American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
<p>Many adults without a college degree aspire to some higher credential, but most overestimate the cost of higher education, which could deter them from furthering their education. Many adults without a degree in our survey were uncertain as to the wage returns to different postsecondary pathways. Those who did offer estimates tend to see the bachelor's degree as the most valuable credential and certificates as the least valuable. Adults without a postsecondary degree do not always see the value in returning to school, and efforts to encourage education and training should clarify the benefits to various postsecondary pathways.</p>
<p>Despite earning the inauspicious title in recent years as the shipping corridor with the highest number of piracy attacks in the world, regional responses to piracy and maritime security threats in the Gulf of Guinea, have been fragmentary. Maritime domain awareness remains low, interagency coordination is limited, and intra-regional coordination mechanisms that have been established are often underfunded. The highly fungible nature of maritime threats means that this challenge cannot be addressed solely by individual states but requires cohesive regional security cooperation. While progress has been made, stronger political commitments are needed at the national, regional, and international levels if the worsening trend of maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea is to be reversed.</p>
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
<p>In April of 2015, AEIs Claude Barfield authored a preliminary paper entitled The Political Economy OF TTIP: The View from the United States. The paper was presented at UC Berkeleys conference, The Political Economy of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): Origins, Evolution, and Implications, with the aim of providing a set of hypotheses regarding the immediate US trade agenda. The paper raises more questions than it answers, at a time when it is particularly challenging to render judgment on this agenda./p
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
<p>Malicious Iranian cyber activity has increased significantly since the beginning of 2014. Data collected by AEI and the Norse Corporation indicate that attacks launched from Iranian Internet protocol (IP) addresses increased 128 percent between January 1, 2014, and mid-March 2015. The number of Norse sensors hit by Iranian IPs rose by 229 percent, while the number of distinct IPs used to execute these attacks rose by 508 percent. Iranian companies are renting and buying IT resources in the West, despite sanctions. Hundreds of thousands of domains registered to Iranian people or companies are hosted by companies in the US, Canada, and Europe as a result of Western failures to enforce IT sanctions and regulations governing technology transfers. Some of these resources are then used to conduct cyberattacks on America and its allies. The Islamic Republic is using networks within Iran to conduct sophisticated cyberattacks. Investigations have uncovered efforts launched by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Sharif University of Technology to infiltrate US systems. The technical nature of the attacks makes it more likely that Iran's cyber capabilities are expanding and could pose a risk to US critical infrastructure.</p>
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
<p>For many years, we have reviewed polls about leading political figures, including Hillary Clinton. For this AEI Public Opinion Study, we have examined almost 5,000 questions asked about her and compiled views on Clinton as a first lady, senator, presidential candidate, and secretary of state. Polling data on Hillary Clinton include several long trends, including ratings of her favorability. The first such questions about her were asked in early 1992, when many people knew little about her. In Gallups trend, her favorable rating hit 51 percent in July 1992 after the Democratic convention. Gallup noted that the campaigns effort to improve her image had paid off. She did not receive a post-election bounce as Bill Clinton did, and Gallup reported that her favorable ratings had dipped slightly. Gallup noted that 26 percent of both men and women said they were worried that she would play too large a role in the administration. Forty percent in a November 1992 poll said she came closer to their own views than previous First Ladies, but 40 percent said she did not. Her marks went down in the 1994 to1996 period, hitting an all-time low of 43 percent in January 1996 (Gallup). During her Senate tenure, her national favorable ratings ranged from a low of 43 percent to a high of 58 percent. Her national favorable ratings when she served as Secretary of State were consistently high, though they have declined slightly since she resigned from office. Without a doubt, questions specific to the issues in the presidential race will emerge in the polling data as the race to 2016 heats up, and Americans views of Hillary Clinton will evolve as the presidential election season progresses. See the latest public opinion data on her in AEIs infographic and Public Opinion Study, Public Opinion on Hillary Clinton, 1992-2015./p
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
<p>Do Americans feel less threatened by terrorism now than they did when President Obama took office? The April issue of AEI's Political Report compares public opinion on the George W. Bush and Obama administrations' handling of terrorism, assesses how much terrorism concerns Americans, and assesses Americans' opinions on how the United States should respond to the threat of ISIS. This issue also examines public opinion on taxes, and where slight shifts have begun to emerge in the polls.</p>
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American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
<p>Chairman Johnson, Senator Carper, and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to appear here today to discuss unauthorized immigration to the United States and guest worker programs. In the testimony that follows, I will first discuss why people become unauthorized immigrants. I will then discuss what we know about unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. labor market. At the end, I will discuss how future guest worker programs can affect immigration flows and the U.S. economy.</p>
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
<p>The States of Change: Demographics and Democracy project is a collaboration supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation that brings together the Center for American Progress, the American Enterprise Institute, and demographer William H. Frey of the Brookings Institution. The projects goals are: To document and analyze the challenges to democracy posed by the rapid demographic evolution from the 1970s to 2060 To project the race-ethnic composition of every state to 2060, which has not been done for 20 years To promote a wide-ranging and bipartisan discussion of Americas demographic future and what it portends for the nations political parties and policy This report presents the first tranche of findings from this projectincluding detailed analyses on the nation as a whole and on every statewhich we hope will both inform and provoke discussion. We outline 10 broad trends from our findings that together suggest the scale of the transformation our country is living through and the scope of the challenges it will face in the future. These changes admit to a wide variety of interpretations, and as with any report as extensive as this one, it should not be surprising that there are some differences in interpretation among the participating institutions. We believe, however, that differing interpretations are to be welcomed and that they will be useful in stimulating discussion both within and outside our project on the implications of demographic change./p
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
<p>In the 42 years since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade (1973), pollsters have asked hundreds of questions about abortion. This AEI Special Poll Report, excerpted from our long AEI Public Opinion Study Attitudes About Abortion, covers some of the highlights.</p>