October 18, 2023
Vocation: A Cure for Burnout
In a recent article for The Atlantic, former AEI president Arthur Brooks makes the case that to prevent burnout at work we need to create “meaningful boundaries” between work and the rest of our lives. As usual, Brooks has excellent advice about how to navigate life’s trenches and stay motivated and happy. Yet there is one piece missing: encouraging reflection on what drives us, what makes us tick,…
September 29, 2023
How Well Is Rural America Doing? You’d Be Surprised
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett’s ‘The Overlooked Americans’ rejects grim depictions of rural life. “Why are we so divided?” That’s probably the most asked question in American politics, especially since that Divider-in-Chief descended the golden escalator and announced that he alone could bring an end to America’s decline. Donald Trump’s election, however, is not the origin of America’s almost decadelong cosmopolitan-country sneer fest. It’s been…
September 13, 2023
American Dreamers
In January, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) launched the American Dream Initiative (ADI), a new, multifaceted policy and practice effort to build on and extend the nation’s legacy of liberty, opportunity, and economic progress for generations to come. Through ADI, AEI scholars are investing time and energy in policy analysis and development to expand access to the…
September 7, 2023
AI Closes the Gaps
It’s a perennial hazard of the policy and opinion space that just about the time one is ready to hold forth on a topic, another, smarter, faster writer jumps in. On the one hand, it’s a bummer; on the other, the explanation of the issue is so good and comprehensive, all one can do is…
August 31, 2023
The Future of Work: Augmented, not Automated
In my first AEI report, “STEM Without Fruit,” I argued the case for the pre-eminence of noncognitive skills in a world of rapidly advancing technology. As part of that report, I cited evidence drawn from employer surveys, as well as wage and labor-share data, showing that across the economy the highest demand from employers and highest wage returns…
August 28, 2023
Here’s a Kind of Job-Training Program That Works
JOB-TRAINING AND WORKFORCE-DEVELOPMENT programs have long been plagued by weak wage and job-persistence outcomes. Since the United States spends markedly less on these types of programs than do other developed nations, it’s reasonable to ask whether the weak outcomes are a function of the programs or the funding. Likely, it is a combination of both. The good…
August 15, 2023
The Generative AI Revolution Is Underway
2023 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for artificial intelligence, with the rise of generative AI poised to transform industries and reshape workforces. The latest McKinsey Global Survey on AI confirms the increasing market penetration of tools like DALL-E and ChatGPT and outlines how workers and employers see the technology affecting work patterns in the…
August 9, 2023
The AI Apocalypse Can Wait
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has ignited fears about its potential to disrupt the labor market. There has been no shortage of predictions of huge impacts AI will have on the future of work—especially for workers with higher levels of education—fueling both anxiety and the risk of overzealous regulation. A recent report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development…
August 8, 2023
Bad Hoosiers
A new book tells a strange tale of political extremism in the Midwest. “Why Hitler?” has probably absorbed more research energy, by an exponential factor, than any other historical question of the last 100 years. The immense, totalizing, and catastrophic evil of Germany’s National Socialist Workers Party easily justifies the investment. In most analyses, Hitler’s…