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
WHAT'S NEXT IN THE MIDDLE EAST?
How to Negotiate with Tehran
July 18, 2026
The breakdown of the memorandum of understanding with the resumption of hostilities is just the latest failure of US attempts to negotiate with Iran. Danielle Pletka explains ([link removed] ) what went wrong and what the US should be doing instead.
img-iranirgc020112_09104363698 ([link removed] )
Declining fertility and immigration have brought American population growth to a historic low. In a new essay for The Dispatch, Stan Veuger thinks through ([link removed] ) the negative implications of a smaller US labor force.
Policymakers can help grow the US labor force by reducing work disincentives in welfare programs. Matt Weidinger highlights ([link removed] ) the Trump administration’s ambitious new efforts to combat fraud in state unemployment programs.
In 2025, the Department of Agriculture stopped including the Food Security Supplement in the monthly Current Population Survey due to concerns that the data contributed to misleading narratives about food insecurity in America. In a new AEI Perspectives on Opportunity report, Angela Rachidi and Craig Gundersen assess ([link removed] ) the effects of the decision and propose restarting the measure with a new emphasis on very low food security.
Health insurers and federal and state governments are increasingly using utilization management policies that limit access to drugs to control costs while safeguarding quality of care. In a new paper for the Journal of the American Medical Association, Benedic N. Ippolito, Boris Vabson, and coauthors evaluate ([link removed] ) how these policies work in practice through a novel longitudinal study of more than one million individuals between 2018 and 2024.
Geopolitics of AI
Artificial intelligence is emerging and evolving in the context of intense global competition. In a new edited volume from Johns Hopkins University Press, Geopolitics of AI: Power, Conflict, and the Future of the Global Order, Hal Brands brings together ([link removed] ) leading scholars and policy analysts to analyze AI’s strategic implications. Contributors examine how breakthroughs in AI intersect with great-power rivalry, military competition, economic statecraft, and competing models of governance. Those rivalries will shape research priorities, regulatory approaches, and international norms and will determine whether AI becomes a source of cooperation, coercion, or conflict. Order a copy ([link removed] ) or download a complimentary digital version ([link removed] ) .
More from AEI
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Bet on Democrats’ Midterm Enthusiasm ([link removed] ?)
Matthew Continetti | The Wall Street Journal
Using Freedom Together: Tocqueville on Association and Self-Government ([link removed] )
L. Lynne Kiesling | Knowledge Problem
How to Strengthen the Climb from the Safety Net ([link removed] )
Angela Rachidi | Badger Institute
Lindsey Graham Made Trumpism in His Own Image ([link removed] )
Ross Douthat | The New York Times
Actually, Many College Students Do Pay the Sticker Price ([link removed] )
Preston Cooper | AEIdeas
PODCASTS AND VIDEOS
The Latest on Chronic Absenteeism ([link removed] )
Elli Lucas and Nat Malkus | The Report Card with Nat Malkus
America’s 250th! John Yoo on the Supreme Court in 2026 ([link removed] )
Danielle Pletka et al. | What the Hell Is Going On?
Dana Gioia ([link removed] )
Ben Sasse et al. | Not Dead Yet
Maoists Believe in Leprechauns ([link removed] )
Jonah Goldberg | The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
The Evolving Election Workforce ([link removed] )
John C. Fortier and Alysoun McLaughlin | The Voting Booth
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Individual socialists—Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Sanders, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani—are popular, especially among Democrats. But their charisma doesn’t extend to socialist policies or the [Democratic Socialists of America] itself. Successful conservatives will seize on this distinction between personality and principle and remind voters of socialism’s perverse incentives and desolate results.
—Matthew Continetti ([link removed] )
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