AEI's weekly digest of top commentary and scholarship on the issues that matter most
AEI This Week
AEI's weekly digest of top commentary and scholarship on the issues that matter most
A STRATEGIC RED FLAG
America's Depleting Weapons Stocks
March 28, 2026
The high-intensity war in Iran has been a stress test of America’s munitions inventory and production. In a new essay for The American Enterprise, John G. Ferrari and Dillon Prochniki warn ([link removed] ) that the conflict has exposed the shortcomings of America’s reliance “on small inventories of exquisite, ultra-expensive weapons”—especially in the event of facing more capable adversaries like China or Russia.
One of the most economically significant consequences of the rise of generative artificial intelligence is its capacity to accelerate productivity growth. AEI Economic Policy Studies Director Michael R. Strain explains ([link removed] ) why we should be confident the United States can successfully realize the positive potential of this rapid technological change without many of the downsides of past episodes like the Industrial Revolution.
Last week, the Treasury Department released its 2025 Financial Report, revealing that the fiscal gap—the amount of restraint needed to stabilize the federal debt—has widened from 4.3 to 4.7 percent of GDP. Using his own newly updated model, Mark J. Warshawsky reveals ([link removed] ) why even this official report’s sobering conclusions understate the scale of America’s worsening fiscal imbalances.
In January, President Trump proposed capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent—echoing Senator Elizabeth Warren’s long-standing position. In a new AEI report, Paul H. Kupiec demonstrates ([link removed] ) how this proposal would severely restrict consumers’ access to credit.
This week, AEI’s Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility launched the Opportunity Book. Building on significant progress by Congress and the president in reforming federal welfare in 2025, this web tool gives policymakers, journalists, researchers, and the wider public easy access to dozens of policy proposals from AEI scholars that would reduce government dependency and promote work and social mobility in areas including child support enforcement, tax policy, and education. Read Scott Winship and Kevin Corinth’s introduction ([link removed] ) and access the full web tool here ([link removed] ) .
How Important Is Single Parenthood?
Over the past decade, Raj Chetty’s Opportunity Insights (OI) team has transformed the study of intergenerational mobility using administrative data from the IRS to comprehensively map the geography of opportunity in America. However, little attention has been paid to the role of family structure in their findings. In a new Perspectives on Opportunity report ([link removed] ) , Scott Winship and Mariana Icaza Díaz review 11 major OI studies to assess what they reveal about the importance of family structure to upward mobility. The authors find that rates of single parenthood are among the strongest correlates of upward mobility—rivaling or exceeding more widely discussed factors like school quality, income inequality, and social capital. Chetty’s research makes clear that we should be paying more attention to the role of family structure in economic mobility, and Winship and Díaz identify further research avenues to assess its effects.
More from AEI
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
What the Donroe Doctrine Could Mean for China’s Economic Statecraft ([link removed] )
Audrye Wong and Derek Scissors | War on the Rocks
Anthropic and First Amendment Retaliation: Social Media Posts May Bolster the Lawsuit ([link removed] )
Clay Calvert | AEIdeas
Cesar Chavez and the Schools That Bear His Name ([link removed] )
Robert Pondiscio | The Next 30 Years
The Supreme Court Hears the Case on Mail Voting ([link removed] )
John C. Fortier | AEIdeas
AI Works in Education When It Makes Learning Harder, Not Easier ([link removed] )
John Bailey | AEIdeas
PODCASTS AND VIDEOS
The Affordability Challenge ([link removed] )
Michael R. Strain | Let People Prosper
Brian Hooks of Stand Together on Practicing Pluralism in Philanthropy ([link removed] )
Daniel Stid and Brian Hooks | The Art of Association
Shots Fired—Winning Here, Losing There ([link removed] )
John Yoo et al. | 3 Whisky Happy Hour
Who’s More Libertarian? Iran, Guns, and the Limits of Law ([link removed] )
John Yoo et al. | Law Talk with Epstein, Yoo & Cooke
Desecration, Not Disenchantment ([link removed] )
Jonah Goldberg and Carl Trueman | The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
So-called 'renewables' are not remotely renewable. To be sure, solar and wind technologies, coupled with storage, can contribute to the decarbonization of electricity. However, they are each built on a deep foundation of fossil fuels.
—Roger Pielke Jr. ([link removed] )
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