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AMERICAN.COM

The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute

Big Ideas

These stories are conceptual--food for thought.
Despite the Doubters, It’s Still Top Dollar Desmond Lachman 06/27/2009
There’s much chatter that the Chinese renminbi will eventually replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s preeminent international reserve currency, but this supposed inevitability is highly questionable.
Offsets Chipping Away at the Cap Ted Gayer 06/23/2009
The House of Representatives recently received a painful lesson in the pitfalls of carbon offsets. Despite this, it has decided to ignore this important lesson in its cap-and-trade bill.
Old and in the Fray: The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom Dane Stangler 06/17/2009
It’s no secret the population of the United States is aging rapidly. The country may be on the cusp of an entrepreneurship boom—not in spite of this aging population but because of it.
The National Kidney Foundation’s Bizarre Logic Sally Satel 06/11/2009
The public is receptive to the idea of rewarding organ donors. It’s time to leverage that receptivity.
White Makes Right? Steven Chu’s Helpful Idea Samuel Thernstrom 06/05/2009
Energy Secretary Steven Chu made headlines when he proposed ‘soft’ geoengineering by painting roofs and roads white in order to reflect sunlight back into space. That idea might seem absurd to some, but Chu has done the nation a service.
A Stimulus You Can Believe In Ted Frank 05/29/2009
Direct costs to the United States of tort litigation are $252 billion a year. Indirect costs are far higher. Reform would boost the economy at a critical time.
Obama’s European Energy Vacation Max Schulz 05/28/2009
President Obama is absolutely right that we can learn a lot from the European approach to energy. But he is dead wrong on what those lessons are.
Why Not Negative Interest Rates? Alex J. Pollock 05/21/2009
Could we have negative nominal interest rates to combat a potential deflation? The question is debated from time to time, especially recently. It may seem unlikely, but it is not impossible.
Decoding the Use of Gene Patents John E. Calfee 05/15/2009
In good news, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has resisted researchers' overreaching in their patenting of genes, and researchers’ work is seldom compromised by patents.
The Luxury City vs. the Middle Class Joel Kotkin 05/13/2009
The sustainable city of the future will rest on the revival of traditional institutions that have faded in many of today’s cities.