations associated with the [[Koch brothers]] have been major funders of the Institute.<ref name="t509"/>

A 2013 study by [[Drexel University]] Sociologist Robert J. Brulle noted that AEI received $86.7 million between 2003 and 2010.<ref>{{citation
|url=http://www.drexel.edu/~/media/Files/now/pdfs/Institutionalizing%20Delay%20-%20Climatic%20Change.ashx/
|title=Institutionalizing delay: foundation funding and the creation of U.S. climate change counter-movement organizations
|first=Robert J.
|last=Brulle
|date=January 25, 2013
|journal=Climatic Change
|volume=122
|issue=4
|page=681
|doi=10.1007/s10584-013-1018-7
|bibcode=2014ClCh..122..681B
|s2cid=27538787
|access-date=October 12, 2019
|archive-date=October 9, 2019
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009112708/https://drexel.edu/~/media/Files/now/pdfs/Institutionalizing%20Delay%20-%20Climatic%20Change.ashx
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

AEI received more than $1.6 million from the [[Charles Koch Foundation]] between 2011 and 2016, over $5 million from conservative donor advised funds [[DonorsTrust]] and [[Donors Capital Fund]] between 2012 and 2016, over $1.7 million from the [[Sarah Scaife Foundation]] between 2012 and 2016, $480,000 from the [[Bradley Foundation]] from 2012 to 2016, and $425,000 from the [[Coors Foundation]] between 2011 and 2016.<ref name="j090"/>

In 2014, the [[Charity evaluator|charity evaluating]] service [[American Institute of Philanthropy]] gave AEI an "A−" grade in its CharityWatch "Top-Rated Charities" listing.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.charitywatch.org/top-rated-charities?ref=toprated.html#public | title=Top Rated Charities | website=Charity Watch | access-date=October 18, 2018 | archive-date=October 18, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018161901/https://www.charitywatch.org/top-rated-charities?ref=toprated.html#public | url-status=live }}</ref> AEI's revenues for the fiscal year ending June 2015 were $84,616,388 against expenses of $38,611,315.<ref name=guidestar>{{cite web|title=IRS Form 990|url=http://www.guidestar.org/profile/53-0218495|website=GuideStar|publisher=Internal Revenue Service|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=September 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920082936/http://www.guidestar.org/profile/53-0218495|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2017-2018, the AEI received significant funding from the [[Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation]], including $1 million in 2017.<ref name="q657">{{cite web | title=A look at DeVos family philanthropic giving | website=POLITICO | date=7 December 2018 | url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-education/2018/12/07/a-look-at-devos-family-philanthropic-giving-446541 | access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of American Enterprise Institute scholars and fellows]]
* [[Francis Boyer Award]]
* [[Irving Kristol Award]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website}}
* {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|530218495}}

{{Neoconservatism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:American Enterprise Institute| ]]
[[Category:Advocacy groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Climate change denial]]
[[Category:Conservative organizations in the United States]]
[[Category:Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1938]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Neoconservatism]]
[[Category:Political and economic think tanks in the United States]]
[[Category:Think tanks based in Washington, D.C.]]