Events Archive
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1999
What to Do When You Don't Want to Call the Cops:
A Non-Adversarial Approach to Sexual Harassment (12/15/99)
A Cato book forum featuring Joan Kennedy Taylor and J. H. Verkerke
Does it help women to think of sexual harassment primarily as a legal issue?
Joan Kennedy Taylor challenges the assumption that women are passive victims
who need government help. Drawing on research in non-traditional workplaces,
she describes factors that lead to the perception of sexual harassment,
such as demographic changes in workplace populations, differences in communication
styles, and faulty expectations. She tells both men and women how to deal
with harassment issues without calling in the corporate or legal authorities.
J. H. Verkerke, director of the Program for Employment and Labor Law Studies
at the University of Virginia, commented.
Medical Privacy Regulations: Will They Guard
or Endanger Confidentiality? (12/08/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring Gary Claxton, Ron Weich, Sue
Blevins, and Solveig Singleton.
The Clinton administration has set forth new rules meant to protect the
confidentiality of patients' medical records. Will those rules work, or
will they make access by government easier? Will the unique health identifier
to be assigned to each individual allow medical services to be delivered
more efficiently but itself invite invasions of privacy and tighten the
government's grip on health care?
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The New Americanism: Buchanan Responds to Clinton's
Attack on the "New Isolationism" (11/22/99)
Patrick J. Buchanan, a candidate for the Reform Party nomination for president
of the United States and author of A Republic, Not an Empire, answered
critics and outlined his vision for the future of American foreign policy.
This Forum is one in a series of Cato events at which presidential aspirants
share their views with the Washington policy community and the public.
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Seattle and Beyond:
The Future of the WTO (11/17/99)
A Cato Conference Featuring Susan Esserman, Douglas Irwin, Russell Roberts,
Brink Lindsey, Dan Griswold, Bill Lash, Mark Groombridge, John Burgess,
Razeen Sally, Jeffrey Schott, Paul Morris, Bob Vastine, Eric Koenig, Jutta
Hennig, Russell Roberts, Ron Cass, Grant Aldonas, and William Niskanen.
Is China a Threat to the Panama Canal?(11/15/99)
A Cato Institute policy forum featuring Richard Nelson, Atlantic
Council; Frank Gaffney, Center for Security Policy; and Michael
Shifter, Inter-American Dialogue.
At the end of this year, the United States will complete the turnover of
the Panama Canal to Panama. Meanwhile, the government of Panama has awarded
a contract to a Hong Kong-based shipping company to operate ports at either
end of the canal. Some analysts allege that the company has links to the
Chinese military and therefore poses threats to U.S. interests in the canal
zone and to U.S. security. Other analysts are skeptical of those claims.
Our panelists debate the issue.
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Unintended Consequences: The Impact of Factor
Endowments, Culture, and Politics on Long-Run Economic Performance(11/10/99)
A Cato Institute book forum featuring Deepak Lal, Professor of International
Development Studies, UCLA.
How do culture, politics, and the physical environment interact to affect
economic performance? Renowned development economist Deepak Lal will look
at geographical circumstances, religious thought, and historical incidents
to explain the West's dramatic escape from poverty. He will discuss how
individualism-an inadvertent legacy of the medieval Catholic Church-has
affected both cultural beliefs in the West and Western attitudes toward
the rest of the world. Lal believes that poor societies can benefit from
adopting Western commercial institutions but rejects the idea that modernization
is equivalent to westernization. Please join us to hear the newest contribution
to the debate about the effect of culture on development.
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AnnualCato Institute/Forbes
ASAP Technology & Society Conference: The Evolution of the New Economy
(11/04-05/99)
Scholars, entrepreneurs, and scientists considered the implications of the
knowledge revolution: Strong Crypto, Smart Cell Phones, and the End of Monetary
Sovereignty • Education for a High-Tech World • Resolving Disputes
in the New Economy • Spread Spectrum • Regulating the Frontiers
of Science: Will Mutant Plants Run Amok? • Competition in Domain Name
Space • The Science of Small: Nanotech & Molecular Switches
The Search for
Global Monetary Order (10/21/99)
Cato's 17th Annual Monetary Conference featuring James A. Dorn, Jerry
L. Jordan, Zanny Minton-Beddoes, Stanley Fischer, Anna
J. Schwartz, Pedro Schwartz, Judy Shelton, Mary Anastasia
O'Grady, Juan Andrés Fontaine, Steve Hanke, Roberto
Salinas-León, David Malpass, John M. Berry, Allan H.
Meltzer, Ronald I. McKinnon, Charles W. Calomiris, George
Selgin, William A. Niskanen, Peter B. Kenen, Leland
B. Yeager and Alan C. Stockman
The Coming Crisis in Long-Term Care Financing
(10/13/99)
Featuring Greg Scandlen, Cato Institute; Stephen Moses, Center
for Long-Term Care Financing; David Kendall, Progressive Policy Institute;
Joshua Weiner, Urban Institute; and Jim Martin, 60 Plus Association.
While Washington is fixated on the coming insolvency of Medicare and Social
Security, very little attention is being paid to the third leg of the stool
of elderly support programs -- long-term care needs. As the Baby Boom generation
retires early and lives longer, their LTC needs could bankrupt the country.
