Paul Bloom

At this AEI event, Paul Bloom, professor of psychology at Yale University, will present the findings from his new book, How Pleasure Works: The New Science on Why We Like What We Like (Norton, June 2010). After his presentation, psychiatrist Peter Kramer and philosopher Roger Scruton will discuss his findings and what they mean for our understanding of human behavior. AEI's Sally Satel, M.D., will moderate. [READ MORE]

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The National Research Initiative (NRI) offers a variety of resources to support both established and emerging scholars.

NRI offers grants to support research, writing, and publication. NRI also offers fellowships. For more information, contact NRI's project manager.

At this luncheon press briefing that follows two closed sessions, members of the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee--a group of publicly recognized, independent experts on the financial services industry, including AEI visiting scholar Charles W. Calomiris--will issue one or more statements and answer questions relating to the topics discussed in the closed sessions. [READ MORE]

Critics of capitalism often argue that this economic system is irretrievably tainted by the sin of greed. At this event, Victor Claar, associate professor of economics at Henderson State University, will discuss the role of envy in collectivist and redistributive economic systems. Beginning with an explanation of the classic theological understanding of envy, Claar will argue that "grieving the good of others" is an unavoidable aspect of social democracy. [READ MORE]

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After the Fall
By Carmen M. Reinhart and Vincent R. Reinhart
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Jackson Hole Symposium, August 2010

Vincent R. Reinhart, a resident scholar at AEI, and Carmen M. Reinhart, professor of economics and director of the Center for International Economics at the University of Maryland, argue that the decade of relative prosperity prior to the fall was importantly fueled by an expansion in credit and rising leverage that spans about ten years, and that it is followed by a lengthy period of retrenchment that most often only begins after the crisis and lasts almost as long as the credit surge. [READ MORE]

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AEI visiting scholar R. Glenn Hubbard writes that if President Obama is interested in promoting growth now and in the future, he should commit to retaining the low tax rates Congress passed in 2003. Hubbard argues that any reform plan that does not maintain or reduce marginal tax rates--permanently--is moving in the wrong direction. [READ MORE]

AEI's Tomas J. Philipson and federal circuit judge Richard A. Posner write that technological developments have driven the obesity plague, but technological change may also be more successful at reducing obesity than attempts to change people's eating and exercising habits have been. [READ MORE]

Unemployment: What Would Reagan Do?
By Henry Olsen
Wall Street Journal, August 10, 2010

AEI's Henry Olsen argues that looking at the civilian employment-population ratio gives a better picture of how hard it is going to be for the United States to recover from the financial crisis, and explains why Ronald Reagan's approach to job creation would be better suited to spur recovery. [READ MORE]

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AEI Press September 2010

In Regulating Low-Skilled Immigration in the United States, Gordon H. Hanson contends that efforts to curtail illegal entry will fail unless policymakers design a system that is responsive to market signals that encourage individuals to move from low-wage labor markets in regions such as Central America to the more robust labor market in the United States. On the whole, immigration benefits the U.S. economy by raising national income and making domestic capital more productive. However, increasing the low-skilled population may also increase the net tax burden on native residents. Successful reform depends on attracting immigrants with strong incentives to be productive laborers who will not place excessive demands on public services. [READ MORE]

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The American Enterprise Institute is a nonpartisan research institution whose purpose is to defend and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism.

Photos: Yale University/Sigrid Estrada, Stock.xchng/andrewatla, iStockphoto/Sharon Dominick, COMSTOCK, iStockphoto/Konstantin Inozemtsev, and AEI