LEARN ALONG WITH THE 2012 SUMMER INSTITUTE!

Guest speakers include: Michael Barone, John R. Bolton, Arthur Brooks, Jonah Goldberg, Christina Hoff Sommers, William Kristol, Charles Murray, Karl Rove, Paul Ryan and Sally Satel.

ARRIVAL: June 17

WEEK I: Microeconomic Policy

June 18 | Capitalism vs. Socialism...
June 19 | ...And Democracy
June 20 | Inequality
June 21 | Taxes
June 22 | Behavioral Economics

WEEK II: Principles of Foreign and Defense Policy

June 25 | High Politics and Strategy
June 26 | Security, Liberty, and Prosperity in Early America
June 27 | Staff Ride to the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park
June 28 | Modern American Strategy
June 29 | US Strategy Today and Tomorrow

WEEK III: Public Policy In-Depth

July 2 | Ideas, Ideals and Morality in Modern Revolutions
July 3 | Security, Liberty, and Prosperity in Early America
July 5 | Energy and Environmental Policy
July 6 | World Demography
July 7 | Game Day

WEEK III: Public Policy In-Depth

July 9 | Introduction to the Idea of Statesmanship
July 10 | The Practice of Statesmanship
July 11 | Lincoln and the House Divided
July 12 | The Modern Presidency and Changing Views of Statecraft
July 13 | Ronald Reagan, the Constitution, the Cold War, and Concluding Observations

ARRIVAL : Sunday, June 17

Arrival reception and dinner with William Kristol, editor, The Weekly Standard

WEEK I: Microeconomic Policy

Instructors: Kevin Hassett, Director of Economic Policy Studies, AEI and Sita Slavov, AEI Resident Scholar

Monday, June 18 • Session 1: Capitalism vs. Socialism...

Morning Speaker: Ambassador John R. Bolton, AEI Senior Fellow

Topics:

• Central versus decentralized decision making
• Aggregation of information
• Role of prices

Reading:

• John McMillan, "Grassroots Efforts," Chpt. 12, Reinventing the Bazaar (New York: Norton, 2002), pp. 148-166
• Steven E. Landsburg, "Why Prices Are Good: Smith Versus Darwin," Chapter 8, The Armchair Economist (New York: Free Press, 2012), pp. 88-99
• Joseph A. Schumpeter, Can Capitalism Survive? Creative Destruction and the Future of the Global Economy, Chpts. 1-7

Tuesday, June 19 • Session 2: ...And Democracy

Topics:

• Voting
• Condorcet winners and cycles
• Agenda setting
• Median voter theorem
• Arrow's impossibility theorem

Reading:

• Landsburg, "Telling Right from Wrong," The Armchair Economist, Chpt. 6, pp. 59-72
• Tyler Cowen, "Why Politics Is Stuck in the Middle," New York Times, February 6, 2010
• Maxwell Stearns, “No Fiction Pulitzer: The Problem Wasn’t the Books,” Baltimore Sun, April 23, 2012
• Joseph A. Schumpeter, Can Capitalism Survive? Creative Destruction and the Future of the Global Economy, Chpts. 8-9
• Kevin A. Hassett, “Does Economic Success Require Democracy?,” The American, May/June 2007

Lunch Speaker: Karl Rove, Karl Rove & Company

Afternoon Speaker: Michael Barone, AEI Resident Fellow

Wednesday, June 20 • Session 3: Inequality

Morning Speaker: Congressman Paul Ryan, U.S. House of Representatives

Topics:

• Does inequality matter?
• Views of fairness
• Keeping up with the joneses
• Inequality and growth
• Measuring inequality

Reading:

•Steven E. Landsburg, “The Theory of the Leisure Class,” Slate, March 9, 2007,
•Robert Frank, “Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore,” New York Times, October 16, 2010
• Branko Milanovic, “Was Socialism Egalitarian?,” Vignette 1.5, The Haves and the Have Nots (New York: Basic Books, 2011), pp. 53-60
•Tyler Cowen, “The Inequality that Matters,” The American Interest, January/February 2011
• Kevin A. Hassett and Aparna Mathur, “A New Measure of Consumption Inequality”

