Search results for ""Independent Institute,U.S.""

In this eye-opening book, Professor James Bennett guides readers through centuries of one of the most underrated yet widely used aspects of American life—roads.Relying on history and economic data—and with a humorous and oftentimes sharp tongue—Bennett explains how important America’s highways and byways have been to everything from policymaking to everyday life.Crafting America’s roads took persuasion, planning—and more taxes than any politician could have dreamed of. And far too often their realization, thanks, in Bennett’s view, to flawed interpretations of the power of eminent domain, required destruction, sometimes on a massive scale, of long-established neighborhoods and important cityscapes.Likewise, the upkeep of America’s highways has been the center of many a policy battle, waged by Republicans and Democrats alike.Yes, we all want roads in good working condition—but just how and who will pay for them remain contentious questions.Bennett argues persuasively that the road forward just might be a second, but more serious, sustained look at, and local experimentation with, private roads and toll roads.Agree or disagree with him, Bennett has written a significant contribution to America’s ongoing debate about how her citizens should traverse, from “sea to shining sea,” its fruited plain.

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T. R. M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Pioneer tells the remarkable story of one of the early leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. A renaissance man, TRM Howard (1908-1976) was a respected surgeon, important black community leader, and successful businessman. Howard's story reveals the importance of the black middle class, their endurance and entrepreneurship in the midst of Jim Crow, and their critical role in the early Civil Rights Movement. In this powerful biography, David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito shine a light on the life and accomplishments of this civil rights leader. Howard founded black community organizations, organized civil rights rallies and boycotts, mentored Medgar Evers, antagonized the Ku Klux Klan, and helped lead the fight for justice for Emmett Till. Raised in poverty and witness to racial violence from a young age, Howard was passionate about justice and equality. Ambitious, zealous, and sometimes paradoxical, Howard provides a complete portra

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When the United States was born in 1776, Americans viewed the role of government as the protection of their individual rights, or liberty. At that time, and now again 200 years later, the enemy of individual liberty is an intrusive and regulation obsessed government. Over time, the ideology of democracy—the idea that the role of government is to carry out the will of the people, has displaced the ideology of liberty. Holcombe narrates an account of the political history that transformed the fundamental principle of American government form liberty to democracy. And why that shift from the protection of liberty to democratic collectivism has serious and negative economic and political consequences.

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Spying on citizens. Censoring critics. Imprisoning minorities. These are the acts of communist dictators, not American presidents....Or are they? The legacy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt enjoys regular acclaim from historians, politicians, and educators. Lauded for his New Deal policies, leadership as a wartime president, cozy fireside chats, and groundbreaking support of the “forgotten man,” FDR, we have been told, is worthy of the same praise as men like Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln.... But is that true? Does the father of today’s welfare state really deserve such generous approbation? Or is there a dark side to this golden legacy?The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR’s Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance unveils a much different portrait than the standard orthodoxy found in today’s historical studies. Deploying an abundance of primary source evidence and well-reasoned arguments, historian and distinguished professor emeritus David T. Beito masterfully presents a complete account of the real Franklin D. Roosevelt: a man who abused power, violated human rights, targeted dissidents, and let his crude racism imprison American citizens merely for being of Japanese descent. Read it, and discover how FDR: shamelessly censored critics of his administration, barred them from the public square, destroyed their careers, and even bankrupted them when possible; locked up Japanese-American citizens in concentration camps built on American soil; sowed the seeds of today’s out-of-control surveillance state; and much, much more... Here is an all too rare portrait of a man who changed the course of American history ... not for the better.Read it, and you’ll never view the fireside president the same again.

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T. R. M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Pioneer tells the remarkable story of one of the early leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. A renaissance man, T. R. M. Howard (1908-1976) was a respected surgeon, important black community leader, and successful businessman. Howard's story reveals the importance of the black middle class, their endurance and entrepreneurship in the midst of Jim Crow, and their critical role in the early Civil Rights Movement.In this powerful biography, David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito shine a light on the life and accomplishments of this civil rights leader. Howard founded black community organizations, organized civil rights rallies and boycotts, mentored Medgar Evers, antagonized the Ku Klux Klan, and helped lead the fight for justice for Emmett Till. Raised in poverty and witness to racial violence from a young age, Howard was passionate about justice and equality. Ambitious, zealous, and sometimes paradoxical, T. R. M. Howard provides a complete portrait of an important leader all too often forgotten.

