Publications and Analysis
Foundational Reading
To learn more about what we do and our most recent accomplishments, please see our 2024 annual report. To dive deeper into our distinctive vision, policy ideas, and approach to advocacy, explore the writings below or visit our “Key Initiatives.”
Theory
Institutional renewal. Effective government. Prosperity.
At a time when some of our most fundamental institutions are under attack, we believe that the most effective defense lies in recognizing their real and serious flaws while offering specific, constructive reforms.
The Center Can Hold: Public Policy for an Age of Extremes
The best way to quiet populist distemper and restore faith in democratic institutions is for those institutions to deliver effective governance. Public confidence will return only when government merits confidence by successfully solving real problems.
Faster Growth, Fairer Growth: Policies for a High Road, High Performance Economy
America’s 21st-century economic malaise and deepening social divisions have spurred a desperate search for radical alternatives to the status quo.
State capacity: what is it, how we lost it, and how to get it back
We see growing deficits in state capacity over recent decades as a matter of fundamental importance. At stake is not just the prospect for effective public policy in a wide variety of important domains; at this point, the legitimacy and continued vitality of liberal democracy are implicated as well.
Competitive egalitarianism: How to structure markets
Competitive egalitarianism, in short, is the natural ideology of the modern knowledge class, the guiding star of middle-class radicalism. It is the key to using what has traditionally been our greatest strength—an open, mobile, dynamic market—to generate more equally shared economic growth.
Culture eats policy
By paying more attention to the unglamorous but critical machinery of government that connects steering to the rudder, we can begin to change the culture of government, and start getting more of the outcomes our laws and policies intend.
The Future Is Faction
Building moderate factions within the two major parties is the best investment of time, energy, and money for those who want a more deliberative, entrepreneurial, and productive political system.
Moderation as a Political Strategy: A Niskanen Center Series
We live in an age of extremes. All around the globe, the forces of the center-right and center-left are losing ground to the seductive but false certainties of ideology and populism. The Niskanen Center believes that the best way to counter the tendency toward extremism is to create a new model of principled moderation. That’s […]
The Procedure Fetish
The lawyers need to get out of the way.
A state capacity agenda for 2025
An agenda for improving policy implementation through government reforms, hiring fixes, and investment in internal capability.
Transmission Stalled: Siting Challenges for Interregional Transmission
There is a strong case that transmission lines are in the national interest. However, these lines face the most regulatory difficulty due to the highly variable interpretation of public necessity by states.
Legal and Administrative Pitfalls that May Confront Climate Regulation
This paper surveys the legal vulnerabilities and administrative obstacles to the rapid adoption of regulatory measures capable of achieving meaningful GHG reductions.
Carbon Pricing and Regulations Compared: An Economic Explainer
This paper is intended to serve as an economic explainer comparing carbon pricing policies to regulatory policies. It introduces the economic basics of carbon pricing, provides a detailed comparison of carbon pricing and regulations, and discusses the potential impact of the interaction of the two types of policies.
Border Adjustments in a Carbon Tax
In designing a carbon-tax border adjustment, three important issues need to be considered: first, what industries and products would be eligible for the border adjustment; second, the magnitude of the border adjustment; third, whether policymakers need to consider the origin or destination of a good when applying import taxes or export rebates.
To end mass incarceration, focus on crime reduction.
Lawmakers should commit to policies that promote prevention, deterrence, and certain accountability. The result will be less crime, less punishment, and more justice.
The Need for Increased Funding for HOPE/SCF
Programs using SCF models have improved compliance, helping criminal-justice-involved people stay out of prison, qualify for parole, and/or fight substance abuse.
The Fight Over "Defund the Police"
What do people really mean when they say they want to “defund the police,” and who wants to do it? In a new paper, “Reconstructing Justice: Race, Generational Divides, and the Fight Over ‘Defund the Police'” this week’s guest, Michael Fortner, shows, among other things, that differences in opinion over police reform reflect age differences […]
State Violence, Legitimacy, and the Path to True Public Safety
George Floyd was—literally—killed by his government.
Safer, smarter, and cheaper: The promise of targeted home confinement with electronic monitoring
From a cost-benefit perspective, it is always the case that some incarceration is justified, some incarceration isn’t, and some as yet unrealized incarceration would be. Lawmakers should therefore seek policy changes that improve the crime control efficiency of any given prison population.
Immigration beyond the extremes: A blueprint that actually works
By aligning enforcement, admissions, government effectiveness, and core values, we can remake immigration into a strategic tool.
NEW RESEARCH PAPER: The Strategic Case for Refugee Resettlement
by Professor Idean Salehyan Professor of Political Science, University of North Texas Adjunct Fellow, Niskanen Center EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Trump administration has dramatically reduced the number of refugees resettled to the United States. For Fiscal Year 2018, the cap on the number of resettled refugees was lowered to 45,000, although the actual number of admissions […]
The case for updating Schedule A
Updating Schedule A will not eliminate all backlogs and processing delays, but it is an important step that the executive branch can take to alleviate administrative burdens and wait times, improve damaging labor shortages, and support the continued recovery of the American economy.
Report: The Conservative Case for a Child Allowance
Pro-work, pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-creative.
An agenda for abundant housing
Land values for many homeowners in hot markets would rise, not fall, at higher densities; meanwhile, renters often resist such density even though it would lower their costs. These gaps in the standard model point to possibilities for new arguments and coalitions to strengthen the emerging YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) cause.
Healthcare abundance: An agenda to strengthen healthcare supply
There’s a fundamental imbalance between the ever-rising demand for patient care and our ability to supply it. And it’s at the heart of our nation’s healthcare crisis.
Do We Really Want Expanded Work Requirements in Non-cash Welfare Programs?
On July 12, President Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers released a report titled “Expanding Work Requirements in Non-Cash Welfare Programs” in response to an April 2018 executive order on reducing poverty in America. The CEA’s basic argument is simple: The war on poverty has been won — properly measured, the poverty rate is just 3 percent, […]
A Social Safety Net for an Age of Uncertainty
It is too late now to meet the present crisis with a better social safety net in place, but it is not too late to learn from our mistakes. Who knows, maybe some bits and pieces of what is being cobbled together now can even serve as a framework to build something more permanent to deal with future crises.
