Research at AIER

AIER is a leader in the creation, dissemination, and promotion of top-tier academic research. Our research encompasses a variety of disciplines including monetary economics, political economy, and defending freedom against collectivism. AIER’s academic scholarship is  influential in shaping public opinion as well as informing debates on regulation and public policy.

The AIER research faculty includes resident scholars at our main campus in Great Barrington, Massachusetts as well as a network of nonresident affiliate faculty at other institutions. Our resident faculty have published in leading academic journals and top university presses.

AIER scholars excel not only in the creation of original academic research but also in sharing ideas with the public. We promote current research by resident and nonresident scholars through our Sound Money working paper series and our Public Choice and Public Policy working paper series, both of which are freely available online. This research is often discussed in our quarterly publication the Harwood Economic Review and our Daily Economy articles as well as in leading media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Politico, Newsweek, National Review, and Reason Magazine.

Monetary Economics

Monetary policy influences inflation, employment, and economic activity. A stable but dynamic monetary system is vital for supporting economic growth, individual liberty, and a prosperous society. Therefore, we examine the causes and consequences of monetary policy (including inflation), identify ideal and practical steps towards a better monetary policy regime, and look at monetary alternatives and financial regulation.

People

Thomas L. Hogan

Thomas L. Hogan, Ph.D., is senior research faculty at AIER. He was formerly the chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. He has also worked at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Troy University, West Texas A&M University, the Cato Institute, the World Bank, Merrill Lynch’s commodity trading group and for investment firms in the U.S. and Europe. Dr. Hogan’s research has been published in academic journals such as the Journal of Macroeconomics and the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. He has appeared on programs such as BBC World News, Stossel TV, and Bloomberg Radio and has been quoted by news outlets including CNN Business, American Banker, and the National Review.

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Economics and Economic Freedom

A free and prosperous society requires a functioning market economy at its foundation. Using a broad array of tools drawn from price theory, public choice analysis, Austrian theory, and classical empiricism, our study of economics and economic freedom explores the underpinnings of the market system, the roots of economic prosperity, and emerging threats to the same in the public policy sphere. Our work includes the measurement of freedom and providing practical economic information for people to make better decisions.

People

Jason Sorens

Jason Sorens, Ph.D., is Senior Research Faculty at AIER. He is also Principal Investigator on the forthcoming New Hampshire Zoning Atlas. Jason was formerly the director of the Center for Ethics in Society at Saint Anselm College. He has researched and written more than 20 peer‐​reviewed journal articles, a book for McGill‐​Queens University Press titled Secessionism, and a biennially revised book for the Cato Institute, Freedom in the 50 States (with William Ruger). His research is focused on housing policy and land-use regulation, U.S. state politics, fiscal federalism, and movements for regional autonomy and independence around the world. He has taught at Yale, Dartmouth, and the University at Buffalo and twice won awards for best teaching in his department. He lives in Amherst, New Hampshire.

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Defending Freedom, Fighting Collectivism

Against collectivist impulses, the defense of freedom, personal responsibility, and the moral, political, legal, and economic foundations of a free society is ever necessary. Protecting the American experiment in ordered liberty is a debt that we owe to the past, and a challenge to pursue in the future. We examine the following issues in this area: the case for free trade vs. protectionism, individualism vs. the new collectivists (DEI/Critical Theory/Marxism/Social Democracy/Economic Nationalism/etc.), shareholder capitalism vs. ESG and stakeholder capitalism, foreign policy for a free society, and the foundations and first principles of freedom and free markets.

People

Samuel Gregg

Samuel Gregg

Samuel Gregg is Distinguished Fellow in Political Economy and Senior Research Faculty at the American Institute for Economic Research. He has a D.Phil. in moral philosophy and political economy from Oxford University, and an M.A. in political philosophy from the University of Melbourne. He has written and spoken extensively on questions of political economy, economic history, monetary theory and policy, and natural law theory. He is the author of sixteen books, including On Ordered Liberty (2003), The Commercial Society (2007), Wilhelm Röpke’s Political Economy (2010); Becoming Europe (2013); Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization (2019); The Essential Natural Law (2021); and The Next American Economy: Nation, State and Markets in an Uncertain World (2022). Two of his books have been short-listed for Conservative

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