Each summer a group of student fellows apply AIER’s brand of unbiased, independent research to contemporary economic questions.

AIER’s summer fellowship program is a pillar of the organization’s mission to inform and educate the public. Incoming and current graduate students in economics take courses taught by a wide range of respected scholars.

Lessons in sound money, methodology, and property rights reflect the Institute’s core values.

Renewable Portfolio Standards require the electric power industry to include renewable sources of energy.

The United States’ dependence on energy imports of fossil fuels has resulted in political and economic insecurity, as well as the depletion of natural resources and increased pollution.

In 2009, fossil fuels accounted for 78.4 percent of the U.S. energy supply. Petroleum constituted 35.3 percent of the energy supply, while natural gas was 23.4 percent and coal was 19.7 percent. By contrast, nuclear power and renewable energy amounted to just 8.3 percent and 7.7 percent of the energy supply, respectively.

A water rights requirement popular in the West is meant to discourage wasteful use. But it doesn’t always work that way.

The water rights of much of the Western United States include a requirement of use it or lose it. Under this requirement, if an existing water right is not put to beneficial use for a period of years, that right will be forfeited and become available to other users (Huffaker 2005).

Use it or lose it is intended to discourage the wasteful use of water. In practice, it might do just the opposite.

Proponents of the land value tax say it encourages business. Economic theory predicts another outcome.

In 2008, property taxes represented 28 percent of revenue for local governments in the United States, totaling $400 billion. These taxes are the principal source of local governments’ revenues, dwarfing income and sales taxes.

Most of the policy debate about property taxes is concerned with marginal, or incremental, changes to the status quo—for instance, whether the government should charge an additional 1 percent tax to pay for a new school. But in this time of extraordinary budget deficits for local governments, many enterprising politicians are considering fundamental changes to the ways taxes are assessed.