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The American president is one of the most powerful people in the world. But to understand the presidency today we often have to learn from the past. Ivan Eland offers a new perspective in Eleven Presidents on the evolution of the executive office by exploring the policies of eleven key presidents who held office over the last one hundred years.

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Nazi Germany invaded France in 1940. In every occupied town, Nazi soldiers demanded that civilians surrender their firearms or else be shot. Despite the consequences, many French citizens refused to comply with the order. In Gun Control in Nazi-Occupied France, Stephen P. Halbrook tells this story of Nazi repression and the brave French men and women who refused to surrender to it.

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California's unfunded public pension liability, when measured correctly, is two to four times larger than official government estimates. The failure to fully fund the pension promises has allowed the current generation to receive public services that they are not fully paying for, pushing the pension problem onto future generations. California Dreaming explains how six reforms would solve the state's pension problem in an equitable, responsible, and moral way: preserving pension benefits already earned, providing competitive pensions going forward, and granting the flexibility needed so that future generations are not paying for deals they did not make.

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Human Action—a treatise on laissez-faire capitalism by Ludwig von Mises—is a historically important and classic publication on economics, and yet it can be an intimidating work due to its length and formal style. Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action, however, skilfully relays the main insights from Human Action in a style that will resonate with modern readers. The book assumes no prior knowledge in economics or other fields, and, when necessary, it provides the historical and scholarly context necessary to explain the contribution Mises makes on a particular issue. To faithfully reproduce the material in Human Action, this work mirrors its basic structure, providing readers with an enjoyable and educational introduction to the life's work of one of history's most important economists.

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Despite having surmounted numerous obstacles, the Affordable Care Act – also commonly known as “Obamacare” – remains highly controversial and faces ongoing legal and political challenges. The law’s staunchest critics want to repeal and replace the entire law, while even its supporters acknowledge that serious changes are needed. The question is: replace it with what? In A Better Choice: Healthcare Solutions for America, economist and John C. Goodman answers the question clearly and concisely. For anyone who wants to better understand Obamacare’s most serious problems and learn about some of the boldest prescriptions designed to remedy them, Goodman’s book is a must-read.

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The U.S. economy made impressive gains in the 20th century, but this progress makes it easy to forget a harsh reality: Americans were the victims of disastrous government policies that cost trillions of dollars in wasted resources, created mass unemployment, and kept millions of people in poverty who otherwise would have participated in the nation’s growing prosperity. A complete dissection of the 10 most egregious economic blunders of the past century, this work provides the key lessons to help in avoiding such policy mistakes in the future. The Terrible 10 notes that, unlike the private sector, when the governance of the federal government fails, the role and scope of government is usually increased and that politicians from both parties tend to favour short-run benefits for friends while imposing costs on current and later generations. With issues and blame divided equally among Democrats and Republicans, this work stands as a highly readable history of how government economic blunders affect everyone.

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A great supplemental text for the teaching of economics, this book offers a clear perspective and a passion for a deeper understanding of the subject. Economics is not merely a game to be played by clever professionals, but a discipline that touches upon the most pressing practical issues at any historical juncture. The wealth and poverty of nations is at stake; the length and quality of life turns on the economic conditions individuals find themselves living within. Touching upon a variety of subjects—including market socialism, political economy, and economics education—this reference contains the wisdom of an expert in the field.

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Some of the most recognized voices in American writing and academia contribute to this provocative forum concerning the terrorist crisis and its causes. Moderated by Lewis H. Lapham, this timely debate features conversations with noted author and vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy Gore Vidal; historian Barton Bernstein of Stanford University; economist and historian Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute; and Thomas Gale Moore of the Hoover Institution. Voicing opinions contrary to those espoused by the present administration and seldom heard in mainstream media, they discuss the definition of terrorism, the impact of U.S. foreign policy on the terrorist crisis, and the long-term significance of the September 11 attacks. Also examined are the potential curtailment of basic civil liberties, the effects of a global U.S. military presence, alternatives that would lessen the terrorist threat, and a lively question and answer session.

