The National Research Initiative (NRI) was launched in 2002 to expand and systematize AEI's work with outside scholars. The program is designed to seek out and support work by university-based academics, freelance authors, journalists, independent researchers, and others who can augment and reinforce AEI's analysis of practical public policy issues. Its scope extends to most areas of domestic policy, including tax, entitlement, and fiscal policy; government regulation; education; social welfare; health care; domestic security; the legal system; and political institutions.

The NRI's support for outside scholars takes a variety of forms: funding for research that leads to the publication of AEI books and studies; visiting fellowships for individuals whose work can benefit from their spending a period of time in residence at the Institute; hosting of conferences and seminars; and a fellowship program for doctoral and postdoctoral students who are seeking to become more engaged in public policy debate.

Jeffrey Milyo, University of Chicago

During 2003, several visiting fellows spent time at AEI under the auspices of the NRI working on research projects. Indur Goklany took a leave of absence from his position in the Office of Policy Analysis of the U.S. Department of the Interior to work on his book, Extending the Limits to Growth: Improving the State of Humanity and the Environment, which looks at temporal trends over the last two centuries and concludes that the state of humanity as measured by various commonly accepted indicators of human well-being has never been better.

Jagadeesh Gokhale took a sabbatical from the Cleveland Federal Reserve to spend a year at AEI working on a book with Boston University professor Laurence Kotlikoff. Their book uses a complex life-cycle simulation model with highly detailed tax calculators to show the total taxes Americans pay on everything they do over the course of their lifetimes, even including getting married, having children, and financing retirement. While at AEI, Mr. Gokhale also published a paper and subsequent book with Kent Smetters of the University of Pennsylvania, which calculates the United States' "fiscal imbalance" (the amount of money the federal government would have to have in hand today to sustain current policies indefinitely) at $44.2 trillion.

Richard Vedder of Ohio University came to AEI to research and write a book on the structure of financing for higher education and how it contributes to increased costs and lower productivity for colleges and universities.

Jon Entine, University of Miami, Ohio

Adjunct Fellow Jon Entine, who is writing a book on the role of genetic influences, organized a June conference for AEI on the public debate over genetically modified organisms. The meeting addressed the limitations that have been placed on biotechnology because of public misperceptions about its risks.

The first NRI-sponsored study to be published was No Way Back (2003), by Adjunct Fellow Joel Schwartz, which makes the case that most remaining air pollution will be eliminated during the next two decades, merely by adhering to measures that have already been enacted.

Independent researcher Roger Bate joined AEI as a visiting fellow for one year to research the development of water markets in countries around the world and their effectiveness in allocating scarce water resources through cooperation rather than conflict.

NRI book forums showcase leading authors discussing their books on important public policy issues. Of the eight events in 2003, highlights included discussions with Jack M. Hollander, author of The Real Environmental Crisis (2003), which challenges the belief that economic development and affluence pose a major threat to the world's environment and resources, and Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom, authors of No Excuses (2003), which shows how the racial gap in academic achievement is the most important source of U.S. racial inequality.

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