One estimate puts the financial impact of long-term care for the Baby Boom
generation at $1.5 trillion, much of which will go to support the LTC needs
of middle- and upper-class elderly people who artificially make themselves
eligible for Medicaid. This Forum presents contrasting points of view on
what needs to be done now to avert a financial catastrophe in the future.
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Beyond Prohibition:
An Adult Approach to Drug Policies in the 21st Century (10/05/99)
A Cato Institute conference featuring Gary Johnson, Daniel Lungren,
Julie Stewart, Michael Levine, Joseph McNamara, Ethan
Nadelmann, Steven Duke, and Daniel Polsby
Whither China?
The PRC at 50 (09/29/99)
A Cato Institute conference featuring Edward H. Crane, Hon. James
R. Lilley, Martin Lee, Yeung Wai Hong, Kate Xiao Zhou,
Barry Naughton, Peter Rodman, Robert Manning, Selig
Harrison, Minxin Pei, Thomas Rawski, Mao Yushi,
Mark Groombridge, Liu Junning, Marvin C. Ott, Jo
Kwong, David Li, Stuart Anderson, Doug Bandow,
Ted Galen Carpenter, William McGurn, James A. Dorn,
and Stefan Halper
Empowering
Health Care Consumers through Tax Reform (9/22/99)
A Cato Institute Book Forum featuring Grace Marie Arnett,
Stephen J. Entin, Robert E. Moffit, C. Eugene Steurle,
Robert B. Helms, Mark V. Pauly, John, C. Goodman,
and Michael Tanner.
"This book shows how tax reform can lead to more appropriate and more affordable
health insurance. It is worth careful reading by our policy makers and by
anyone concerned with health care in America." -Martin Feldstein, Harvard
University
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The Court Rediscovers Federalism: Is It the Real Thing? (9/17/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring Ronald D. Rotunda,
Albert E. Jenner, Jr., Professor of Law, University of Illinois College
of Law with comments by Lyle Denniston, Supreme Court correspondent
The Baltimore Sun.
After years of ignoring the principles of federalism, when not itself undermining
them, the Supreme Court at century's end has handed down a number of opinions
that move toward restoring the constitutional balance among states, individuals,
and the federal government. Whether reviving the doctrine of enumerated
powers (Lopez), protecting state autonomy (New York, Printz),
breathing life back into the Privileges or Immunities Clause (Saenz),
or reasserting its own authority (Boerne), the Court today is revisiting
federalism's "first principles" as it hasn't for most of this century. But
is the Court getting it right? And did the three federalism opinions the
Court issued on its final day in June do so? As the Court prepares for its
final term of the century, this forum discussed those questions with one
of the nation's leading constitutional scholars, the coauthor of the five-volume
Treatise on Constitutional Law, followed by comments from one of the nation's
leading Supreme Court reporters.
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The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: Thumbs Up
or Thumbs Down? (9/16/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring Steven P. Andreasen,
National Security Council Staff; and Marshall S. Billingslea, Senate
Foreign Relations Committee Staff.
The Clinton administration would like the U.S. Senate to ratify the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty--an international treaty that prohibits all explosive tests
of nuclear weapons. Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is holding up a vote on the treaty until
the administration submits other international agreements for congressional
scrutiny. Should a vote be allowed on the CTBT? Will U.S. ratification of
the treaty help stop, or at least impede, the proliferation of nuclear weapons
to nonnuclear states? Could the United States verify that other nations
were not cheating? If the United States ratifies the CTBT, will its nuclear
weapons remain safe, reliable, and militarily effective without testing?
Our participants debate the issue.
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Panel Discussion on Waco: The Rules of Engagement
(9/15/99)
A Cato Institute Panel Discussion featuring Bob Barr (R-Ga.),
House Judiciary Committee; David Thibodeau, Branch Davidian survivor
and author of A Place Called Waco; and David Kopel, Cato associate
policy analyst and co-author of No More Wacos.
Waco: The Rules of Engagement, nominated last year for an Academy
Award, offers a complete picture of the events surrounding Waco-from the
initial ATF raid on the Branch Davidian compound to the FBI's actions to
end the 51-day standoff to the 1995 congressional hearings on the tragedy.
In light of recent disclosures about governmental misconduct at Waco, a
panel discusses the ongoing investigation into the incident.
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The Conspiracy of Ignorance: The Failure of American
Public Schools (9/13/99)
A Cato Institute Book Forum featuring Martin Gross with comments
by David Boaz, Executive Vice President, the Cato Institute.
New York Times bestselling author Martin Gross has exposed the waste
and inefficiency inside the federal budget in previous books. In The
Conspiracy of Ignorance he diagnoses the educational child abuse in
our public schools.
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Social Security and the American Voter (9/09/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring Michael Tanner, Director
of Health and Welfare Studies, Cato Institute; John Zogby, President,
Zogby International; with comments by Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.)
What do American voters think about the options for Social Security reform?
Do they support privatization of the federal retirement program? How will
they respond to a candidate's position on the issue? The Cato Institute
released the results of a new poll by Zogby International, one of America's
leading polling companies. Discussion of the significance of those results
followed.
