Last year was the first time in human history that the global fertility rate fell below the replacement level. Macroeconomist and AEI John H. Makin Visiting Scholar Jesús Fernández-Villaverde explores the causes and consequences of this seismic change.

While demographic decline poses a long-term challenge to the global economy, in the short term China’s mercantilist ambitions threaten its stability and openness. Writing in Foreign Affairs, China expert Aaron Friedberg shows how a trade defense coalition among market-based economies can stymie China’s predatory practices.
 
Alongside such defensive measures, economic sanctions remain a potent offensive economic tool. In a new AEI report, Chris Miller and Caroline Nowak assess the significant impact of Western sanctions on the Russian auto industry and draw parallels with possible future sanctions on China.

Confronting these issues will require strong presidential leadership. In a beautifully written history for AEI, Gary J. Schmitt reveals what the construction of the White House and Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s plan for Washington, DC, say about the founders’ hopes for an energetic executive.

The enduring importance of our nation’s founding ideals has inspired the creation of new schools of civic thought at public universities across the country in recent years. Writing in Commentary, Yuval Levin puts this pivotal movement in the larger context of the long-running battle for the soul of the American university.