Past Grants

Leon Aron will research and write a book assessing whether Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy choices form a coherent “Putin Doctrine” and considering the implications for U.S. policymakers. He will conduct research and travel to Eastern Europe to interview scholars, national security experts, and Russian exiles.

Peter Pry will lead an effort to increase the resilience of the electric grid against natural or man-made electromagnetic pulse (EMP) events. He will work with federal policymakers, state legislatures and officials, and leaders of electric utilities and other interested corporations to educate them about the EMP threat and potential solutions. The project’s findings will appear in a report telling the story of efforts to advance national EMP preparedness.

Roger Robinson and Andrew Davenport will examine the extent to which the United States should restrict or regulate the access of Chinese firms to Western capital. They will track the presence of Chinese firms in U.S. debt and equity markets and assess whether those firms engage in activities undermining U.S. interests or violating human rights. The team will engage financial and government leaders to develop options, based on disclosure requirements or other regulations, to prevent malign actors from accessing Western capital markets. The project’s findings will appear in a monograph and a series of briefings.

Gilbert Metcalf will research and write a book on whether a carbon tax can be designed both to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to make the U.S. tax code more supportive of economic growth.

Ilan Goldenberg will explore whether Israel’s military strikes against Iranian targets in Syria offer any lessons for U.S. strategy against Iran. He will undertake research, conduct field work in Israel, and host a workshop with defense policy practitioners in Washington. The project’s findings will appear in a report.

Ben Judah and Nate Sibley will lead an effort to develop a strategy for countering the actions of kleptocrats in authoritarian countries who engage in financial crime and corruption, exploit vulnerabilities in the global financial system, and corrupt actors in the West. They will map the authorities of various U.S. government departments and agencies, collect information on U.S. efforts to date to fight kleptocracy, explore and document the illicit and quasi-licit financial activities of major authoritarian regimes, and reexamine the obligations and burdens U.S. banks and other intermediary agents face in combating kleptocracy. The project’s findings will appear in a monograph and a series of briefings and articles.

Jacqueline Deal, Stephen Rosen, and Aaron Friedberg will lead a series of executive education seminars designed to develop a cadre of young analysts and policy thinkers with the skills to devise and implement long-term competitive strategies to advance U.S. objectives. They will also establish fellowships for some of the most promising participants in the program.

John Friedman, Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, and David Deming will direct the research and publications program of Opportunity Insights. They will assess the impact of the quality of neighborhoods on economic opportunity; work with approximately 500 colleges and universities to understand why some schools are more effective than others at promoting upward mobility; and examine the intergenerational transmission of disability for families supported by Social Security Disability Insurance. The project’s findings will appear in a series of papers, short articles, and interactive web-based maps and tables.

Brian Jacob will explore the extent to which career and technical education (CTE) courses taken in high school can prepare students for employment later in life. By linking more than ten years of data on all students enrolled in Michigan public schools to records on employment and earnings, he will describe and estimate the effects of CTE on an individual’s job market outcomes. The project’s findings will appear in a report, a series of papers, and briefings for state-level policymakers.