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The Future of Social Security (8/14/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring Michael Tanner, Director
of Health and Welfare Studies, Cato Institute; Lisa Davis, Senior
Policy Analyst, The Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare;
Jim Hutter, Professor of Political Science, Iowa State University;
Scott Hodge, Senior Fellow for Tax and Budget Policy, Citizens for
a Sound Economy.
Presidential candidates Steve Forbes and Alan Keyes who were
in Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa Straw Poll participated in this Saturday forum
on the future of Social Security.
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The F-22 Raptor: Should It Fly or Die? (7/29/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring Lt. Gen. Gregory Martin,
U.S. Air Force; Rear Adm. Eugene Carroll, Center for Defense Information;
Lane Pierrot, Congressional Budget Office; Michael O'Hanlon,
Brookings Institution; and Chuck Spinney, U.S. Department of Defense.
The House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Defense recently eliminated
funding for the production of the F-22 fighter. That stunning development
is likely to trigger a major debate in Congress on whether the United States
should purchase the aircraft. Proponents of the Raptor argue that this state-of-the-art
stealth aircraft is needed to keep the United States at the cutting edge
of air power technology. The aircraft's opponents maintain that the Raptor
is a costly Cold War relic that is unneeded in the more benign threat environment
of the post-Cold War era. Does the subcommittee's vote mean that the aircraft
is doomed? Should the United States continue to build the aircraft on its
current schedule, or should the program be delayed or even terminated? Our
panelists discuss the issue.
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National Missile Defense: Should the United States
Build a Land-Based or a Sea-Based System? (7/26/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring John Harvey, U.S. Department
of Defense; David R. Tanks, Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis;
Peter Huessy, National Defense University; and Charles Peña,
Missile Defense Consultant.
The Clinton administration has moved closer to deciding to deploy a national
missile defense (NMD) system by inserting money to produce the system into
the long-term defense plan. After several tests, the administration will
decide whether to produce the system in June 2000. The administration's
NMD program is oriented toward producing a land-based defense at one or
more sites in the United States. Critics of the administration's plan prefer
a sea-based approach that would use Navy Aegis ships. What are the advantages
and disadvantages of each type of system? Which is the best path to follow
on NMD? Our panelists debate the issue.
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Kawari: How Japan's Economic and Cultural Transformation
Will Alter the Balance of Power among Nations (7/15/99)
A Cato Institute Book Forum featuring Milton Ezrati, Chief Investment
Officer, Nomura Asset Management.
Within 10 years, Japan will bear little resemblance to the country it is
today, says Milton Ezrati, an expert on Japanese finance, business, and
politics. Japan is already taking steps to renew its economic growth and
strengthen its position on the world stage. As these reforms gather force,
Japan will become Asia's "headquarters nation"-the region's chief exporter
of ideas, expertise, and capital-and will necessarily develop a more aggressive
foreign and defense policy. At this Book Forum, Ezrati explains why "everyone
on the planet will feel Japan's metamorphosis in some way."
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Rethinking Employer-Sponsored Health Care? (7/14/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring Patricia Nazemetz, Xerox
Corporation; Mary Barker, Baxter International; and Dwight McNeill,
WayPoint Health
Americans have relied on employers for their health insurance coverage for
50 years, but that relationship may be coming to an end. Employers are unhappy
with the growing number and cost of mandates and regulations. Employees
are unhappy with the constraints of managed care, the lack of portability,
and the limited choices available to them. Physicians are unhappy with the
interference with the way they practice medicine. Politicians are unhappy
that the numbers of uninsured are growing even in times of prosperity. How
can the system be reformed to be more responsive and more cost-effective?
What comes next if employers drop coverage? How can employers extricate
themselves without causing too many dislocations? Three senior executives
with hands-on responsibility and experience presented their views on the
future of employment-based health care financing.
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EPA Rulemaking: Can It Survive the Nondelegation
Doctrine? (6/29/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring C. Boyden Gray, Wilmer, Cutler,
& Pickering, Chairman, Citizens for a Sound Economy; and David Schoenbrod,
Co-Founder, National Resources Defense Council, Professor, New York Law
School.
On May 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia shocked
the Washington establishment by striking down major air pollution regulations
promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because "the construction
of the Clean Air Act on which EPA relied in promulgating [the regulations]
effects an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power." What does
this mean for environmental rulemaking in the future? C. Boyden Gray, Washington's
preeminent regulatory legal analyst, and Professor David Schoenbrod, author
of Power without Responsibility: How Congress Abuses the People through
Delegation (Yale University Press, 1993) chew over the decision and
discuss the implications of a revival of the nondelegation doctrine.
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Big Airlines, Small Airlines, Big Government:
Who's Preying on Whom? (6/28/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring John R. Lott Jr., Author,
Are Predatory Commitments Credible?; Mark Kahan, Chief Operating
Officer, Spirit Airlines; William E. Kovacic, Professor of Law, The
George Washington University; and James H. Burnley IV, Partner, Winston
& Strawn, Former Secretary of Transportation.