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Setting the record straight about the institution of academic tenure, this book elucidates its history, legal status, and common misunderstandings. Meiners argues that the original aim of tenure—to ensure academic freedom and integrity—can still be achieved and that the belief by many professors that tenure is a guarantee of lifelong entitlement, whereby only the commission of a crime can lead to dismissal, is wrong. He contends that as long as college administrators follow the rules of their own institution, there is little to prevent universities from dismissing tenured faculty who have become incompetent.

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Inequality is an exceptionally beautiful thing. Or maybe it’s a terribly ugly thing. It depends on what is unequal and why it is unequal. Love it or loathe it, this collection is full of insights about the connections among fairness, liberty, equality and the quest for human dignity. With egalitarian sentiments and concerns about inequality on the rise, In All Fairness proves to be incredibly timely. In this collection of essays, authors challenge recent misbegotten egalitarian ideas, exposing the quicksand on which they rest and the self-serving interests they often promote. While each chapter offers unique insights, the overriding theme is that fairness must rest on a conception of humanity that recognizes the dignity of each person—a dignity that requires everyone to respect individual choices and voluntary transactions.

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War and the Presidency: Restoring the Republic from Congressional Failure discusses the limited role for the presidency that our nation's founders envisioned and its evolution into an out-of-control imperial position of power. Dr. Eland concludes that the presidency has gained more power through congressional timidity and abdication rather than through presidential overreach. The written Constitution enshrined Congress as the dominant branch of government. Thus, the dangerous imperial presidency is contingent and can be rolled back only with a congressional reawakening. To get Congress to do this, the author suggests ways in which internal congressional incentives can be changed to provide motivation for a legislative pushback. The author also outlines important actions Congress could take in order to reign in executive power as well as structural reforms that might limit the role of the imperial presidency.

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Pope Francis and the Caring Society is a thoughtful exploration of the Pope's earnest call for a dialogue on building a truly compassionate society. Francis's fervent support for uplifting the poor and protecting the environment has inspired far-reaching discussions worldwide: Do capitalism and socialism have positive or negative social consequences? What is the most effective way to fight poverty? And what value does a religious perspective offer in addressing moral, political, and economic problems?Pope Francis and the Caring Society is an indispensable resource for consideration of these vital questions. Edited by Robert M. Whaples, with a foreword by Michael Novak, the book provides an integrated perspective on Francis and the issues he has raised, examining the intersection of religion, politics, and economics. Readers will discover important historical and cultural context for considering Francis's views, along with alternative solutions for environmental preservation, a defense of Francis's criticism of power and privilege, a case for market-based entrepreneurship and private charity as potent tools for fighting poverty, and an examination of Francis's philosophy of the family. Pope Francis and the Caring Society is essential reading for anyone interested in creating a better, more caring, and prosperous world.

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What did the American Founders actually intend for the country, and does it even matter today? If America began as an idea, then what kind of idea? In a time of increasing turmoil over American history, politics, and society, Crossroads for Liberty: Recovering the Anti-Federalist Values of America's First Constitution takes a surprising and thought-provoking look at the American Revolution, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, and asks what we can learn from them. Author William Watkins casts a critical eye on conventional wisdom about the Articles of Confederation, as he outlines the differences between that original U.S. governing document and the Constitution, which replaced it. He finds that the Articles protected individual liberty and community-centered government in ways that the looser language of the U.S. Constitution did not. Watkins draws from contemporary examples of bureaucratic overreach and expansion to support his argument—examples that were startlingly predicted by proponents of small government at the time of the Constitution's adoption. Along the way, he points back to the Articles and the values of the American Revolution as a framework for reimagining American politics to foster liberty and truly representative governance. Crossroads for Liberty arrives at an important time in American political life, and its reexamination of the American Founding presents a significant contribution to the story about America. Readers will come away with a greater understanding of current political and constitutional issues, as well as a new perspective on American history.

