Ethan Allen Institute, founded in 1993, is an independent free-market

Free market

A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...

 think tank

Think tank

A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

 with activity restricted to Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization loosely affiliated with the State Policy Network. Free market philosophy has developed from the philosophies of Adam Smith

Adam Smith

Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...

, Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

, Friedrich Hayek

Friedrich Hayek

Friedrich August Hayek CH , born in Austria-Hungary as Friedrich August von Hayek, was an economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought...

 and Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...

.

Mission

EAI's mission is to influence public policy by helping Vermonters to better understand and put into practice the fundamentals of a free society: individual liberty, private property, competitive free enterprise, limited and frugal government, strong local communities, personal responsibility, and expanded opportunity for human endeavor. This policy aligns with such national think tanks as the Competitive Enterprise Institute

Competitive Enterprise Institute

The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit think tank founded on March 9, 1984 in Washington, D.C. by lobbyist Fred L. Smith, Jr to advance economic liberty and fight over-regulation by big government...

, the Heritage Foundation

Heritage Foundation

The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...

, the Cato Institute

Cato Institute

The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...

, and the American Enterprise Institute

American Enterprise Institute

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...

,

Origins

EAI was founded in 1993 by Illinois-raised John McClaughry (b.1937). He served as EAI's President from 1993 to 2009, and as acting President during 2010. Currently he is EAI's Vice President and editor of EAI's Ethan Allen Letter.
Educated as a physicist (AB Miami U. 1958) and nuclear engineer (MS Columbia 1960), he turned to political science in 1961 (MA U California-Berkeley 1963). He was 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.
McClaughry has served in the Vermont House (1969-72) and Senate (1989-92). In 1992 he was the Republican candidate for Governor. but was handily defeated by the incumbent Democrat Howard Dean

Howard Dean

Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...

.
McClaughry, a self-described “Jeffersonian libertarian distributist decentralist”, also served for 23 years as a founding board member and (for twelve years) chair of the E.F. Schumacher Society. He is co-author (with UVM Professor Frank Bryan) of The Vermont Papers: Recreating Democracy on a Human Scale (Chelsea Green, 1989). He has moderated the Town Meeting of Kirby, Vermont (pop. 500) since 1967.

Activity

EAI sponsors policy discussions, round tables and debates; hosts an annual Jefferson Day event each April; and issues a number of publications, including the monthly Ethan Allen Letter. Its commentaries are published by most Vermont newspapers and several broadcast outlets.
Current concerns are the state’s demographic and fiscal future; economic and business climate (favoring lower tax rates and less regulation and mandates); education (favoring parental choice and provider competition); health care (favoring consumer-directed health care and opposing single payer plans); energy (pro nuclear, skeptical of anthropogenic climate change

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

); transportation (favoring investment in highways); property rights (opposing eminent domain abuse

Kelo v. City of New London

Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the use of eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another to further economic development...

 and oppressive land use controls); and constitutionalism (opposing judicial activism.)
EAI does not address criminal justice issues, or “social issues” such as abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia, school prayer

School prayer

School prayer in its common usage refers to state-approved prayer by students in state schools. Depending on the country and the type of school, organized prayer may be required, permitted, or prohibited...

, and drug legalization. It also does not engage in lobbying, grassroots political action, or political campaigns.

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 with host Rob Roper that airs on Vermont's leading radio station WDEV

WDEV

WDEV is a radio station based in Waterbury, Vermont, USA. WDEV broadcasts on the AM band at 550 kHz, and WDEV-FM, licensed to Warren, Vermont, broadcasts at 96.1 MHz. The stations' studios and offices are located near U.S. Route 2 in Waterbury...

, [] 550 AM, 96.1 FM) at 11:05 am Monday through Friday.

Governance & finances

EAI is governed by an eleven-member Board of Directors chaired since 2007 by Dr. James F. Gatti, professor of finance at the University of Vermont College of Business. The board is augmented by an 18-member Advisory Council.
The typical EAI annual budget is $150,000, 75% contributed by over 500 members. Of this, 23% comes from foundation grants, business associations, and occasional events. Less than two percent of the Institute’s revenues comes from national corporations. EAI does no contract research or special advocacy, and neither solicits nor accepts taxpayer funds.