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Creating a True Marketplace in Education

HALF-DAY CONFERENCE
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
8:00 am (Luncheon to follow)

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

This Cato half-day Conference is free of charge.

The free market offers almost limitless choices in everything from what we eat, to the books we read, to the vehicles we drive. It's constantly at work, providing ever broadening opportunities for us to increase our happiness and realize our dreams. Yet, when it comes to American elementary and secondary education, there is no free market; government dictates where children will go to school, when they will go, what they will learn, and how much money will be spent. It's a lifeless system that produces poor academic achievement and widespread disaffection rather than a diverse array of effective educational options. So how do we go from the status quo to an alternative that thrives on the dynamism of the market? What are the essential requirements for such a system? Where can we find market-based education already at work? These and other questions will be tackled in a half-day conference that examines the potential, and track record, of improving education by using the power of the free market.

8:30--9:00 a.m. Registration
   
9:00
--
10:30 a.m.
Panel 1 -- What Is an Education Marketplace?
Watch Panel 1 in RealVideo
Listen to Panel 1 in RealAudio

John Merrifield
Professor of Economics
University of Texas at San Antonio

John Wenders
Professor of Economics, Emeritus
University of Idaho

Lisa Snell
Director of Education and Child Welfare
Reason Public Policy Institute

Myron Lieberman
Chairman
Education Policy Institute

   
10:30 a.m.
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12:00 p.m.
Panel 2 -- Education Today: Are We Closer to a Market?
Watch Panel 2 in RealVideo
Listen to Panel 2 in RealAudio

Andrew Coulson
Senior Fellow for Education Policy
Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Richard Vedder
Professor of Economics
Ohio University

Claudia Hepburn
Director of Education Policy
Fraser Institute

Robert Enlow
Executive Director
Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation

   
12:00--1:00 p.m. Lunch

This Cato half-day conference is free of charge. To register for this event, please fill out the form below and click submit or email events@cato.org, fax (202) 371-0841, or call (202) 789-5229 by 8:00 am, Monday, September 27, 2004. Please arrive early. Seating is limited and not guaranteed. News media inquiries only (no registrations), please call (202) 789-5200. If you can't make it to the Cato Institute, watch this forum live online.

Registration for this event is closed.

Cato Institute • 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. • Washington D.C. 20001-5403
Phone (202) 842-0200 • Fax (202) 842-3490