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The relationship among the federal government, the states, and parents with regard to education is increasingly dysfunctional. Parental control over their children's education has gained impressive momentum in recent years at the state level. Meanwhile, states have been increasingly willing to relinquish sovereignty over education in exchange for more federal dollars. Failure would help bring clarity to these issues by examining whether students and the country better off after 30 years with the Department of Education and suggesting alternatives to an ever-expanding federal education bureaucracy. Part I would begin by examining the development of the current Department of Education, including the legislation that gave rise to it, and the pressure groups that have shaped it. Additional chapters would examine related issues including the arguments for and against the creation of a national education department, its origin, current structure, spending, and growth over time. Part II would examine the results to date against the education department's own standards. These include overall student achievement nationally before and after the advent of the Department of Education as well as international comparisons of U.S. student achievement. Outcomes of some of the largest Department of Education programs would also be considered in this section, along with some of the lesser-known department programs and initiatives. Part III would examine truly federal alternatives to the current tug-of-war between the national and state governments in light of the growing parental-choice movement. Included in this section would be chapters examining a strict-constitutionalist model, which denies any federal authority in education. Another alternative model examined would be the National Bureau of Education model, inspired by the original 1867 precursor to the current Department of Education, whose primary mission was to serve as a repository of information so schools nationwide could emulate best practices. In addition, this section would seek to include cross-country comparisons of education systems of top-performing Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

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Today’s insurance regulation in the United States is at a crossroads: while some segments of the insurance industry are moving away from a state-based approach toward regulation, others favor a greater role for the federal government—despite the opposition from other stakeholders. Written by leading scholars in risk management, this book addresses some of the most important questions facing the future of state and federal regulation of the insurance industry. Examining not only the impetus behind various reform proposals, but also the historical development of insurance regulation in the United States, it discusses alternative regulatory frameworks used in the United States and in the European Union and, thereby, increases the options that reformers may wish to consider.

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Taking a close look at the dense fabric that our government weaves between war, state power, and economics, this collection of essays reveals the growing authority—and corruption—of the American state. Covering topics from the Lyndon Johnson presidency to the provocatively titled article “Military-Economic Fascism” on the military-industrial-congressional complex, it argues that the U.S. government consistently exploits national crises and then invents timely rhetoric that limits the rights and liberties of all citizens for the benefit of the few, be they political leaders or various industrialists in the areas of defense and security. As its title suggests, this book presents a clear narrative of trends and events—from the United States’ entry into World War II to the origins of income tax—causing individuals to question whether those in power are truly blind to the effects and causes of their policies.

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Probably no issue during the most recent financial crisis aroused more passion than financial institution bailouts. Focusing on the policymaking behind the decisions to bail out these institutions—not just during the most recent crisis, but also throughout history—this account argues that the genesis of financial crisis lies in government policy, whether in the mismanagement of monetary policy during the 1930s or in the extraordinary push of consumers into homeownership leading up to the current crisis. This detailed analysis is an essential read in order to understand why the United States has become so reliant on such interventions.

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Assembling a rich history and analysis of large-scale, private and voluntary, community-based provision of social services, urban infrastructure, and community governance, this book provides suggestions on how to restore the vitality of city life. Historically, the city was considered a center of commerce, knowledge, and culture, a haven for safety and a place of opportunity. Today, however, cities are widely viewed as centers for crime, homelessness, drug wars, business failure, impoverishment, transit gridlock, illiteracy, pollution, unemployment, and other social ills. In many cities, government increasingly dominates life, consuming vast resources to cater to special-interest groups. This book reveals how the process of providing local public goods through the dynamism of freely competitive, market-based entrepreneurship is unmatched in renewing communities and strengthening the bonds of civil society.

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Combining a history of Iraq and its dominant sects with an acute awareness of the political machinations fomenting worldwide, this keen military analysis offers a practical exit strategy for U.S. armed forces in Iraq—partitioning, a unique strategy that has been successful in other chaotic political situations.

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Nearly four decades after his death, the legend of Che Guevara has grown worldwide. In this new book, Alvaro Vargas Llosa separates the myth from the reality of Che's legacy, and shows that Che's ideals were a re-hash of notions about centralised power that have long been the major source of suffering and misery in the underdeveloped world. With testimonies from witnesses of Che's actions, Alberto Vargas Llosa's detailed account of the real Che sets the record straight by exposing the delusion at the heart of the Che phenomenon. Vargas Llosa shows that Che's legacy - making the law subservient to the most powerful, crushing any and all dissent, and concentrating wealth under the guise of social equality - is not the solution to poverty and injustice but is the core of the problem.Besides exposing the dark truths of Che's ideology and actions, "The Che Guevara Myth and the Future of Liberty" elaborates on attempts by both the left and right to suppress liberty and examines the manifestation of Latin American spirit throughout the ages, from early indigenous trade to today's enterprising communities overcoming government impediments. In so doing, the book points to the real revolution among the poor - the liberation of individuals from the constraints of state power in all spheres, public and private. Whether you love or hate Che, "The Che Guevara Myth and the Future of Liberty" will not leave you untouched and will provide a powerful, new perspective on how to overcome the challenges facing the Third World.

