Manhattan Institute history

In 1980, the institute (then ICEPS) began publishing its Manhattan Report on Economic Policy, a monthly periodical featuring briefs by leading market economists and analysts.

ICEPS changed its name to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research in 1981.

David Asman was the first editor of the reports and continued the post until 1982.

The latter declares in its first sentence: "As accepted economic theory, orthodox Keynesian economics is dead". The institute sponsored a documentary film, "Good Intentions", in 1983 based on the book, The State Against Blacks, by George Mason University professor Walter E. Williams.

The institute had close ties to the administration of New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had become a regular at Institute luncheons and lectures after his failed mayoral campaign in 1989.

In 1990, the institute founded its quarterly magazine, City Journal, in response to perceptions that New York City was in a downward spiral, and broader anxieties about the perceived decay of American cities generally.

The Spring 1992 Issue of City Journal was devoted to "The Quality of Urban Life", and featured articles on crime, education, housing, and the serious deterioration of the city's public spaces.

The issue caught Giuliani's eye as he prepared to run for mayor again in 1993.

Lawrence J. Mone was named president of the institute in 1995, taking over from William H. Hammett.

The book paved the way for federal welfare reform in 1996.

In other areas of policy concern, the institute's director of legal policy James R. Copland in 2003 began a series of surveys on the civil litigation industry called Trial Lawyers, Inc.

In January 2005, the CTCT cautioned against the construction of a new United Nations structure over the Queens Midtown Tunnel, which would have increased the value of the tunnel as a potential terrorist target.

CTCT, and later CPT, continued publishing research until 2008 when it was absorbed into National Consortium for Advanced Policing.

In 2010, Institute senior fellow Steve Malanga (a former Crain Communications executive editor) published Shakedown: The Continuing Conspiracy Against the American Taxpayer.

Governing magazine columnist and urban-policy blogger Aaron Renn also joined the institute in 2012.