Past Grants

Richard Bush will research and write a book assessing the evolution of political, social, and economic dynamics in Taiwan during the past decade and identifying the implications of those changes for U.S. management of the cross-strait relationship between China and Taiwan.

John Kamm will direct an effort to enhance the policy community’s understanding of political developments in China in an era marked by the increasingly repressive rule of President Xi Jinping. He will conduct open-source research to document individual cases of persons imprisoned in China for expressing political or religious views. He will also conduct biannual trips to China to discuss these cases with representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice and to engage in policy outreach to elements of the U.S. government, as well as to officials in allied governments and multilateral organizations. The project’s findings will appear in a series of papers, reports, and other publications.

Steve Miska and Ryan Crocker will lead an effort to strengthen U.S. capabilities to shape outcomes in areas of persistent conflict by improving U.S. abilities to protect host-country nationals who work with U.S. civilian and military organizations and who are partners in the pursuit of key political outcomes. The project’s findings will appear in a white paper and policy briefings.

James Poterba and Edward Glaeser will direct the research and publications program of a policy lab designed to improve the ability of U.S. policymakers to identify infrastructure investments that can increase economic growth. They will commission work that seeks to measure the social returns of infrastructure investment, assess the effectiveness of infrastructure spending as a tool to increase economic growth, and examine the cost drivers of infrastructure projects. The project’s findings will appear in a series of papers and reports.

Heather Conley will lead an effort to examine the potential trajectories of geopolitical competition in the Arctic and to identify the kinds of investments that would enable the United States to shape this contest. She will research current economic and military footprints of the major powers in the Arctic, project how they will evolve under varying assumptions, and develop recommendations for U.S. policy. The project’s findings will appear in a monograph.

Barry Blechman and Melanie Sisson will research and write a book examining how U.S. military forces can best be used to influence events short of combat operations. They will build a dataset of all instances of the use of U.S. military forces in support of diplomatic and political objectives between 1992 and 2017. They will analyze a sample of those cases to assess the degree to which the United States achieved its national security objectives over varying periods of time. They will also undertake several case studies of how Russia and China employ armed forces in similar settings.

Yuen Yuen Ang will research and write a book examining the role that corruption plays in the Chinese economy and China’s politics. She will collect and analyze data on corruption as well as insights gained from more than 400 interviews.

Daniel Goldhaber will direct the research and publications program of the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER). He will work with CALDER affiliates in a number of states and districts to answer questions in four broad education policy areas: what policies can best improve college and career readiness; what policies can promote the recruitment, advancement, and retention of high-quality teachers and principals; what policies can improve the poorest-performing schools; and what out-of-school factors most affect student achievement. The project’s findings will appear in a series of reports, papers, and policy briefings for state and district officials.

Hilary Hoynes will direct the research and publications program of the Opportunity Lab. The lab will examine the extent to which public policies, such as tax incentives, economic development strategies, or investments in human capital, can successfully improve the economies of distressed local areas. The lab will undertake work to understand better the causes and consequences of geographic disparities in income and growth and to assess the effectiveness of public policies to improve growth and opportunity in low-income areas. The project’s findings will appear in a series of papers, policy briefs, and presentations for policy officials.