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The U. S. Department of Defense is actually one of the world’s largest planned economies. Like all planned economies, it has gross inefficiencies. This book is a penetrating analysis of the military-industrial-Congressional complex, and offers new insights into how meaningful reform can be achieved. Prior to World War II, the United States maintained insignificant military forces and weapons manufacturing industries during peace. But the weapons industry that has grown since the end of World War II inhabits an ill-defined zone between genuine private enterprise and complete government planning. Does this unprecedented military-industrial-congressional complex efficiently serve the public's interest in national security? In this book, eleven contributing scholars analyze such questions as whether overall military spending is too high or too low, why the military procurement system remains impervious to reform, and how special interests exploit the system. This book does not leave readers with simple solutions; depoliticizing defense spending and eliminating military procurement mismanagement will not be easy. But this book does lay the foundation of understanding to help necessary reforms take place.

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“Anyone concerned with social justice will find this book makes him question his assumptions, rethink his premises, and think!" —Andrew P. Morriss, professor, Bush School of Government and Public Service, School of Law, Texas A&M UniversityWhat is social justice? In these pages, twenty-one accomplished academics seek to do justice to “social justice.” Inequality exists and it obviously causes rifts in societies. But it’s not obvious how the government should address those rifts, or if it should address them at all. Have we forgotten the perhaps more efficient power of personal choice—and the corollary obligation: to serve our neighbors—to make our society more humane? Beginning with the first political philosophers in ancient Athens, and continuing right through Marx into our post-modern era, men have wrestled with the question of justice; and the answers have been as earnest as they have been varied. Today, our “expert” class also claim to have answers—updated answers, more “equitable” answers, more technological answers ... in short, answers that are simply better suited to our times.But are those answers in any way correct? Do they work? Are they—just? In these elegant, nuanced essays, the authors use the wisdom of ancient and modern philosophers to shed light on these important questions—and the answers are revealing. Armed with ample evidence from real-world experiences, lessons from history, the wisdom of the classics, modern philosophers, and even the teachings of the world religions, the contributors of Is Social Justice Just? Illuminate the central role of the individual in achieving justice in all its aspects. Read Is Social Justice Just? And discover: how to do social justice wrong with the poison of resentment, envy, and ignorance; how to do social justice right with the insights of philosophers and theologians; how to respect people’s rights and liberties without sacrificing true equality; and how to reform flawed public policies that just make everything worse. In a world of partisanship, hysteria, maliciousness, and good intentions attached to hellish outcomes, this landmark book enters the public discourse at a critical time. With a foreword by Jordan B. Peterson, a preface by Nicholas Rescher, and a collection of essays by some of the best and brightest scholars of our time, Is Social Justice Just? is a timely and urgent work. Read it, and you will begin to think about “social justice,” and justice, in some surprising new ways.

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Prediction has a venerable tradition among economists. In ""Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,"" John Maynard Keynes, the well known classical economist,—even as the Great Depression was unfolding—famously threw aside the contemporary ""attack of economic pessimism"" and predicted that a century later the ""standard of life"" in economically progressive countries would be ""between four and eight times as high as it is to-day."" History has generally vindicated this optimism. As a whole—like Keynes and other economists who have answered this question about the future—our experts are generally optimistic, although the optimism is carefully guarded in some cases. This optimism accords with the broader opinion held by economists surveyed about a decade ago, although the intervening ten years of disappointing economic performance appears to have tempered it a bit. The reasons for economic optimism are abundant but can be boiled down to the fact that economists expect technology will continue to improve provided that reasonable economic incentives to encourage this discovery and to implement its fruits persist. The predicted changes range from innocent innovations that will make life a bit more comfortable (such as the pillow that learns your sleep rhythms partnered with the coffee maker that knows when you have awakened) to potentially chilling technologies that might strip our human dignity (including the almost complete elimination of privacy and electronic supplementation of the brain embedded in a government controlled educational system). So pull up a chair and listen to our group of experts expound on what they think our economic future is going to look like in fifty years!