Thursday, June 21 • Session 4: Taxes

Topics:

• Tax incidence
• Taxes and efficiency
• The federal tax system
• Options for reform

Reading:

• Landsburg,  “Why Taxes are Bad: The Logic of Efficiency,” Chapter 7, The Armchair Economist, pp. 73-87
• Martin Feldstein, "Raise Taxes, Not Rates", New York Times, May 4, 2011
• Greg Mankiw, "The Problem with the Corporate Income Tax," New York Times, June 1, 2008
• Ed Prescott, "Why Do Americans Work More than Europeans?" Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2004
• Brad DeLong, "The 70% Solution," Project Syndicate, November 30, 2011
• Kevin A. Hassett, "Why We Pay Without a Whimper," Washington Post, April 15, 2007
• Kevin A. Hassett, "The Stubbornest Tax," National Review, April 24, 2012

Friday, June 22 • Session 5: Behavioral Economics

Topics:

• Limits of rationality
• Saving for retirement
• Behavioral economics and public policy

Reading:

• Kevin A. Hassett, "Did The Three Kings Bear Gift Receipts?," The Washington Post, December 8, 2006
• Colin Camerer, Linda Babcock, George Loewenstein and Richard Thaler, "Labor Supply of New York City Cabdrivers: One Day at a Time," The Quarterly Journal of Economics (1997) 112 (2): 407-441
• Kevin A. Hassett, "Lowly Ravens, Falcons Fly High in College Draft," Bloomberg, May 5, 2008
• Craig Lambert, "The Marketplace of Perceptions," Harvard Magazine, March-April 2006
• Anne Tergesen, "401(k) Law Suppresses Saving for Retirement," Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2011
• Mario Rizzo and Richard Thaler, "Should Policies Nudge People to Make Certain Choices?" Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2007

Afternoon Speaker: Sally Satel, AEI Resident Scholar

WEEK II: Principles of Foreign and Defense Policy

Instructors: Gary Schmitt, co-director of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies, and Tom Donnelly, co-director of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies

This course will examine the principles of democratic statecraft, American strategic culture, and current issues in national security policy. In addition to this coursework, students will participate in a staff ride to Gettysburg National Battlefield Park to explore the challenges of political and military leadership and a team exercise examining and contrasting recent White House National Security Strategies.

Monday, June 25 • Session 1: High Politics and Strategy

Reading:

• Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, Pericles' Funereal Oration and Melian Dialogue
• "Just War" reading selections:
• Gospel of Matthew, 5:1-12
• Gospel of Matthew, 5:38-45
• Augustine, The City of God, Book 19, Chpt. 26
• Augustine, Letter (#189) to Boniface (Roman imperial official)
• Augustine, Against Faustus the Manichean, Book 22, Chpt. 74
• Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy (trans. Mansfield and Tarcov), Book 1: Preface, Chpts. 1, 2, 4, 6 and Book 2: Chpts. 2, 3, 4
• Kissinger, "The Concert of Europe," Chpt. 4, Diplomacy

Afternoon Speaker: Charles Murray, AEI W.H. Brady Scholar

Tuesday, June 26 • Session 2: Security, Liberty, and Prosperity in Early America

Reading:

• Richard Hakluyt, A Discourse Concerning Western Planting, Sec 1, 2, 5-7, 10-18, 1584
• The Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England, Aritcles 1-5, May 19, 1643
• Commission of Sir Edmund Andros for the Dominion of New England, April 7, 1688
• John Locke, "Of Property," Chpt. 5, Sec. 41-51, Second Treatise of Civil Government, 1690
• Daniel Coxe, A Description of English Province of Carolana, 1722 (excerpts)
• Peter Kalm,Travels into North America, 1749-1750 (excerpt, pg. 2)
• William Clarke, Letter to Benjamin Franklin, May 6, 1754 (excerpt, pg. 2)
• Benjamin Franklin, Albany Plan, 1754
• Benjamin Franklin, Letter to Massachusetts Gov. William Shirley, December 22, 1754
• George III, By the King: A Proclamation, October 7, 1763
• The Quebec Act, October 7, 1774
• Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
• The Northwest Ordinance, 1787
• Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #24, December 19, 1787
• Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #25, December 21, 1787
• George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
• James Monroe, Annual Message to Congress, December 2, 1823
• John Quincy Adams, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1825
• Peter Maslowski, "To the Edge of Greatness: The US, 1783-1865," The Making of Strategy (eds. Murray, Knox and Bernstein)