On May 13, the Justice Department charged American Airlines with slashing
fares to snuff out low-price competitors. American argues that it simply
matched prices offered by its new rivals, then added capacity to meet increased
demand. But according to antitrust chief Joel Klein, "American crossed a
fundamental line: It operated at a loss for one reason--to kill off a competitor
so that it could then more than recoup those short-term losses through monopoly
prices." Government officials say that their 18-month investigation could
eventually involve other major carriers. Are those carriers using predatory
tactics to keep new entrants out of their markets? If so, are they likely
to succeed? Or is the Justice Department abusing the antitrust laws to prop
up unsuccessful firms? The full range of predatory pricing issues was discussed.
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Survival of the fittest? A Darwinian Take on
Microsoft, Regulation, and Competition (6/24/99)
This debate, which was held at the Forbes CEO Conference in Atlanta,
featured Robert Levy, Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies.
The debate is available for online viewing at Forbes.com.
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China in the Balance: The Case for Normal Trade
Relations (06/15/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring Featuring Nicholas Lardy,
Brookings Institution; Robert Kapp, U.S.-China Business Council;
and Ned Graham, East Gates International.
The future of U.S.-Chinese trade relations hangs in the balance this summer
as Congress makes its annual review of China's trade status. Meanwhile,
the United States and China are tantalizingly close to a deal on China's
entry into the World Trade Organization-which would put before Congress
the question of making non-discriminatory trade treatment of China on a
permanent basis. Critics of engagement argue that the threat of trade sanctions
provides leverage, while supporters contend that membership in the WTO will
open China's markets further and encourage the rule of law. Ned Graham,
son of evangelist Billy Graham and head of one of the major Christian organizations
active in China, shares his view of the beneficial impact that expanding
commercial ties have had on the work of Western missionaries in China. Other
panelists discuss the potential impact of WTO membership on human rights,
national security, and the American and Chinese economies.
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The Crisis in Global
Interventionism (06/10/99)
A Cato Institute conference featuring Edward H. Crane, Fred Smith, Jr.,
Brink Lindsey, Charles Wolf, Jr., James A. Dorn, Byeong-Ho Gong, William
McGurn, Martin Krause, Andrei Illarionov, Deepak Lal, Ron Krieger, Senator
Don Nickles, Robert Shapiro, Onno de Beaufort Wijnholds, Ian Vásquez,
and Lawrence White.
Limiting Leviathan: Faustian Bargains and Constitutional
Governance (06/08/99)
A Cato book forum featuring Donald P. Racheter, Executive Director
Public Interest Institute; Richard E. Wagner, Professor of Economics
at George Mason University; Roger Pilon, Director, Center for Constitutional
Studies, Cato Institute; and Jamin B. Raskin, School of Law, American
University.
As we take the fabled "bridge to the 21st century," we cannot forget that
one end rests firmly in this century - called, by many, the century of government.
Fascism and communism aside, even "free" societies have witnessed the growth
of leviathans that today dominate our lives. Nor can we forget that those
leviathans, and the problem of limiting them, will still be with us when
we step off the bridge into the new century. There comes now a timely volume,
Limiting Leviathan, that addresses that problem in a fundamental
way - by looking at Faustian bargains and constitutional governance.
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People's Republic of China: Red Tiger or Pink
Pussycat? (06/07/99)
A Cato policy forum, featuring Ross H. Munro, Center for Security
Studies; Alfred Wilhelm, Atlantic Council; and Joseph Cirincione,
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Recently, much congressional and media attention has focused on alleged
Chinese nuclear espionage and on Chinese launches of U.S. satellites. Less
attention has been paid to whether the Chinese military improvements that
might be made using such technology would severely erode U.S. security.
How modern and capable are Chinese military and nuclear forces today? Are
they likely to improve rapidly as a result of illicit technology transfers,
weapons purchases, or indigenous efforts? Is China a rising military colossus,
or are some elements of the U.S. foreign policy community merely searching
for a new enemy? What are Chinese strategic intentions? In short, is China
likely to pose a significant military threat to the United States? The panelists
discuss these issues.
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The Airline Passenger Bill of Rights: Protecting
Travelers or Raising Prices? (05/26/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Forum featuring David Schaffer, House Committee
on Transportation; James Gattuso, Competitive Enterprise Institute;
and Darryl Jenkins, George Washington University.
Various bills before Congress would create a "Passenger Bill of Rights"
requiring airlines to provide more information to travelers about flight
schedules and ticket prices, as well as compensation in certain cases of
delays and cancellations. Opponents maintain that such passenger service
regulation will drive up ticket prices and distract attention from the biggest
cause of delays, the government-owned Air Traffic Control system and airport
regulations.
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NATO's Balkan War: Finding
an Honorable Exit (05/18/99)
A Cato Institute Policy Conference featuring Ted Galen Carpenter, Alton
Frye, James Jatras, William H. Taft, IV, Doug Bandow, John Mearsheimer,
William Hyland, and Michael Radu.
Federalism: Reviving the Real Thing (05/17/99)
A Cato book forum featuring Micheal S. Greve, author of Real Federalism:
Why It Matters, How It Could Happen and Adam D. Thierer, author
of The Delicate Balance: Federalism, Interstate Commerce and Economic
Freedom in the Technological Age. With comments by Roger Pilon,
Director, Center for Constitutional Studies.
The founders sought to limit government through federalism -- by dividing
power between the federal government, the states, and the people -- which
the Civil War Amendments ratified. The New Deal Supreme Court essentially
eviscerated that arrangement. Subsequent efforts to revive federalism, which
were rooted in in misunderstandings of the idea, have been largely ineffective.
