The year 2023 again saw the world mired in various geopolitical crises.

In these challenging times, Hoover fellows offered thorough analyses on a wide variety of trends, uncertainties, and emerging conflicts. These included conflict in the Middle East, the arrival of artificial intelligence to the forefront of public consciousness, China’s saber rattling on Taiwan, Russia’s continued war against Ukraine, and issues closer to home such as sustained learning loss in America’s schools, continued budget volatility in certain US jurisdictions, historic rates of inflation, and a polarized electorate. 

Below is a compendium of analysis by Hoover scholars sorted according to the Institution’s research priorities:

Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies

  • In his new tome, The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level, John Cochrane, Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow, argues that the root of inflation is when overall government debt is larger than people believe the government can or will repay.
    • Watch Cochrane discuss the book on an episode of Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson. 
  • Senior Fellow Amit Seru and colleagues analyze to what extent US banks hedged their asset exposure as monetary policy tightened in 2022.
    • In a Hoover Institution Q&A, Seru describes the factors that led to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
  • Stephen Haber, Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow, explains that the collapse of the claim that abundance of resource wealth—particularly crude oil—creates and perpetuates authoritarianism is instructive to scholars as they advance and test other theories about the global distribution of forms of government. 
  • Steven J. Davis, Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow, and colleagues describe their research on the evolution of work-from-home arrangements. 
    • In September, Davis chaired a conference about the implications of remote work.
    • Click here to listen to Economics, Applied, a Hoover Institution podcast hosted by Davis.
  • John F. Cogan, Leonard and Shirley Ely Senior Fellow, and Policy Fellow Daniel Heil chart rising incomes among senior citizens. They find seniors’ incomes are growing, largely due to investment returns and the fact that a sizeable number of them remain in the labor force. 
    • Read a Q&A about their research.
  • Daniel Kessler, the Keith and Jan Hurlbut Senior Fellow, and colleagues examine the effect of MD organizational reform on the prescription of opioids. 
  • Jendayi Frazer, Duignan Distinguished Visiting Fellow, and Peter Blair Henry, Class of 1984 Senior Fellow, argue in Foreign Affairs that many African states need to foster private-public partnerships and acquire better data to fill an infrastructure gap that will only get wider as they experience a “demographic explosion.”

Determining America’s Role in the World

  • In Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster’s Battlegrounds, the former national security adviser spoke with senior officials in governments around the world, including Sweden’s defense minister Päl Jonson, Liberian presidential candidate Clarence Moniba, and former Afghan National Army special forces chief Gen. Sami Sadat.
  • Articles by National Security Visiting Fellow Nadia Schadlow appeared in The Atlantic and the Wall Street Journal, writing about why accounting for time is valuable when engaging in strategic thought and how only America can restore world order.
  • Senior Fellow Russell Berman writes in The Caravan about the troubling support for Hamas barbarism expressed by some American academics after the October 7 attacks.
  • In the wake of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, Hoover Institution director Condoleezza Rice spoke about the scale of Hamas’s brutality and why the suggestion Iran doesn’t train and fund Hamas is fanciful.
  • Michael McFaul, Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow, argues in Foreign Policy that continued support for Ukraine isn’t just the right thing to do, it advances US foreign policy and national security interests.
  • Director Condoleezza Rice and Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, write in The Economist about what the Cold War can teach us about the new China-US rivalry.

Confronting and Competing with China


Revitalizing History


Understanding the Effects of Technology on Governance

  • Together with Stanford’s School of Engineering, the Hoover Institution debuted the Stanford Emerging Technology Review with an introductory video by Hoover director Condoleezza Rice and Stanford School of Engineering dean Jennifer Widom. The review aims to inform policymakers about the policy implications of frontier technologies, including cryptography, space exploration, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence. 
  • The Hoover Institution hosted its Tech Track 2 symposium with tech leaders, academics, and policymakers. The off-the-record event allowed attendees to foster greater ties while discussing urgent national security matters. 

Revitalizing American Institutions

  • The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) held a conference at Hoover, which began with Maryland governor Wes Moore and New Hampshire governor Christopher Sununu speaking with Director Condoleezza Rice about how to govern in a polarized era.
  • The second day of RAI’s conference included several panel discussions on enhancing trust in the executive branch, raising the tenor of civil discourse, fostering trust in America’s military, and instilling confidence in US elections.
  • In research published in June, Senior Fellow Justin Grimmer and colleague Eitan Hersh explain that voting reforms that purport to increase or decrease turnout have negligible effects on election outcomes. 
  • In January, Hoover hosted a conference called Legitimacy of Administrative Law, and later produced an essay series that examines the proper role of the administrative state within America’s constitutional order.
  • Also in January, election officials from across the United States gathered at Hoover for the Conference on Election Integrity, which involved a debrief of the 2022 elections, evaluating issues experienced on the ground with polling places.
  • Hoover Senior Fellow Josiah Ober coauthored The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives with Brook Manville of Babson College. 
    • Read this Q&A with Ober about the challenges democracy faces and how the study of ancient civilizations can help us overcome them.

Empowering State and Local Government


Reforming K‒12 Education

For more of the Hoover fellowship’s current research and analysis, please subscribe to the Hoover Daily Report. 

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