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Michael R. Strain

Michael R. Strain

Writing for PS since 2022
18 commentaries

Michael R. Strain, Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author, most recently, of The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It) (Templeton Press, 2020).

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  1. An Off-Ramp from Trump’s Road to Ruin
    strain17_Win McNameeGetty Images_nikkihaley Win McNamee/Getty Images

    An Off-Ramp from Trump’s Road to Ruin

    Sep 14, 2023 Michael R. Strain explains why Republican voters are starting to see Nikki Haley as a promising presidential candidate.

  2. Why Industrial Policy Fails
    strain16_Scott OlsonGetty Images_UScarfactory Scott Olson/Getty Images

    Why Industrial Policy Fails

    Aug 15, 2023 Michael R. Strain highlights real-world factors that will always frustrate government-led efforts to reshape the economy.

  3. A US Recession Is Still Possible
    strain15_STEFANI REYNOLDSAFP via Getty Images_fed STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

    A US Recession Is Still Possible

    Jul 24, 2023 Michael R. Strain pushes back against the emerging consensus that an economic “soft landing” has become likely.

  4. The Inflated Sum of AI Fears
    strain14_artificial intelligence drug development_ai Getty Images

    The Inflated Sum of AI Fears

    Jun 14, 2023 Michael R. Strain predicts that artificial intelligence, like previous technological advances, will improve human welfare.

  5. Debt and Dysfunction in America
    strain13_BRENDAN SMIALOWSKIAFP via Getty Images_bidenmccarthy Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

    Debt and Dysfunction in America

    May 12, 2023 Michael R. Strain worries that the political drama playing out in Washington reflects a broader institutional failure.

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  1. khrushcheva171_MIKHAIL METZELPOOLAFP via Getty Images_putinkim Mikhail Metzel/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    Putin and Kim’s Cartoon Summit

    Nina L. Khrushcheva thinks that Russia's recent meeting with North Korea was intended primarily as a warning to the South.
  2. haykel18_MANDEL NGANAFP via Getty Images_mbs Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

    Saudi Arabia’s New Nationalism

    Bernard Haykel explains the reasoning behind the Kingdom's ongoing domestic- and foreign-policy transformation.
  3. wagner22_Lukas SchulzeGetty Images_pollution Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

    The Green Growth Mindset

    Gernot Wagner sees doctrinaire debates about capitalism as irrelevant or even deleterious to the decarbonization effort.
  4. mallochbrown17_GIANLUIGI GUERCIAAFP via Getty Images_africawomenpolitics Gianluigi Guercia/AFP via Getty Images

    Africa Is the Future of Multilateralism

    Mark Malloch-Brown explains why the continent should be at the forefront of efforts to bring about international reforms.
  5. op_yi2_PEDRO PARDOAFP via Getty Images_chinahousing Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images

    A Chinese Bubble Long in the Making

    Yi Fuxian

    The Chinese government is very good at covering up small problems, but these often pile up into much bigger ones that can no longer be ignored. The current real-estate bubble is a case in point, casting serious doubts not just on the wisdom of past policies but also on China's long-term economic future.

    traces the long roots of the country's mounting economic and financial problems.
  6. bp industrial policy Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

    Industrial Policy Is Back

    From semiconductors to electric vehicles, governments are identifying the strategic industries of the future and intervening to support them – abandoning decades of neoliberal orthodoxy in the process. Are industrial policies the key to tackling twenty-first-century economic challenges or a recipe for market distortions and lower efficiency?

  7. fischer208_DrAfter123Getty Images_AIhuman DrAfter123/Getty Images

    Is AI a Master or Slave?

    Joschka Fischer wonders whether humanity can even hope to maintain control in an era of “mega-crisis.”
  8. haldar25_BettmannGetty Images_friedmanreagan Bettmann/Getty Images

    Laying Chicago Economics to Rest

    Antara Haldar

    From breakthroughs in behavioral economics to mounting evidence in the real world, there is good reason to think that the economic orthodoxy of the past 50 years now has one foot in the grave. The question is whether the mainstream economics profession has gotten the memo.

    looks back on 50 years of neoclassical economic orthodoxy and the damage it has wrought.
  9. delong254_ Samuel CorumGetty Images_january6riot Samuel Corum/Getty Images

    America’s Broken Civic Bargain

    J. Bradford DeLong worries that Republicans have abandoned one of the core principles that sustains a democracy over time.

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