But in the past few years, both the Court and Congress, spurred by genuine
federalists, have begun to revisit the real thing. Two new books, one by
Michael Greve of the Center for Individual Rights, the other by Adam Thierer
of the Heritage Foundation, mark this revival. Please join us for a discussion
of genuine federalism.
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Getting Rich in America (05/14/99)
A Cato book forum featuring the coauthor, Dwight R. Lee, Professor
of Economics, University of Georgia.
Huey Long said, "You can be a millionaire," but his plan was a bit vague.
Now economists Richard McKenzie and Dwight Lee demonstrate that you can
become a millionaire in America by following "8 Simple Rules for Building
a Fortune and a Satisfying Life." Like The Millionaire Next Door,
Lee and McKenzie's Getting Rich in America (HarperBusiness, 1999)
shows how average Americans can amass real wealth through such simple habits
as education, thrift, and investment.
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Time for Mexico to Become a High-Growth Country
(05/12/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring Fausto Alzati, Centro Internacional
Lucas Alamán para del Crecimiento Económico (Guanajuato, Mexico), Roberto
Blum, Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo (Mexico City), and
Roberto Salinas León, TV Azteca (Mexico City).
Free-market reforms have improved the Mexican economy, but growth rates
have not been impressive in the 1990s, even excluding the effects of the
peso crisis. Fausto Alzati, head of a new think tank in Mexico, will explain
why that has been so and what he believes can make his country grow at a
rate of 7 percent or more for decades. Roberto Blum talks about the political
dynamics of achieving high growth, and Roberto Salinas León discusses the
prospects of major policy and institutional changes as Mexico enters its
presidential election cycle.
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F.A. Hayek's 100th Birthday Event at the Cato
Institute (05/08/99)
Appreciations of F.A. Hayek's life and work are presented by Dr. Ronald
Hamowy, Professor Emeritus of European Intellectual History at the University
of Alberta, and Dr. Stephen Macedo, Professor of Politics at Syracuse
University, and as of July 1, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics
at Princeton University.
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Nuclear Weapons: How Low Can We Go? (05/07/99)
A Cato policy forum, featuring Stansfield Turner, Former Director
of Central Intelligence; Mitch Kugler, Senate Governmental Affairs
Committee; and Michael Krepon of the Henry L. Stimson Center.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) II Treaty remains stalled in
the Russian Duma. But in a recently passed bill, the U.S. Senate linked
deploying a national missile defense with pursuing continued negotiated
cuts in nuclear forces. Is reducing the number of nuclear weapons below
START II levels a good idea? If so, how many warheads should be retained?
Should such reductions in weapons be made bilaterally with Russia? Or are
unilateral cuts in the U.S. nuclear stockpile desirable now that the Cold
War is over and the Russian nuclear arsenal is on the decline? Our panelists
discuss these issues.
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A Crisis in Internet Governanace: ICANN, Trademarks,
and Domain Names (05/06/99)
A Cato policy forum, featuring Professor Milton Mueller, Syracuse
University, Professor David G. Post, Temple University Law School,
and J. Beckwith Burr, NTIA.
ICANN was created to administer basic rules for the Internet such as those
determining how domain names are distributed. ICANN is now considering a
WIPO proposal to create a forum to review domain names for trademark violations.
When should an entity like ICANN assume functions usually performed by courts?
What happens to due process and freedom of expression? Is ICANN itself a
private or a governmental entity?
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Forfeiture Reform:
Now, or Never? (05/03/99)
A Cato Institute Center for Constitutional Studies conference featuring
Hon. Henry J. Hyde, E.E.(Bo) Edwards, Stefan Cassella, Roger Pilon, Ira
Glasser, Gordon Kromberg, James H. Warner and Samuel J. Buffone.
NATO Turns 50: Midlife Crisis or Terminal Illness?
(04/21/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring Michael Mandelbaum, Professor of American
Foreign Policy, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins
University; Alan Tonelson, Research Fellow, U.S. Business & Industrial
Council; Robert Manning, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations;
and Ted Galen Carpenter, Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy
Studies, Cato Institute.
This month the North Atlantic Treaty Organization turns 50. Gala celebrations
are scheduled in Washington as alliance representatives gather to discuss
NATO's post Cold War "strategic concept." With deepening involvement in
the Balkans and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's call for NATO to
become "a force for peace from the Middle East to central Africa," the alliance
is heading for serious changes. Is NATO simply in search of a new mission,
or is it terminally outdated?
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Is Oil a Strategic Commodity? (04/15/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring Robert Copaken of the U.S. Department
of Energy and Jerry Taylor of The Cato Institute.
The United States spends about $50 billion a year defending Persian Gulf
oil. Most people in the national security community take for granted that
oil is a strategic commodity. They assume that increased oil prices resulting
from aggression or instability in the gulf region would severely damage
the U.S. economy. Yet prominent economists from across the ideological spectrum
warned before the Persian Gulf War that the United States did not need to
go to war to ensure supplies of cheap oil. They argued that any increase
in oil prices would only have a modest effect on the U.S. economy. Which
view is correct?
