A Public Policy Blog from AEI

Most Recent

Blog Post
October 19, 2021

Is the spike in federal revenue permanent?

The Congressional Budget Office projects a spike in federal tax receipts for the 2021 fiscal year. However, some of the estimated revenue growth could be temporary as taxpayers adjust income and expenses to avoid expected tax increases.

Blog Post
October 19, 2021

Corrupt parents generate energetic condemnation, but a USC shakedown artist? Mostly yawns

A parent buying his kid’s way into school draws sweeping diatribes about privilege. Fair enough. But it’s hard to square that outrage with the disinterest that greets a campus shakedown artist selling access to elected officials.

Blog Post
October 19, 2021

A fraught linkage: US-China trade policy and the US-EU Trade and Technology Council

The Biden administration recently unveiled its China trade and investment policy, and participated in the first US-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting. But substantive results were inconclusive in both cases, leaving major questions unanswered for America’s global allies.

Blog Post
October 18, 2021

New survey data raises questions about the expanded Child Tax Credit

Child Tax Credit payments are not well targeted because a sizeable share of families reported that they saved the payments or that the payments were not that important in meeting their day-to-day expenses.

Blog Post
October 18, 2021

A new look at wealth concentration in America

A new working paper suggests wealth is less concentrated among the top 0.1 percent than previously estimated, raising questions about the revenue-raising potential and administrative difficulty of wealth taxes.

Blog Post
October 18, 2021

New England liberal arts colleges may look good in pictures, but they are dangerous to American civility

New data show students at liberal arts colleges are the most repressive when it comes to issues of free speech. Too many liberal arts schools have clearly failed to teach their students about the critical import of viewpoint diversity.

Blog Post
October 18, 2021

Is China quitting the economic race?

The conventional reaction to new Chinese GDP statistics is that China’s economy is surprisingly sluggish. Actually, China’s economy has been this sluggish, but the Chinese Communist Party previously refused to admit it. The big story is it’s just possible they may no longer care.

Blog Post
October 15, 2021

All hands on deck: Neurodiversity and the future of work

In the context of today’s post-pandemic labor shortage, one persistently excluded pool of talent is neurodivergent individuals — those on the autism spectrum as well as those with ADHD, bipolar, dyslexia, and several other intellectual and developmental profiles.

Blog Post
October 15, 2021

5 questions for Arthur Turrell on fusion energy

Arthur Turrell looks to the future of energy, explaining recent scientific advances in fusion reactors and discussing fusion’s advantages over nuclear fission and renewables like solar and wind power.

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Economics

Blog Post
October 19, 2021

House reconciliation bill struggles with Biden’s flawed $400,000 tax pledge

Joe Biden made a sweeping and misguided pledge not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000 per year. Although the pledge may be a good sound bite, it is a flawed policy constraint. To facilitate tax reform and fiscal discipline, Democrats should abandon the pledge.

Blog Post
October 19, 2021

Is the spike in federal revenue permanent?

The Congressional Budget Office projects a spike in federal tax receipts for the 2021 fiscal year. However, some of the estimated revenue growth could be temporary as taxpayers adjust income and expenses to avoid expected tax increases.

Blog Post
October 19, 2021

A fraught linkage: US-China trade policy and the US-EU Trade and Technology Council

The Biden administration recently unveiled its China trade and investment policy, and participated in the first US-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting. But substantive results were inconclusive in both cases, leaving major questions unanswered for America’s global allies.

Blog Post
October 18, 2021

A new look at wealth concentration in America

A new working paper suggests wealth is less concentrated among the top 0.1 percent than previously estimated, raising questions about the revenue-raising potential and administrative difficulty of wealth taxes.

Blog Post
October 15, 2021

5 questions for Arthur Turrell on fusion energy

Arthur Turrell looks to the future of energy, explaining recent scientific advances in fusion reactors and discussing fusion’s advantages over nuclear fission and renewables like solar and wind power.

Blog Post
October 14, 2021

House reconciliation bill would remove misguided tax penalty on students with drug records

Under current law, any student with drug felony convictions is barred from claiming the American Opportunity credit. Congress should remove the drug-felony bar so the tax credit credit can provide opportunity to Americans with drug convictions who are pursuing higher education.

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Foreign and Defense Policy

Blog Post
October 18, 2021

Is China quitting the economic race?

The conventional reaction to new Chinese GDP statistics is that China’s economy is surprisingly sluggish. Actually, China’s economy has been this sluggish, but the Chinese Communist Party previously refused to admit it. The big story is it’s just possible they may no longer care.

Blog Post
October 06, 2021

Facebook: Being 21st-century national infrastructure demands responsibility

Social networks are part of critical national infrastructure and should be treated as such. An industry that can influence people’s individual behavior and, indeed, the way in which democratic societies conduct public discourse and elect their leaders must clearly follow more stringent rules.

Blog Post
October 05, 2021

Another Biden policy IOU on China

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai rightly noted that China’s global economic distortions have hurt American workers and firms for decades, then outlined a completely inadequate response. We shouldn’t accept it.

Blog Post
September 27, 2021

Will Biden also accept Chinese IP theft?

Chinese courts have declared that their firms can’t be sued anywhere in the world for theft of intellectual property. This is just one, recent event in decades of intellectual property theft and coercion by China and utter American failure to respond.

Blog Post
September 23, 2021

More empty talk on export controls

If the Bureau of Industry and Security can’t restrict China from gaining certain foundational and emerging technologies for its military, for driving American companies out of business, and for repressing human rights, the bureau is harming the country.

Blog Post
September 21, 2021

Beyond AUKUS: 5 practical recommendations

The AUKUS deal announced last week will aid Australia’s defense and could also help to stabilize the deteriorating military balance in Asia and reassure some countries of America’s commitment. The US should capitalize on this momentum.

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Tech Policy

Blog Post
October 19, 2021

A fraught linkage: US-China trade policy and the US-EU Trade and Technology Council

The Biden administration recently unveiled its China trade and investment policy, and participated in the first US-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting. But substantive results were inconclusive in both cases, leaving major questions unanswered for America’s global allies.

Blog Post
October 15, 2021

What’s going on at the Federal Trade Commission? Highlights from a conversation with Bilal Sayyed

Under Chairwoman Lina Khan’s leadership, the Federal Trade Commission is undergoing process reforms that will make the commission less democratic by allocating more power to the chair herself. AEI’s Shane Tews and Mark Jamison hosted an “Explain to Shane” discussion with Bilal Sayyed to hear his thoughts.

Blog Post
October 14, 2021

‘Restoration’ of 2011 patent reform bill faces headwinds

A proposed bill to revitalize the 2011 America Invents Act has energized both strong support and opposition from interest groups. Passage in its current form is thus highly uncertain.

Blog Post
October 13, 2021

So Big Tech massively investing in itself is worrisome now?

Big Tech’s critics in Washington view America’s most successful firms as anticompetitive crony capitalists, but the tech giants stay on top because they are some of the most innovative companies in the US — and their investments in research and development should be celebrated.

Blog Post
October 13, 2021

Markets are addressing Facebook’s problems

Despite Facebook’s recent problems, antitrust regulators struggle to show that Facebook has actual market power, and competition is rising to provide the discipline that regulation has failed. More regulation and antitrust prosecutions are thus unnecessary.

Blog Post
October 12, 2021

The coming fusion revolution: My long-read Q&A with Arthur Turrell

Arthur Turrell explains the science behind fusion energy, predicting that this technology could be supplying abundant, clean power in the near future. Discussing the advantages of renewables and the difficulties fission power has faced, Turrell explores the politics and economics of nuclear power.

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