JHU-AEI Fellowship Exchange Program

This project will convene a diverse group of scholars, policy experts, former and current U.S. government officials, international voices, and representatives from the private and non-profit sectors in a roundtable discussion to reflect on the divergent perspectives that have emerged regarding the success of the global and domestic COVID-19 response. The conversation will not be a retrospective critique but a forward-facing exploration of how pluralism in expertise, values, and institutional roles can be constructively engaged in future crises. Drawing on the roundtable conversation, the project leaders will issue a summary report, a communication toolkit, jointly authored commentary, and a proposal for sustained engagement. They will also jointly host a symposium to share results of the discussion with interested faculty and students at JHU.

By most objective measures, the US Congress is struggling to achieve its constitutional mandate. There has been much work done to assess how Congress can be improved by augmenting its capacity and upgrading its internal organization, processes, workforce, and technology. There has been less study of whether changing the process of electing legislators can enhance the body’s performance. We will study how electoral incentives affect legislative behavior, and whether altering how elections are conducted (e.g., replacing party primaries) could improve legislative functioning.  The project team will issue a report on their findings, host a public event at JHU and at AEI, and integrate their research effort with JHU’s DC program in Spring 2026.

Issues of economic and military security have become ever more closely interwoven. Unfortunately, these subjects are often studied in isolation from one another. Moreover, policymakers and academics often take very different approaches, and so there are not many opportunities for students to consider these subjects in ways that are informed by rigorous academic study but geared toward an understanding of pressing policy issues. The project team will host a series of five discussions on the intersection of geopolitics and economics for a group composed of JHU students and AEI research assistants, and will invite other JHU faculty and AEI scholars to join these discussions as their expertise becomes relevant to unfolding policy issues.  The goal of the project is to create a forum for discussing potentially momentous policy changes, and their long-term impacts, in real time.

We are living through a profound transition from the post–Cold War era of U.S. primacy to an increasingly multipolar order—still centered on the US and China, but with middle powers and even small states asserting greater voice and agency in global affairs. Yet U.S. foreign policy and the architecture of international governance remain tethered to outdated paradigms premised on US dominance and stable alliances in the liberal West. This project addresses a pressing question of scholarly and policy significance: What will it take to build a peaceful multipolar order? The project leaders will host a 2-day symposium at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in DC with experts from academia, government, business and the media.

While liberal and conservative scholars may agree that employment is stabilizing and health-promoting, there is disagreement on whether policies should explicitly require people with mental illness and addiction to work to be eligible for treatment such as through Medicaid work requirements. We aim to (1) make a clear mapping of each state’s supported employment rules and reimbursement policies, (2) study national Medicaid claims to see who uses these services and for how long, and (3) bring state and federal officials together to set research goals. The project team will produce an academic paper, and organize a briefing for federal and state policy makers on the results.

What is liberal education, and what should it be? If such an education liberates, what does it liberate from? What virtues does liberal education cultivate? How does liberal education relate to the contemporary debates of political life, and how might it serve the public good? This upper-level undergraduate course, co-taught by a professor of postcolonial politics at Johns Hopkins University and a conservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, will bring together divergent perspectives around a set of landmark texts about liberal education. Our conversation will touch on both enduring questions about the character of liberal education and contemporary political controversies over just what our colleges and universities ought to be teaching.

This project will study the effects of modern utilization management tools, such as prior authorization, on patient access to drugs and inform broader policy debates about the balance between healthcare costs and access. Our analysis will quantify the real‑world impacts of these practices in pharmaceutical markets by leveraging a comprehensive, large‑scale dataset of formulary management and claims information. This dataset enables us to measure how often utilization restrictions are imposed and to observe subsequent prescribing outcomes. We will assess the extent to which these practices delay access to prescribed medications and drive patients to switch therapies or, in many cases, forgo treatment altogether. The project team will produce an academic paper and a policy briefing, and will organize a Capitol Hill briefing for congressional staff and healthcare stakeholders, a public event in Washington, DC, and a guest lecture in a Johns Hopkins University class.

Investment in clinical trials is vital for assessing the safety and efficacy of drugs, and streamlining the cost of drug development is a necessary component to ensure that patients have access to life saving treatments. Emerging innovative clinical trial designs are touted to improve efficiency and lower costs, and key stakeholder engagement is essential for widespread adoption. The aim of this collaboration is to develop the first in a series of courses for key stakeholders and BSPH students on the economic factors influencing drug development and opportunities to advance innovation in practice. A roundtable discussion with JHU faculty and students, AEI scholars and industry professionals on the future of clinical trials will be organized to inform course development and a reflection essay describing and assessing the fellowship experience will be shared with JHU and AEI colleagues.

This collaboration will involve the teaching of a joint course on the politics and economics of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.Enrollment will be open to JHU students (50%) and members of AEI’s Collegiate Network (50%). The purpose of the course will be to use the World Cup to engage an ideologically diverse group of students in conversation around a number of important economic, political, and sociological issues. This will help them further their understanding of political economy and public policy, expose them to both AEI’s and JHU’s research and culture, and expand their networks.

An AEI scholar and a JHU scientist will jointly lead a seminar on using cost-benefit analysis as a communications tool to inform stakeholders about public policies. All participants will undertake an original analysis of a specific policy in their area of expertise that has not been the subject of a cost-benefit analysis. The seminar will also seek to put this work in perspective by considering the appropriate role for cost-benefit analyses in the policy process. The seminar will be held at AEI and open to anyone affiliated with JHU or AEI, including alumni, with priority given to AEI analysts and JHU grad students and early-career researchers doing policy-oriented work.

The primary goal of this project is to appraise existing and alternative methods for evaluating research proposals in the US and internationally, with particular attention to how these approaches impact scientific rigor, reproducibility, and responsible decision-making. Our investigation will examine multiple proposal evaluation frameworks including: (1) systematic review of criteria used across agencies and foundations; (2) utility forecasting approaches, including impact predictions for high-risk research; (3) alternative scoring systems designed to reduce bias; (4) opportunity cost analysis methods for optimizing resource allocation; (5) science lotteries and other innovative mechanisms.  The project will produce a comprehensive report, a technical report and policy digest, and a public-facing essay; project leaders will also host at least one convening workshop at AEI with representatives from JHU, AEI and other project-affiliated organizations.