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Win at All Costs: Prosecutorial Abuse in the
Federal Courts (04/14/99)
A Cato book forum featuring author Bill Moushey, Staff Writer, Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette.
Two years ago, reporter Bill Moushey launched an investigation of federal
prosecutorial practices. What he found is disturbing. In a collection of
10 articles titled Win at All Costs, Moushey documents how government
officials have lied, hidden evidence, distorted facts, engaged in cover-ups,
and set up innocent people in a relentless effort to win indictments, guilty
pleas, and convictions. Victims of that misconduct have sometimes lost their
jobs, their assets, and even their families.
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State and Local Government Retirement Programs:
Lessons in Alternatives to Social Security (04/07/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring Rick Gornto, Designer and Architect,
Galveston Alternative Plan; Valerie VanDeweghe, Benefits Administrator,
City of San Diego; Thomas Lussier, Executive Director, Massachusetts
Teachers' Retirement Board; and Carrie Lips, Social Security Analyst,
Cato Institute.
Five million state and local workers are exempt from Social Security and
instead participate in retirement plans administered on the state and local
level. Those plans provide valuable information for Social Security reformers
about the benefits and drawbacks of program structures. A panel of experts
discuss details of the state and local plans and the lessons they provide
for Social Security.
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The Economic Effects of Closing Military Bases
(03/22/99)
A Cato Policy Forum featuring Randall Yim, U.S. Department
of Defense, Barry Holman, U.S. General Accounting Office,
Bill Johnson, Office of Congressman James Hansen, Jeffrey
Simon, National Association of Installation Developers, and Ivan
Eland, Cato director of defense policy studies. The Clinton administration
has requested two more rounds of military base closures in fiscal years
2001 and 2005. Although the military supports those closings, Congress has
been concerned about the potential adverse economic effects in the local
areas surrounding the closed bases. But are the economic effects of base
closures negative or positive? Are they temporary or long lasting? Compared
with the national averages, how do areas that experience base closings fare
economically? What savings to the government are generated by closing unneeded
bases? Our panelists will address those issues.
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Is Foreign Aid Like Champagne? Assessing Overseas
Assistance (03/17/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring David Dollar, World Bank,
Nicholas Eberstadt, Harvard University, and Ian
Vasquez, Director of the Project on Global Economic Liberty, Cato
Institute.
According to a new report by the World Bank, much foreign aid in the post-World
War II era has been "an unmitigated failure." A large part of the reason
is that aid has often gone to countries with policy environments inimical
to growth. Loans conditioned on policy change were eventually created to
push countries to reform. But the report also found that "providing adjustment
loans to countries not serious about reform has been a major recent problem
of foreign aid." David Dollar, a principal author of the study, explains
how he believes aid agencies can solve those problems and why more aid is
justified in a world where so many countries are introducing policy change.
Nicholas Eberstadt questions both the aid agencies' abilities to reform
and the new rationales for aid at a time when countries are already liberalizing
their economies. Was economist Peter Bauer correct when he quipped, "Aid
is thus like champagne: in success you deserve it, in failure you need it?"
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Dollarization for Latin America? (03/16/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring Steve Hanke, Johns Hopkins
University, Guillermo Calvo, University of Maryland, and
William Niskanen, Cato Institute.
The devaluation of the Brazilian real is only the latest example of severe
monetary instability in Latin America. In response, President Carlos Menem
of Argentina is considering a plan to replace the peso -- already the region's
most stable currency -- with the dollar. To contain financial turmoil, should
other countries, including Mexico, Chile, and Brazil itself, dollarize their
economies? Will dollarization enhance economic growth or limit the ability
of countries to deal with external shocks and domestic financial emergencies?
Professor Hanke, who recently met with Menem to present a dollarization
plan, Professor Calvo, another leading expert, and Dr. Niskanen answer those
questions, explain how countries should officially dollarize, and discuss
Latin America’s prospects for a major shift in monetary policy. (For an
indepth discussion of this issue, see Cato Foreign Policy Briefing No. 52,
A Dollarization Blueprint for
Argentina, by Steve H. Hanke and Kurt Schuler.)
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National Missile Defense: Which Path Is Best?
(03/16/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring Charles Peña, Consultant
on Missile Defense, John Isaacs, Council for a Livable
World, Steve Cambone, National Defense University, Steve
Andreason, National Security Council, and Ivan Eland,
Cato director of defense policy studies.
The Clinton administration recently moved closer to deciding to deploy a
national missiIe defense (NMD) system by including money to produce the
system in the long-term defense budget. After several tests, the administration
will decide whether to produce the system in June 2000. If a decision is
made to produce it, deployment of the system will likely occur in 2005.
To permit deployment, the administration plans to negotiate changes to the
Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty with Russia. Meanwhile, ardent advocates
of NMD want to scrap the ABM Treaty and pass legislation that would require
deployment of an effective system as soon as it is technologically possible,
while the arms control community prefers to retain the ABM treaty in its
present form and forgo deployment of an NMD system. Which is the best path
to follow on NMD? The panelists debate the issue. (For more information
on national missile defense, see Policy Analysis No. 337, National
Missile Defense: Examining the Options, by Charles V. Peña
and Barbara Conry.)
