Religious Exemptions?: What the Free Exercise Clause Means

A conversation among three religious liberty scholars on the Free Exercise Clause’s original meaning.

Rational Nondelegation

The nondelegation doctrine, which forbids Congress from transferring excessive power to the executive branch, has risen from the dead.

What is an Establishment of Religion? And What Does Disestablishment Require?

Vincent Phillip Muñoz reviews a new book about the Establishment Clause.

The American Revolutions of 1776

America's founding was animated by both the spirit of liberty and the spirit of religion — a philosophical and practical achievement worth understanding and attempting to recover today.

Burnham’s Counterrevolution

Richard Reinsch reviews David T. Byrne's new biography of James Burnham.

Charles Kesler’s Struggle for the Founders’ Constitution

Charles Kesler’s defense of the American Founding from its critics on the left and right alike can help us recover our most cherished principles.

Causes Tending to Undermine a Democratic Republic

Commentary on de Tocqueville: Vol. One, Part Two, Chapter Nine

Yuval Levin on How the Constitution Unified our Nation – and Could Again

WSJ: The Legal Theory Behind Trump’s Plan to Consolidate Power

How to Save Our Urban Centers

What will the future of American cities look like?

National Poll from Civitas Institute: Americans Concerned About AI, Economic Issues

The Civitas Institute Poll, conducted from March 11-20, 2025, asked 1,200 Americans an array of questions about how things are going in the country.

Divorce, Family Arrangements, and Children's Adult Outcomes

This paper uses linked tax and Census records for over 5 million children to examine how divorce affects family arrangements and children's long-term outcomes.

Brains Versus Brawn: Ordinal Rank Effects in Job Training

Is it better to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?

The One-Two Punch Working Parents Need for Educational Choice

Innovative state-level approaches to education funding should inform new federal reforms.

‘American Oasis’ Review: The Lure of the Desert

The Southwest has recently sent left-leaning senators to Washington. As more minorities move there, the region might shift to the right.

How Federal Lands Can Be Used to Ease the Housing Crisis

To create affordable homes on federal lands, the federal government shouldn’t sell lands for development — it should lease them.

The Lone Star State Is Soaring

America's future will be made in Texas.

Arthur Brooks on the Secret to a Fulfilling Life

Populism Unpacked: Voices from the Heartland

Arthur C. Brooks on The Art & Science of Getting Happier: Live at The Texas Tribune

National Poll from Civitas Institute: Trump Victory Driven by Voters Who Reject Status Quo

The poll asked 1,200 Americans an array of questions about how things are going in America.

Climate Lawyers Try a New Approach

Heatstroke killed Julie Leon on a 108-degree day. A lawsuit blames oil companies.

The Specter of Chaos in New York

Could a Mayor Mamdani keep the city safe during Luigi Mangione’s trial?

Trump’s Iran Ceasefire Depends on American Oil

Trump has found his own formula — based largely on America’s tech savvy and energy abundance — to intimidate enemies and control friends.

Getting Right with Buckley

Sam Tanenhaus’s long-awaited William F. Buckley Jr. biography will leave conservatives disappointed.

Lord Andrew Roberts on Winston Churchill and the US-UK Special Relationship, Then and Now

Justin Dyer on Civic Education: Live at AEI's Future of the American University Conference

AI and the Future of Society and Economy

Large language and generative AI models like ChatGPT are the equivalent of the first automobiles: fun to play with, somewhat unreliable, and maybe a little dangerous. But over time, the lesson for will be clear: Who Learns Fastest, Wins.

Defending Technological Dynamism & the Freedom to Innovate in the Age of AI

Human flourishing, economic growth, and geopolitical resilience requires innovation—especially in artificial intelligence.

Partisan Trust in the Federal Reserve

This paper examines partisanship in public perceptions of the Federal Reserve.

Political Economy and the Rise of Commercial Humanism

Western attitudes toward commerce have transformed from early moral condemnation to a modern appreciation that sees trade as socially beneficial.

How We Built the Arsenal of Democracy

By unleashing the energy, creativity, and drive of the private sector to rebuild our defense-industrial base, we can trigger a tech-industrial revival of the American economy.

Firm Investment and the User Cost of Capital: New U.S. Corporate Tax Reform Evidence

This working paper analyzes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to examine how corporate tax reform impacts rates of investment.

It’s Not Easy, but We Can All Learn to Think like Adam Smith

To truly understand what a dynamic economy requires, we would do well to recover the 18th-century sensibility that understood dynamism as a social and cultural phenomenon as much as an economic one.

Locked Out of the Dream: Regulation Making Homes Unaffordable Around the World

The first in a two-part series on the global housing crisis.

Why the Damage to Fed Independence May Have Already Been Done

Arthur Herman on Mobility, Markets, and Natural Law

Edward Glaeser on Dynamism and Stagnation

Dynamism & Its Enemies: 2024 Austin Symposium Recap