Past Grants

Samantha Hoffman will research and write a book exploring the ideology and techniques behind China’s pursuit of “technology-enhanced authoritarianism.” She will collect and analyze materials on China’s deployment of new technology-assisted mechanisms of social management, including its “social credit system” and “smart cities initiative.”

David Marcotte will examine whether public school students are becoming more segregated by socioeconomic background at the school and classroom levels. Using data on more than 1 million students attending traditional public and charter schools in North Carolina between 2006 and 2017, he will assess whether there was an increase in the percentage of children from low-income families who were educated in schools and classrooms that largely serve children from a similar socioeconomic background. He will also explore whether the state’s policies toward charter schools affected levels of socioeconomic segregation. The project’s findings will appear in a series of papers.

David Neumark, Matthew Freedman, and Ben Hyman will examine whether targeted tax credits can be used to stimulate economic development and job growth in economically distressed areas. They will assess whether the more than $150 million spent each year on the California Competes Tax Credit leads to increased business investment, output, and employment among the recipient firms. The project’s findings will appear in a series of papers.

Daniel Runde will explore how the promotion of global private-sector development can advance U.S. national security objectives. He will conduct research trips to the Philippines, Tunisia, and Guatemala and convene a series of roundtables in order to explore how the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation might best counter China’s rising influence, stem the appeal of Islamist radicalism, and reduce forced migration. The project’s findings will be presented in a report.

Glen Howard and Matt Schrader will edit and publish China Brief, a biweekly report on key political, military, economic, and geopolitical developments in China.

Michaela Dodge will research and write a book describing how the United States and the Czech Republic collaborated on an effort to build a missile defense system based in the Czech Republic in order to identify lessons for alliance management across a variety of security policy challenges.

John Taylor will commission research and convene a conference to examine the history of the Mont Pelerin Society in promoting economic growth through fiscal and monetary policies, regulation reform, and trade policy. The project’s findings will appear in a series of presentations and an essay drawing on the conference proceedings.

Beth Schueler will examine the extent to which experience in high school debate programs can be a vehicle to increase student achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment rates. She will analyze data from two programs offered in the Boston Public Schools system. The first program is an after-school debate league that students can elect to join, while the second is an instructional program, based on principles developed in debate settings, that teachers use schoolwide. The project’s finding will appear in two papers and a series of presentations.

Michael Rubin will research and write a book exploring how adversaries of the United States use diplomatic engagement as a means of asymmetric political warfare. He will undertake field research in a variety of countries and organize a series of working groups to develop and refine policy recommendations.

Sheila Smith will research and write a book exploring nationalist political dynamics unfolding in geopolitical rivalries in East Asia. She will conduct archival research and interviews in Japan, South Korea, China, and Washington and analyze emerging challenges to the U.S.–engineered post–World War II settlement in East Asia.