American Enterprise Institute

The American Enterprise Institute is dedicated to tackling our nation’s greatest challenges by producing work that bolsters free enterprise and innovation, strengthens our communities, defends our nation’s founding values, and revitalizes America’s leadership role in the world. Our scholars drive the competition of ideas on today’s most critical issues and also draw attention to important issues that have yet to be widely recognized.

AEI is at the forefront of critical public policy research because we actively seek and encourage engagement with intellectual allies and adversaries alike and welcome civil disagreement. We believe a competition of ideas is essential to a free society and human progress. AEI scholars engage in their work with complete academic freedom, operating independently of any political party and unrestricted by any institutional positions. Our scholars’ conclusions are fueled by rigorous, data-driven research and broad-ranging evidence. Our work focuses on the critical areas of economics, foreign and defense policy, domestic policy, and social, cultural, and constitutional studies.

AEI’s Domestic Policy Studies tackles a broad set of interrelated policy challenges, combining a big-picture perspective with deep working knowledge in areas such as poverty studies and welfare, federalism, public opinion and politics, housing market finance, energy and the environment, technology policy and regulation, agriculture policy, and early childhood through higher education.

AEI’s Economic Policy Studies aims to advance better policy outcomes and achieve a better understanding of economic policy both inside the Beltway and beyond, on issues such as tax and budget policy, financial markets, labor economics, retirement policy, health care, and international finance and trade.

AEI’s Foreign and Defense Policy is dedicated to the principle that American global leadership is vital to a peaceful, prosperous, and free world. Our research spans the world’s geopolitical flashpoints and includes regions and countries such as the Middle East, China and East Asia, India, Europe, Latin America, and Russia and topics such as national security and defense, global terrorism, transnational threats, and economic statecraft.

AEI’s Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies focuses on the foundations of self-government and the future of law, regulation, and constitutionalism. Our research explores the state of American social, political, and civic life with an eye toward studying the preconditions necessary for family, community, and country to flourish.

In addition to the empirical, innovative research that helps fuel policy debates, AEI’s communications and outreach teams promote AEI’s work with an eye toward shaping, informing, and improving the national conversation on important public policy issues. AEI utilizes traditional broadcast and print media, as well as digital strategies to reach a variety of audiences across the country. AEI produces podcasts and promotes highly relevant videos to further share our message. Scholars regularly produce episodes for our popular video series on our YouTube page.

AEI has built robust communications and outreach strategies that, implemented by our communications, media, government relations, coalitions, and development teams, put our scholars’ work into the hands of today’s and tomorrow’s leaders. In short, we get our work into the hands of those best placed to act, thus moving the needle toward a fundamental appreciation for the free enterprise system.

AEI reaches hundreds of community leaders and state- and local-level policymakers across the country though our Leadership Network programming. These leaders in turn use AEI ideas as a resource in their work. AEI also reaches policymakers, military leaders, business leaders and entrepreneurs, journalists, and all interested citizens with our work.

AEI shares its scholarship with students on college campuses through our academic programming, with the goal of protecting and fostering a competition of ideas where it is needed the most. AEI has hundreds of student groups on dozens of campuses across the country and hosts educational and leadership development events for students at our headquarters in Washington, DC.

Since AEI’s founding in 1938, AEI scholars have advanced policy ideas rooted in the unchanging ideals of freedom, opportunity, and enterprise. AEI has become an enduring source of policy insight and inspiration through U.S. leadership transitions, policy realignments, and passing intellectual fads. AEI scholars’ knowledge has been sought-after through events such as welfare reform in the 1980s, the Iraq War in the 2000s, and the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The Institute’s scholars are committed to protecting America’s founding values and will continue to both champion and engage in the competition of ideas.