Wednesday, June 27 • Session 3: Staff ride to the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park

• Required background reading: Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels

Thursday, June 28 • Session 4: Modern American Strategy

Reading:

• United Nations Charter, Articles 1, 2, 9-13, 23-27
• Hans Morgenthau, "Six Principles of Political Realism,"Politics Among Nations
• Michael Doyle, "Kant, Liberal Legacies and Foreign Affairs," Philosophy and Public Affairs (Summer 1983)
• National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World (p. 253-259)
• Robert Lieber, "Chapter 6: Power and Willpower in the American Future," Power and Willpower in the American Future
• Joseph Parent and Paul MacDonald, "The Wisdom of Retrenchment," Foreign Affairs (Nov/Dec 2011)

Afternoon Speaker: Christina Hoff Sommers, AEI Resident Scholar

Friday, June 29 • Session 5: US Strategy Today and Tomorrow

• Bush National Security Strategy 2002
• Obama National Security Strategy 2010
• Selection from Final Report of Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel
• Williamson Murray and Mark Grimsley, "Introduction: On Strategy," The Making of Strategy

WEEK III: Public Policy In-Depth

Monday, July 2 • Ideas, Ideals and Morality in Modern Revolutions

Instructor: Leon Aron, Director of Russia Studies, AEI

•Crane Brinton. The Anatomy of Revolution. New York: Vintage Books, 1965. pp. 28-42; last paragraph on 43-45; 3rd paragraph on 48-49; 67-69; 250-253 through 1st paragraph
•Melvin Richter, “Tocqueville’s Contribution to the Theory of Revolution.” In Carl J. Friedrich, ed., Revolution. New York: Atherton Press, 1966, pp. 91-96, 98-102
•Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the French Revolution. Translated by Stuart Gilbert. New York: Anchor Books, 1983, pp. 138-148; 171 paragraphs 2 and 3; 2nd paragraph on 173-174; 175 after 2nd paragraph; 176 after 2nd paragraph; 177, except last paragraph; 178 after second paragraph; 179
•George Pettee, “Revolution—Typology and Process.” In Carl J. Friedrich, ed., Revolution. New York: Atherton Press, 1966, pp. 10-13, 18-20
•Harry Eckstein. “On the Etiology of Internal Wars.” In Clifford T. Payton and Robert Blackey, eds. Why Revolution? Theories and Analyses. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman, 1971, pp. 137-138, 143-144, 148-151
•William H. Sewell, Jr. “Ideologies and Social Revolutions: Reflections on the French Case.” The Journal of Modern History, Vol.57, No. 1. March, 1985, pp. 57-59, 84-85
•In Jack A. Goldstone, ed., Revolutions. Theoretical, Comparative and Historical Studies. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson, 2003:
•Charles Tilly, “Does Modernization Breed Revolution?” pp. 45-46; 50
•Theda Skocpol and Ellen Kay Trimberger, “Revolutions: A Structural Analysis,” pp. 63-66 (up to “The State and Political Crisis”)
•Eric Selbin, “Agency and Culture in Revolutions,” pp.76-84
•Jack A. Goldstone, “The English Revolution: A Structural-Demographic Approach,” pp. 157-159; 165-170
•François Furet. Interpreting the French Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981. pp. 22-25, 36 (from 2nd para) to 37 (through 2nd para), 43-46 (through 2nd para), 61 (from 2nd para) to 64, and 69 (from 2nd para) to 70 (through 2nd para)
•Bernard Bailyn. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press/Belknap, 1992. pp. v, vi, and viii (last paragraph), ix, x (except for the last paragraph), 94-95 (except for the last paragraph), 99-102 (through the first paragraph), 113-115 (through the first para), 118-119, 135-139, 144