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Washington's Iraq Policy: What Next? (03/11/99)
A cato policy Forum featuring Amb. Edward Peck, Former
Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy in Iraq; John Bolton, Former
Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; and
Ted Galen Carpenter, Vice President for Defense and Foreign
Policy Studies, Cato Institute. The Persian Gulf War ended nearly eight
years ago, but skirmishes between U.S. and Iraqi forces now occur almost
daily, with more than 65 incidents since December. Not since Desert Storm,
and the Vietnam War before it, have American forces engaged in such routine
and sustained combat against another country. Washington's Iraq policy has
turned into a low-level war of attrition with no end in sight, and there
is now increasing bipartisan support in the United States for backing Iraqis
who seek to oust Saddam Hussein. Three experts discuss the past, present,
and future of Washington's Iraq policy.
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Administering a Privatized Social Security
System: Can It Be Done? (03/09/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring Robert Genetski, Senior Managing
Director, Chicago Capital, Inc.; William Shipman, Principal,
State Street Global Advisors; David John, Senior Policy
Analyst, Heritage Foundation; and Dallas Salisbury, President,
Employee Benefits Research Institute. There is now a growing consensus on
the advantages of transforming Social Security to a system of individually
owned, privately invested accounts. However, questions are being raised
about their cost and benefits. At this forum a panel of experts will examine
whether individual accounts would be too costly and complex to administer?
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Jury Nullification: The Evolution of a Doctrine
(03/02/99)
A Cato book forum featuring the author, Clay Conrad, Criminal
Trial Lawyer, with comments by Joseph DiGenova, Former
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Randy Barnett,
Professor of Law Boston University. "In courthouses across the country,
an unprecedented level of juror activism is taking hold," reports the Washington
Post. Increasingly, jurors are choosing to ignore the instructions of trial
judges because "they don't like what the [law] says or how it is being applied
to a particular defendant." Government officials tell us that this phenomenon--commonly
known as "jury nullification"--represents a grave threat to our judicial
system. Is it? A new book by Clay S. Conrad maintains that the Framers of
the Constitution fully intended jury nullification to be a strong force
in American law.
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Cities Sue the Gun Industry: Anti-Violence
Mandate or Litigation Tyranny? (02/26/99)
A Cato Policy Forum featuring David B. Kopel, Research
Director, Independence Institute, and Jonathan E. Lowy,
Staff Attorney, Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. "Guns must now become
the next tobacco," declares the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. Indeed,
some of the same lawyers who took on the tobacco companies have devised
new legal theories to use against the gun industry. Whether the claim is
unsafe design or negligent marketing, a coterie of mayors has gun makers
in its cross hairs. Four suits have already been filed and more are on the
way -- to recover for the medical costs of gun-related violence, the cost
of police overtime, even the expense associated with cleaning blood off
the streets. Opponents of the litigation say it's untenable, designed simply
to extort money from a hapless industry.
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The Greedy Hand: How Taxes Drive Honest Americans
Crazy and What to Do about It (02/22/99)
A Cato Book Forum featuring the author Amity Shlaes, Editorial
Writer, The Wall Street Journal, with comments by Rep. Jennifer
Dunn, (R-Wash.), and Wendy Lee Gramm, Distinguished
Senior Fellow, Mercatus Center. This is not another policy wonk book on
taxation--Amity Shlaes reports from the grass roots about how the income
tax affects every aspect of life in America. Work, investments, education,
where we live and how we give to charity--all are distorted by our Mad Hatter
tax system. The Greedy Hand (Random House, 1999) takes us on a guided
tour of the problem and offers a provocative solution.
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Regulating Health Claims vs. Free Speech: Implications
of the Court's Ruling against the FDA (02/17/99)
A Cato Policy Forum, featuring Jonathan Emord, Attorney
for the Plantiffs, Charles B. Simon, Simon Cancer Prevention
Institute, and David Vladeck, Public Citizen. A U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently struck down the
Federal Drug Administration's dietary supplements health claims review process
on the grounds that it was arbitrary and violated commercial speech rights
under the First Amendment. Will this ruling further undermine the FDA's
control over information about health products and treatments and allow
greater consumer choice? Or will it open the door for fraud and abuse?
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Kosovo: The Prospects and Perils of NATO Intervention
(02/16/99)
A Cato Policy Forum featuring Col. Harry Summers (Ret.),
Distinguished Fellow, Army War College; Ivo Daalder, Visiting
Fellow, Brookings Institution; Fr. Sava Janjic, Spokesperson,
Archbishop Artemije's Kosovo Peace Movement; and Gary Dempsey,
Foreign Policy Analyst, Cato Institute. The United States recently unveiled
a plan to force Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic Albanians to negotiate a political
settlement or face NATO military action. Western diplomats say the alliance
will launch air strikes against Serbian military targets if Belgrade does
not cooperate. If the Kosovo Liberation Army does not cooperate, the alliance
will attempt to interdict the flow of weapons to it. With more than 200
NATO aircraft ready for air strikes and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
unwilling to rule out the deployment of U.S. ground troops, this discussion
of the prospects and perils of NATO intervention in Kosovo is very timely.