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What if what we think we know about ecology and environmental policy is just wrong? What if environmental laws often make things worse? What if the very idea of nature has been hijacked by politics? What if wilderness is something we create in our minds, as opposed to being an actual description of nature? Developing answers to these questions and developing implications of those answers are our purposes in this book. Two themes guide us—political ecology and political entrepreneurship. Combining these two concepts, which we develop in some detail, leads us to recognize that sometimes in their original design and certainly in their implementation, major U.S. environmental laws are more about opportunism and ideology than good management and environmental improvement.

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Human Action - a treatise on laissez-faire capitalism by Ludwig von Mises is a historically important and classic publication on economics, and yet it can be an intimidating work due to its length and formal style. Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action, however, skillfully relays the main insights from Human Action in a style that will resonate with modern readers. The book assumes no prior knowledge in economics or other fields, and, when necessary, it provides the historical and scholarly context necessary to explain the contribution Mises makes on a particular issue. To faithfully reproduce the material in Human Action, this work mirrors its basic structure, providing readers with an enjoyable and educational introduction to the lifes work of one of history's most important economists.

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Evaluating presidents on the merits of whether their policies promoted peace, prosperity, and liberty, this ranking system takes a distinctly new approach. Historians and scholars have long tended to give higher rankings to presidents who served during wartime, were well spoken, or exceeded in expanding the power of the executive office. However, this new examination cuts through these longstanding biases and political rhetoric to offer a new nonpartisan system of ranking that is based purely on how well each president's policies adhered with the founders' original intention of limiting federal power in all its aspects.As a result, the book provides an alternative history of the United States as seen through the founders' likely vision of subsequent presidential actions. These presidential rankings will surprise most and enlighten even acknowledged experts on the presidency.

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Discussing how government has continually grown in size and scope during the past century, this account demonstrates that the main reason lies in government’s responses to national “crises” (real or imagined), including economic upheavals and, especially, war. The result, this book argues, is the ever-increasing government power, which endures long after each crisis has passed, impinging on both civil and economic liberties and fostering extensive corporate welfare. Offering ideological explanations for the ascension of the role of government out of a capitalist, free-market economy, it will appeal to those with interests in political economy, American history, and libertarian politics.

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Providing students of economics, politics, and policy with a concise explanation of public choice, markets, property, and political and economic processes, this record identifies what kinds of actions are beyond the ability of government. Combining public choice with studies of the value of property rights, markets, and institutions, this account produces a much different picture of modern political economy than the one accepted by mainstream political scientists and welfare economists. It demonstrates that when citizens request that their governments do more than it is possible, net benefits are reduced, costs are increased, and wealth and freedom are diminished. Solutions are also suggested with the goal to improve the lot of those who should be the ultimate sovereigns in a democracy: the citizens.

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Great political and philosophical debates regarding the problematic results of central planning in the 20th century are presented in this collection of essays from classical liberal thinkers such as Adam Smith, John Locke, and modern liberals of various persuasions. After discussing such issues as constitutionalism and security, freedom and the moral society, and cognitive individualism, modern upholders of classical liberalism are allowed to respond to their critics, making this contemporary articulation of the tenets of classical liberalism of interest to politicians, scientists, philosophers, and historians.

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Was the so-called “Reagan Revolution” a disappointment regarding the federal systems of special-interest regulation? Many of that administration’s friends as well as its opponents think so. But under what criteria? To what extent? And why? When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, the popular belief was that the size of government would be cut and that some of the regulatory excesses of the prior decade would be rolled back. However, the growth of the federal government continued throughout the Reagan presidency and no agencies were phased out. What were the apparently powerful forces that rendered most of the bureaucracy impervious to reform? In this book, professional economists and lawyers who were at, or near, the top of the decision-making process in various federal agencies during the Reagan years discuss attempts to reign in the bureaucracy. Their candid comments and personal insights shed new light on the susceptibility of the American government to bureaucratic interests. This book is required reading for anyone wishing to understand the true reasons why meaningful, effective governmental reform at the federal level is so difficult, regardless of which political party controls the White House or Congress.

