AEI Economics

Want to stay up to date with thoughtful economic research, policy analysis, and commentary from leading scholars in the marketplace of ideas? Sign up for The Ledger from @AEIecon for weekly discussions and analysis on the key economic questions shaping our market and society.

SUNDAY: We’ll check in with the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. @ScottGottliebMD. Tune in at 10:30 am ET.

.@iealondon could not have selected a better leader than @DanielJHannan at this crucial time for Britain — and for the world. By me, in @NRO. nationalreview.com/corner/lord-ha…

The UK needs a stronger commitment to free markets, free people, and dynamism – and to the policies that will advance those commitments. | @MichaelRStrain nationalreview.com/corner/lord-ha…

.@AEI’s R. Glenn Hubbard speaking to @NPR’s Morning Edition on central bank independence and Kevin Warsh’s nomination to lead the Federal Reserve. Listen to the full interview here: aei.org/press/discussi…

.@AEI’s @MichaelRStrain announced today that health care expert David Hyman has been named the John H. Makin Visiting Scholar. Read the announcement here: aei.org/press/health-c…

Mark J. Warshawsky of @AEI evaluates options for the disbursement of payments and the restoration of solvency ofthe Social Security Trust Fund if it exhausts in 2032 without congressional action: aei.org/economics/alte…

In @thedispatch, @stanveuger and @baselinescene argue that the Trump Administration is misrepresenting the US balance-of-payments statistics in order to justify its tariff agenda: aei.org/op-eds/the-tar…

In AEIdeas, @JimPethokoukis writes that previous waves of global innovation give little reason to believe that artificial intelligence will lead to widescale job losses: aei.org/economics/the-…

Congratulations to @MichaelRStrain on his election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. amacad.org/new-members-20…

In @ProSyn, @MichaelRStrain writes that by continuing the prosecution of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, President Trump is only holding back the confirmation of Kevin Warsh to succeed Powell. Read more: aei.org/op-eds/trumps-…

Simon Johnson and I have a new article out at @thedispatch, explaining why Section 122 does not authorize the administration's latest round of worldwide tariffs. thedispatch.com/article/trump-…

The choice facing President Trump is simple: If he drops the criminal investigation into Chairman Powell, then the Senate would swiftly confirm Kevin Warsh as Fed chairman, and Mr. Powell would be out as chairman and likely would resign from the Board of Governors. But if Trump doubles down on the probe, Powell will remain in his post indefinitely. If you are the president, this decision is duck soup.

Over this crucial period, the ability of the new chair to communicate clearly to the public the value of low and steady inflation will be vital, writes AEI’s Glenn Hubbard. ft.com/content/ff5a35…

As the Senate Banking Committee considers Kevin Warsh's nomination to become Federal Reserve chairman, R. Glenn Hubbard shares in @ftopinion how Warsh can improve and rework US monetary policy: ft.com/content/ff5a35…

Here is the second slide deck from my course “The Political Economy of Early America,” on Pre-Columbian North America: sas.upenn.edu/~jesusfv/PEEA_… This one grew even more than the first deck I posted last week. It is more than twice as long as the previous version, with new material on chiefdoms as equilibrium institutions, measurement in archaeology, pre-contact inequality, warfare as political economy, and the timeline of the agricultural transition. Most of the growth reflects the remarkable empirical work economists have produced on this period over the last decade, as well as many new findings in DNA and archeology. I find this period fascinating. Pre-Columbian North America is usually romanticized or ignored but rarely analyzed. That is a shame, because the analytical tools work beautifully here: Demsetz, Olson, Boserup, and Bowles-Choi all find clean cases in this material. And the factor endowment that matters most turns out to be one many researchers do not think about: the absence of large domesticable mammals, which capped inequality and polity scale on this side of the Atlantic for ten thousand years. Next up: the Atlantic World.

Kevin Warsh's nomination hearing for Federal Reserve chairman is today. President Trump has three goals for the Fed: He wants Mr. Warsh in as chairman; he wants the current chairman, Jerome Powell, off the Fed’s powerful interest-rate-setting committee when his term ends on May 15; and he wants lower long-term interest rates. But Mr. Trump’s own vindictiveness and lack of discipline are thwarting all three goals. Traders on Polymarket think the odds of Warsh being confirmed by May 14 are a measly 2 percent. Warsh will be a terrific Fed chairman, bringing many skills and attributes to the post. Much of his reform agenda is laudable and necessary. But to ensure his timely confirmation, Republican senators must pressure Trump to drop the threats and the criminal investigation into Powell. They must convince the president to get out of his own way. My @ProSyn column: project-syndicate.org/commentary/tru…

@brian_blase .@biggsag and Mark Warshawsky at @AEI event moderated by @MarcGoldwein: When the Social Security trust fund exhausts, the president may have discretion to prioritize lower-income retirees over an across-the-board cut.

.@ScottGottliebMD discusses the promise of CAR-T therapies & President Trump’s executive order on psychedelics: cnb.cx/3QihUAZ

AEI’s @ScottGottliebMD breaks down the rapid expansion of CAR-T therapies, the implications of the new Psychedelics Executive Order, and efforts to streamline FDA approvals for next-gen treatments.