Ethan Allen Institute (EAI), founded in 1993, is a public policy research and education organization in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

focused on

free-market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

solutions. It is named after the 18th-century Vermont military leader Ethan Allen.

Mission

The organization's stated mission is to "influence public policy in Vermont by helping its people to better understand and put into practice the fundamentals of a free society: individual liberty, private property, competitive free enterprise, limited government, strong local communities, personal responsibility, and expanded opportunity for human endeavor."

History

EAI was founded in 1993 by John McClaughry. He served as president from 1993 to 2009, and as acting president in 2010. Currently he is EAI's vice president. Educated as a physicist and nuclear engineer, McClaughry served as a senior policy advisor in Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign of 1980, and subsequently in the White House Office of Policy Development until March 1982. He also served in the Vermont House of Representatives and

Vermont State Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members. Senate districting divides the 30 members into three single-member districts, six two-m ...

. In 1992, he was the Republican candidate for Governor, ultimately losing to incumbent Democrat

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 2009 ...

. EAI is governed by a ten-member Board of Directors. EAI's President is Meg Hansen.

Activities

EAI sponsors policy discussions, round tables and debates; hosts an annual Jefferson Day event each April; and issues a number of publications including a monthly digital newsletter and quarterly print newsletter. Commentaries and policy analyses written by the EAI team are published by most Vermont newspapers and several broadcast outlets. Current concerns are the state’s demographic and fiscal future, economic and business climate, education, health care, energy, transportation, property rights, and constitutionalism. In cooperation with the liberal Public Assets Institute, EAI in 2009 created a Vermont transparency web site to bring information and data about Vermont state government to interested citizens. In 2010, EAI launched an Energy Education Project to help Vermonters understand the economics of energy choices. EAI also sponsors Common Sense Radio, a weekday talk show program that airs on

WDEV WDEV (550 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Waterbury, Vermont. Programming is simulcast on WDEV-FM (96.1 MHz) licensed to Warren, Vermont. The stations' studios and offices are located near U.S. Route 2 in Waterbury. WDEV also oper ...

References

External links

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EDIRC listing
(provided by RePEc) {{authority control Political and economic think tanks in the United States Organizations established in 1993 Organizations based in Vermont