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When prison privatization began in the United States in the early 1980s, many policy analysts claimed that the result would be higher costs, declining quality, and an erosion of state authority. Bringing together five of the leading researchers of prison privatization and criminology, this authoritative survey addresses the economic as well as the social implications of prison reform. Economist Ken Avio begins with an analysis of the broader issues surrounding the private-prison debate, such as punishment and recidivism, and crime deterrence. Charles Thomas, the world's leading authority on private prisons, provides the empirical context for understanding the debate, examining their historical origins, present status, and future prospects. Samuel Jan Brakel and Kimberly Ingersoll Gaylord examine the costs and quality of private prisons, and Bruce Benson argues that prison privatization be instituted in concert with certain aspects of the criminal justice system.

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Is the U.S. tort system in crisis? CBS television's 60 Minutes has said the tort system metes out ""jackpot justice,"" and Newsweek has called America a ""Lawsuit Hell."" Other observers of the legal system, however, argue that the tort crisis is a myth. Although both sides of the debate rely primarily on anecdote and the selective use of evidence, a sound diagnosis of the tort system requires a rigorous analysis of hard data, not a retelling of sensationalistic sound bites.In Judge and Jury: American Tort Law on Trial, economists Eric Helland and Alexander Tabarrok present their study of tens of thousands of tort cases from across the United States. The result is the most complete picture of the U.S. system of civil justice to date. Examining three of the key players of the tort system (juries, judges, and lawyers), Helland and Tabarrok conclude that the tort system is badly broken in some respects but functions surprisingly well in others.

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Exploring the politics and morality that pulled the United States into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, this collection of essays, stories, and satirical pieces lambasts the highest officials in the executive branch for incompetence and moral blindness. Analyses of both wars and the crisis following 9/11 portray the conflicts as opportunities for special interests to entrench themselves in the U.S. government at the expense of U.S. citizens’ civil liberties and tax dollars, and the lives of numerous Afghan and Iraqi non-combatants. Pulling no punches, this work holds George W. Bush and members of his cabinet accountable for acts that would have been prosecutable were the defendants in question not government entities.

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Severance taxes on the extraction of oil, gas, and other natural resources have been very popular with politicians because they seem invisible in being spread among a large, diffuse taxpayer base. But do such taxes have serious negative consequences overlooked by legislators? Severance taxes—taxes levied upon the production of oil and natural gas—have long been popular with state governments. Such taxes are thought to have minimal impact upon the areas where petroleum wells are located, the costs of such taxes can be “exported” to a large and dispersed consumer base in other states, and an oil or gas well cannot be moved to another state where taxes are lower. Because of these factors, severance taxes seem like ideal taxes for legislators to impose. But how do severance taxes work in the real world? Are they really as painless as they sound? Because of the immobility of the resource being taxed, do states tend to overtax? In this provocative study, the authors survey state severance taxes and find they tend to lower petroleum production, reduce jobs in the states imposing such taxes, and have negative effects that can ripple throughout a state's economy. Severance taxes look like easy targets for state governments. But as this book demonstrates—using thorough analysis—such taxes are often downright counterproductive and can actually reduce total state tax revenues.

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Some have described the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a scientific bureaucracy with police powers. Does a “cult of infallibility” exist within the FDA, leading to decisions that are contrary to the best interests of patients and their physicians? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is one of the most powerful of federal regulatory agencies, if not the most powerful. It regulates over 25% of all consumer goods sold in the United States. It makes decisions on a daily basis that affect the lives of millions of people. While the FDA was created to protect the public, how well is it fulfilling this mission and whose interests is it actually protecting? In this book, four outstanding scholars examine how the FDA accumulated its enormous power and what effects it has had on the public. It also explores who actually benefits and loses from FDA actions, and whether alternatives exist to safeguard the health of Americans. This book raises serious questions about the wisdom of giving policing power to scientists with little oversight or appeal process, as the FDA currently does. It also argues forcefully that the FDA unnecessarily delays beneficial medicines and medical devices, many of which are routinely available in Europe, from being available to Americans.

