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 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 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 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 and access the full web tool here.
