Renewed Institutions. Effective Government. Shared Prosperity.
Strengthening liberal democracy through innovative policy solutions.
Recent Analysis
States should collect DNA upon felony arrest
Strong research suggests DNA collection can prevent a crime from being committed in the first place.
Can Democrats win back the working class, with Joan Williams
How housing regulation holds back innovation and what HUD gets right about fixing it
Legal Immigration in Numbers: June 2026 Status Update
Featured Analysis
Washington, D.C.’s crime decline and its lessons for American policing
Washington, D.C., offers a rare opportunity to study how police departments throughout the country might, and in fact must, do more with less.
Classification rules everything around me.
What Silicon Valley can learn from the Eastern Establishment
Author Tanner Greer wants Silicon Valley to adopt a sense of national responsibility by emulating the Gilded Age establishment. But the generation that came after provides a better model: a mid-century elite that earned its legitimacy through bipartisan public service, meritocracy, and broad investment in the country’s future.
Baby Steps: A newborn credit relieves pressure on families
Congress is asking the right questions about America’s doctor shortage
Highlights
Hypertext
A Niskanen Center journal that debates how to best renew America’s political, economic, social, and cultural institutions.
Niskanen Center State Capacity USCIS Project
A practical application of state capacity principles to make the U.S. government more capable, responsive, and effective at administering legal immigration and delivering on its promises.
The Permanent Problem
A blog, podcast, and forthcoming book by Brink Lindsey about the challenges of capitalist mass affluence — in particular, how to make it sustainable, and how to translate material plenty into a society where most people can expect, in the words of John Maynard Keynes, to “live wisely and agreeably and well.”
The Realignment
The United States is in the midst of a dramatic political realignment with shifting views on national security, economics, technology, and the role of government in our lives. Saagar Enjeti and Marshall Kosloff explore this with thinkers, policymakers, and more.
The Vital Center
The podcast focuses on current politics seen in the context of our nation’s history. It highlights the policy initiatives of the Niskanen Center and other non-partisan institutions while drawing upon current academic scholarship and political literature from years past — including Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.’s 1949 classic “The Vital Center.”
The Science of Politics
The Science of Politics features up-and-coming researchers delivering fresh insights on the big trends driving American politics and policy today. In 30 minutes, you’ll get beyond punditry to data-driven understanding. Each episode goes in-depth on one hot topic in the news with two researchers who have just published relevant empirical studies. Hear about their new discoveries and get the broader context that’s lost in the daily news shuffle.
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