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This is an authoritative study of the second amendment, using history and current-day analysis. It is one of the only scholarly works on the subject, but has proven widely accessible. Halbrook traces the origins of the Second Amendment back to ancient Greece and Rome, and then through the “freemen” movement in 18th-century England and France. He demonstrates that the framers of the Constitution were conscious of such history when they drafted the Second Amendment, and that the Second Amendment was clearly intended to allow possession of firearms not just for defense of personal life and property but also to prevent government infringement of human liberties. His meticulous, thorough scholarship demonstrates that the right to bear arms is as fundamental a right under the Constitution as freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

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Agricultural subsidies in grains, cotton, milk, sugar, tobacco, honey, wool, and peanuts are analyzed in this examination of U.S. farm policy. Looking at such programs as food stamps, crop insurance, subsidized credit, trade credit, trade subsidies and import restrictions, conservation, agricultural research, and taxation, this historical perspective argues that these subsidies ultimately redistribute wealth to powerful agricultural interests who use their political clout to advance their economic interests at the expense of the general public. This analysis of government farm programs will appeal to professors and students who study agriculture; people affected by government farm policies; public officials, and businesses affected by agricultural policy such as those in food service, retail, and distribution.

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Unique and well-researched, this study concentrates on the right to keep and bear arms and analyzes the incorporation of the Bill of Rights into the Fourteenth Amendment. Examining the history of the recognition of the right of freedmen to keep and bear arms in the period between 1866 and 1876, this comprehensive volume analyzes the extent to which American political society was willing to secure the same civil rights to all without regard to race or previous condition of slavery.

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All developed countries in the world today, especially in the U.S., face a common problem: they have promised more than they can deliver. People are expecting benefits for which taxpayers are not likely willing or able to pay. In addition, the benefits that government provides are all too often delivered inefficiently, impersonally, inflexibly, and in a way that encourages perverse behavior on the part of the beneficiaries. In New Way to Care: Social Protections That Put Families First, the author, John C. Goodman, considers this dilemma and explores reasonable alternatives to our current dependency on inefficient government programs. Dr. Goodman guides us through the governmental maze of healthcare, social security and other governmental insurance programs, and offers important solutions that are relevant for today.

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What if what we think we know about ecology and environmental policy is just wrong? What if environmental laws often make things worse? What if the very idea of nature has been hijacked by politics? What if wilderness is something we create in our minds, as opposed to being an actual description of nature? Developing answers to these questions and developing implications of those answers are our purposes in this book. Two themes guide us—political ecology and political entrepreneurship. Combining these two concepts, which we develop in some detail, leads us to recognize that sometimes in their original design and certainly in their implementation, major U.S. environmental laws are more about opportunism and ideology than good management and environmental improvement.

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China’s rise over the past several decades has lifted more than half of its population out of poverty and reshaped the global economy. What has caused this dramatic transformation? In China’s Great Migration: How the Poor Built a Prosperous Nation, author Bradley Gardner looks at one of the most important but least discussed forces pushing China’s economic development: the migration of more than 260 million people from their birthplaces to China’s most economically vibrant cities. By combining an analysis of China’s political economy with current scholarship on the role of migration in economic development, China’s Great Migration shows how the largest economic migration in the history of the world has led to a bottom-up transformation of China.Gardner draws from his experience as a researcher and journalist working in China to investigate why people chose to migrate and the social and political consequences of their decisions. In the aftermath of China's Cultural Revolution, the collapse of totalitarian government control allowed millions of people to skirt migration restrictions and move to China’s growing cities, where they offered a massive pool of labor that propelled industrial development, foreign investment, and urbanization. Struggling to respond to the demands of these migrants, the Chinese government loosened its grip on the economy, strengthening property rights and allowing migrants to employ themselves and each other, spurring the Chinese economic miracle.More than simply a narrative of economic progress, China’s Great Migration tells the human story of China’s transformation, featuring interviews with the men and women whose way of life has been remade. In its pages, readers will learn about the rebirth of a country and millions of lives changed, hear what migration can tell us about the future of China, and discover what China’s development can teach the rest of the world about the role of market liberalization and economic migration in fighting poverty and creating prosperity.

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In his academic work, Robert Higgs has dissected the government's shrewd secret excesses that lead to the Welfare State, the Warfare State, and the Administrative State. For several decades he has unstintingly chronicled the federal, state, and local governments' malfeasance in these many areas of life that all levels of government have intruded upon without Constitutional mandate. In this book, however, are essays that show a whimsical, introspective, and personal side of this world renowned scholar. From the myth that the government has derived its powers from the consent of the governed to the role of independent experts in formulating monetary and fiscal policy; from the government's duplicity in announcing the unemployment rate in a given month to how the state entraps us, if you want to see a true polymath at work, these lofty, serious, sad, and illuminating essays will educate you beyond what you had thought possible about life, liberty, and the economy.

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