Lunch and Introduction to AEI's Academic Programs
Karin Agness, Director of Academic Programs, AEI
12:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Tuesday, July 3 • Social Security / Public-Sector Pensions

Social Security Reading:

• Patricia Martin & David Weaver, "Social Security: A Program and Policy History," Social Security Bulletin, Volume 66, Number 1 (2005)
• Peter Orszag, "Individual Accounts and Social Security: Does Social Security Really Provide a Lower Rate of Return?" (Executive Summary only), Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 9, 1999
• Joseph Antos, Alan D. Viard, Alex Brill, Andrew G. Biggs. "Fiscal Solutions: A Balanced Plan for Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth." Peter G. Peterson Foundation, May 25, 2011, pp. 10-19 only

Public Sector Pay Reading:

• Andrew G. Biggs, Jason Richwine, "Assessing the Compensation of Public-School Teachers," Heritage Center for Data Analysis, November 1, 2011
• Maury Gittleman and Brooks Pierce, "Compensation for State and Local Government Workers," Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 26, Number 1, (Winter 2011), pp. 217-242.

Afternoon Speaker: Arthur Brooks, AEI President

Thursday, July 5 • Energy and Environmental Policy

Instructor: Kenneth P. Green, AEI Resident Scholar

Reading:

• Kenneth Green, Abundant Energy, Fuel of Human Flourishing
• Morriss et al., The False Promise of Green Energy (Washington, DC: Cato Institute), Chpt. 1, pp. 1-26
• Vaclav Smil, Energy Myths and Realities (Washington, DC: AEI Press) Chpts. 1,4,6,7
• Robert Bryce, "Part One: Why We Think We Want Energy Independence," Gusher of Lies (2008) (NY: Public Affairs), pp. 13-82

Afternoon Speaker: Paul Teller, Executive Director, U.S. House Republican Study Committee

Friday, July 6 • World Demography

Instructor: Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Scholar in Political Economy, AEI

Reading:

• United Nations, The Determinants and Consequences of Population Trends, (NY: UN, 1973), Vol. I, Ch. III, pp. 33-48
• Wolfgang Lutz and Samir KC, "Dimensions of Global Population Projections: What Do We Know About Future Population Trends and Structures?," Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Biological Sciences, Vol. 365 No. 1554 (September 27, 2010)
• Ron J. Lesthaeghe, Second Demographic Transition
• John Ross, Understanding the Demographic Divide, The Policy Project, September 2004
• Ronald D. Lee and Andrew W. Mason, "Generational Economics in a Changing World," (December 3, 2009) – Skim only
• Jim Oeppen and James W.Vaupel, "Broken Limits to Life Expectancy," Science’s Compass, Vol. 296 (May 10, 2002)
• Warren C. Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov, "Remeasuring Aging," Science, Vol. 329 No. 599710 (September 2010)

Saturday, July 7 • Game Day

Washington Nationals versus Colorado Rockies
Nationals Park, Navy Yard Metro

WEEK IV: American Statesmen

Instructor: Steven F. Hayward, F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow, AEI

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, students will understand:

• The quality and limits of "executive power" in a constitutional regime
• The nature of statesmanship or political greatness
• The relationship between prudence and character
• The self-education of statesmen

Monday, July 9 • Session 1: Introduction to the Idea of Statesmanship

Focus: What is politics? What is statesmanship? Is it the same as leadership? Is it the same as greatness? Why all politicians are not statesman. Is statesmanship an art or a science? How does one study statesmanship?