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Steel Imports: The Other Side of the Story (02/12/99)
A Cato Policy Forum featuring Mustafa Moharatem, Chief
Economist, General Motors, Jon Jenson, President, Precision
Metalforming Association, and Fernand Lamesch, Chairman
and CEO, Trade Arbed Inc. A rise in steel imports has provoked a furious
political response from U.S. steel mills. Calling on the government to "stand
up for steel," they have filed antidumping cases against Brazil, Japan,
and Russia and lobbied for quotas and other restrictions on imports. In
the flurry of full-page newspaper ads, 30-second TV spots, and Washington
rallies, it is easy to forget that many U.S. industries rely on and benefit
from steel imports. Indeed, steel-using industries employ 40 times as many
people as do steel producers. On the day the U.S. Commerce Department is
scheduled to release preliminary findings in the major steel antidumping
cases, please join us for a discussion of the positive role foreign steel
plays in the American economy.
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Clinton's Plan for Social Security: An Evaluation
(02/12/99)
A Cato Policy Forum featuring Gene Sperling, Assistant
to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic
Council; Michael Tanner, Director of Health and Welfare
Studies, Cato Institute; Carol Cox Wait, President, Committee
for a Responsible Federal Budget; Carolyn Weaver, Resident
Scholar, American Enterprise Institute; and Henry Aaron,
Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution. President Clinton has put forward
a plan for Social Security reform. A panel of experts discusses whether
the president's plan can "save Social Security" or merely make a bad situation
worse.
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Ceasefire! Why Women and Men Must
Join Forces to Achieve True Equality (02/11/99)
A Cato Book Forum featuring author Cathy Young, Vice President,
Women's Freedom Network, with comments from Mona Charen,
Syndicated Columnist. In spite of women's remarkable gains, harmony between
the sexes remains elusive. Many feminists view women as victims of patriarchy
and men. Many conservatives contend that the pursuit of equality was a mistake
and now call for a return to traditional roles. In her new book, Dissident
Feminist, Cathy Young argues that, whereas feminism once focused on
inequities in laws and social norms, it has become preoccupied with men's
personal mistreatment of women. Meanwhile, conservatives have developed
their own mythology of women's victimization--by divorce, by sexual liberation,
by pressure to work outside the home. Drawing on scholarly research, media
reports, and real-life cases, Young targets both feminist and anti-feminist
fictions.
Compare and Contrast: Four Private-Sector Ideas
for Health Care Tax Credits (02/10/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring David Lack, Council for Affordable
Health Insurance, Jesse Hixson, American Medical Association,
Brian McManus, Golden Rule Insurance Company, and Janet
Stokes Trautwein, National Association of Health Underwriters.
From Rep. Dick Armey (R-Tex.) to Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), from the
Progressive Policy Institute to the Heritage Foundation, there is widespread
consensus that the existing tax structure for health insurance is inequitable.
It advantages the wealthy more than the nonwealthy, employee health care
over individual converage, benefits over wages. Now come four proposals
from the private sector to reform the tax system to extend the same benefits
to all Americans. This forum explores the similarities and differences between
those proposals.
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Myths of Rich and Poor (02/04/99)
A Cato Book Forum featuring the coauthor W. Michael Cox,
Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Have we suffered from lackluster
productivity and falling real wages since 1973? According to the new book
from Cato Institute adjunct scholar W. Michael Cox and journalist Richard
Alom, that perception is not just wrong, it's spectacularly wrong. We're
much better off than we were a generation ago. We have more assets, more
leisure time, and higher-quality goods. Indeed, the poorest Americans have
a range of material goods that weren't available to middle-class families
in 1971. In his talk, Michael Cox will take aim at the "myths of rich and
poor" and ask why people believe so many thing that aren't true about our
economy.
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How the Russian Crisis Was Manufactured (01/29/99)
A Cato Policy Forum featuring Andrei Illarionov, Institute
of Economic Analysis. When the Russian ruble collapsed in August 1998, many
Western observers saw it as a failure of capitalism. Andrei Illarionov,
who predicted the currency's fall, will explain how the policies of post-Soviet
governments have kept Russia far from establishing a market economy and
how they culminated into the current financial crisis. Dr. Illarionov will
describe the perverse relationships between the state, Russian banks and
private enterprises and their influence on monetary and fiscal policy. He
will also discuss the International Monetary Fund's role in creating the
current turmoil and why official Russian economic statistics upon which
the Western mass media and international organizations rely are highly misleading.
You'll want to hear his analysis and his views on what Moscow should have
on its agenda.
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A Draft or Fresh Air? Alternatives to Conscription
(01/12/99)
A Cato policy forum featuring Maj. Gen. Al E. Lenhardt,
U.S. Army (Ret.), George C. Wilson, Former Defense Correspondent,
Washington Post, Doug Bandow, Cato Institute, and Capt.
Rosemary Mariner, U.S. Navy (Ret.). The military has recently reported
shortages of personnel. To solve the problem, some analysts and members
of Congress advocate resuming conscription. Instead, the military leadership
suggests increasing pay and retirement benefits to enhance recruitment of
new personnel and retention of existing personnel. Other analysts recommend
curtailing peacekeeping commitments overseas, which they argue are driving
people from the military. Still others maintain that an excessively large
military results in bloated personnel goals that could be reduced. Our panelists
will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of restoring the draft, as
well as those of alternative policies.
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