[6] AIER says it supports "personal freedom, free enterprise, property rights, limited government, and sound money".

[1] In 2019, the Museum of American Finance loaned its entire library collection to AIER, to be hosted, catalogued and made available there.

[16] AIER's stated mission is to "[educate] people on the value of personal freedom, free enterprise, property rights, limited government, and sound money.

[29][30] AIER issued a statement in October 2020 called the Great Barrington Declaration that argued for a herd immunity strategy of "focused protection" to be put into effect before the general availability of COVID-19 vaccines.

[30][32] Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert appointed by the White House, called the declaration "total nonsense" and unscientific.

[36] The declaration and its signatories, publicized by AIER's offshoot the Brownstone Institute, influenced some polices of U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

[37][9] AIER paid for ads on Facebook promoting its articles against government social distancing measures and mask mandates.

[10] In October 2020, Twitter removed a tweet by White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas linking to an AIER article that argued against the effectiveness of masks.[38][relevant?]

[40][41][42] Though AIER's campus is in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in recent years the majority of its programming has taken place at a variety of academic and conference venues around the country.