Reading:

• Winston Churchill, "Mass Effects in Modern Life," 1925
• Max Weber, "Politics as a Vocation"
•Harvey Mansfield, "Introduction: The Ambivalence of Executive Power," Chapter 1 of The Taming of the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power

Max Weber, the father of modern social and political science as well as an early theorist of bureaucracy, offers trenchant reflections on the dilemmas and pitfalls of political engagement in this classic essay. This is a very dense and difficult essay traversing a lot of arcane details about forms of government organization; this can be safely skipped. While you are welcome to read the whole essay if you are a glutton for punishment, you are required to read the last third only, starting with the paragraph that begins "Therefore, today, one cannot yet see in any way how the management of politics as a 'vocation' will shape itself." This is the section we shall discuss in class.

The reading from Harvey Mansfield will explore different conventional perspectives on the American chief executive office in the context of the essential problem of executive power in politics. The American presidency is conceived as a republican institution, in which attempts to combine the strengths of monarchy with some of the techniques of tyranny, within a constitutional framework of separated powers and limited government.

Panel and Lunch: Making a Career in Public Policy

• Michael Mazza, Foreign and Defense Policy, AEI
• Jenna Talbot, Education Policy Studies, AEI
• Katherine Zimmerman, Foreign and Defense Policy, AEI

Tuesday, July 10 • Session 2: The Practice of Statesmanship: The Founders and the Early Presidents

Focus: How did Washington go about establishing the character of the presidency, and how did his own character affect his acts? How did Jefferson's "abstract truth" (Lincoln's words) reflect the American mind? What is the connection between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Jefferson thought that the election of 1800 was something like a regime change, a revolution that for the first time established the principles of 1776.

Reading:

• Federalist Papers, Nos. 69, 70
• Washington To Colonel Lewis Nicola, May 22, 1782
• Speech to the Officers of the Army, Newburgh, March 15, 1783
• Washington, Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Aug 7, 1790
• Washington Farewell Address, October 19, 1796
• Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801
• Jefferson, Letter to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825
• Jefferson, Letter to John Colvin, Sept. 20, 1810

Wednesday, July 11 • Session 3: Lincoln and the house Divided: Prudence and the Crisis of the Regime

Reading:

• Address to the Young Men's Lyceum, 1838
• Temperance Address, 1842
• Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, June 26, 1857
• Address at Cooper Institute, February 27, 1860
• First Inaugural Address, 1861
• Second Inaugural Address, 1865

Thursday, July 12 • Session 4: The Modern Presidency and Changing Views of Statecraft: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt

Focus: How did basic concepts of American democracy and constitutionalism change between the end of the Civil War and the Progressive Era? Which changes have persisted to today, and which have been discarded or changed further? How did Wilson and the two Roosevelts re-conceive the presidency? What is Wilson's understanding of natural rights and history? What is his understanding of democracy? What is his understanding of the Constitution? Why does he criticize the Constitution? Why does he separate politics and administration? What is the relationship between popular leadership and political institutions?

Reading:

• Wilson, "What is Progress?", Ch. 2 of The New Freedom, 1913
• Wilson, "The Study of Administration," 1886
• Wilson, Constitutional Government in the United States – "The President of the United States"
• Wilson, "Leaders of Men," 1889
• Franklin Roosevelt, Commonwealth Club Address, September 23, 1932
• FDR, Address on Constitution Day, September 17, 1937
• FDR, Fireside Chat on the Plan for Reorganization of the Judiciary, 1937
• FDR, State of the Union Address, January 11, 1944

Friday, July 13 • Session 5: Ronald Reagan, the Constitution, the Cold War, and Concluding Observations

Focus: What was Reagan's understanding of the Constitution? How did Reagan understand conservatism? What was his criticism of contemporary liberalism or progressivism? How did Reagan understand the welfare state, taxation, and social issues? Why did he think it necessary to call the USSR and "evil empire"?

Concluding Meditation: What are the sources or the hallmarks of superior statecraft?

Reading:

• First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981
• Speech to the House of Commons, June 8, 1982
•"Evil Empire" Speech, March 8, 1983
• Steven F. Hayward, Greatness, Chpts. 3-9

Closing Dinner with Jonah Goldberg, columnist and author of Liberal Fascism and The Tyranny of Clichés.