Cato Institute, Washington, DC
Simple Rules for A Complex World by Richard A. Epstein
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1995
Simple Rules for a Complex World brings together Richard Epstein’s pioneering work in a number of areas and relates them all to the moral and legal foundations of the free society.
Rejecting the idea that the increasing complexity of today’s world necessitates the continual creation of new laws and rules of order, Epstein argues that society asks too much of the law. The resulting complexity ‘tends to place the power of decision in the hands of other people who lack the necessary information and whose own self-interest leads them to use the information that they do have in socially destructive ways.’ As an alternative, the Cato book outlines a short list of simple rules that would provide the basis for a comprehensive legal order capable of meeting the technological challenges of today, while still respecting individual freedom and choice.
Noting that the job of the law is not to promote virtue but rather to redress force and breaches of contract, Epstein prescribes six rules: Individuals are self-owners; individuals may acquire unappropriated property; individuals may make contracts with other people; the law of tort shall redress violations of individuals such as murder, rape, theft, robbery and fraud; private property may be violated only when there is overwhelming necessity; and whenever government violates private property, whether by regulation or outright taking, it must compensate the owner. Taken together, these rules would provide the basis for a comprehensive legal order capable of meeting the technological and social challenges of today while still respecting individual freedom and choice.
Co-published by Harvard University Press, Simple Rules for a Complex World gained exposure far beyond the public policy community. It was named one of The New York Times Notable Books of 1995. In addition, a number of conferences were devoted solely to the work.
The Independent Institute, Oakland, CA
The Academy in Crisis: The Political Economy of Higher Education, John W. Sommer, ed.
The Independent Institute, Oakland, CA, 1995
The Academy in Crisis puts the alliance between the state and higher education under the microscope. It highlights the high price universities pay for government involvement and dispels many common myths about the benefits of government-supported higher education.
A series of thought- provoking essays expose student-aid programs as subsidies for the un-needy, highlight how federally subsidized research threatens the values of openness, collaboration, and collegiality which are at the core of universities and of science, and explores how federal money corrupts the universities? educational mission.
According to one reviewer, ‘For professors and administrators who profit from the status quo, this book will be inconvenient. For those who want to know how universities really work, it will be indispensable.’ The book formed the basis for a cover article in The Economist, and extracts were published in The World & I and Society.
The Locke Institute, Fairfax, VA
Trade Protection in the United States by Charles K. Rowley, Willem Thorbecke and Richard E. Wagner
Edward Elgar Publishing, Brookfield, VT, 1995
The Locke Institute’s Trade Protection in the United States methodically delivers a case for free trade, which during the 1996 election cycle offered an important antidote to the ‘close the borders’ rhetoric of the likes of Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot.
Rowley, Thorbecke and Wagner apply a public choice perspective to their analysis of trade issues, looking at the behavior of major players in the formation of trade policies. They conclude that a constitutional amendment imposing unilateral free trade would be the best means of limiting government involvement in this area and encouraging widespread prosperity.
As Robert E. Baldwin, Hillsdale Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin, wrote, ‘in this impressive book the authors provide critical new insights into trade policy’. They carefully and systematically analyze the main players in the formation of trade policies, namely common interest groups in the private sector, the House and Senate, the president, and the government bureaucracy. Their conclusions should stimulate a fundamental rethinking of U.S. trade policy.’
Reason Foundation, Santa Monica, CA
Revolution at the Roots: Making Our Government Smaller, Better, and Closer to Home by William Eggers and John O’Leary
Hartholls Limited, London, UK, 1995
Revolution at the Roots examines how limited government, personal responsibility and the power of private actions in a competitive marketplace result in a freer and more prosperous society. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Doctors of Downsizing,’ William Eggers and John O’Leary spent two years traveling the country, looking for instances where the public sector was being effectively reformed through privatization and the introduction of market competition. The Wall Street Journal called the result ‘a reality-grounded book stuffed with innovative case studies in privatization and voluntarism.’
The Reason Institute book, which combines easy-to-read political theory with practical accounts of how that theory translates into action, found a wide audience. In the first year of its publication, the book attracted over 114 press reviews and opinion editorials, and over 70 radio and television interviews. In words that would delight Sir Antony Fisher, the Indianapolis Star noted, ‘Unlike other recent books on government reform, this one is accessible to and aimed at the average citizen.’ Several state and local governments, including Hawaii, Nebraska, Salt Lake City and Tulsa, invited the authors to participate in workshops on improving government operations. Eggers and O’Leary delivered over 100 speeches in nearly 60 cities, bringing their message of smaller, closer-to-home government to over 5,000 public officials and political activists across America.
Additionally, the book served as the basis for a number of programs hosted by other institutes in the Atlas network including the Cascade Policy Institute in Portland, Oregon, which hosted a workshop at which business leaders had an opportunity to explore the ideas put forth by Eggers and O’Leary.
Competitive Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC
The True State of the Planet , Ronald Bailey, ed.
The Free Press, New York, NY, 1995
The release of The True State of the Planet was timed to coincide with the celebration of Earth Day, when many in the anti-capitalist ‘environmental movement’ use scare-mongering to generate publicity in favor of government interventions. This book by Competitive Enterprise Institute provides ammunition for a counter-attack, demonstrating the central role of property rights and market-driven economic growth in making the world healthier and cleaner.
The True State of the Planet received extensive media attention, becoming a hot topic of conversation on talk radio shows around the country and garnering favorable reviews in national newspapers and magazines. The Wall Street Journal heralded it, saying, ‘this volume’ is full of evidence likely to put any environmentalist fantasy on the endangered species list.’ The book has also been added to college course reading lists around the country.
Reflecting CEI and the authors’ commitment to producing a book that is both intellectually rigorous and accessible, The True State of the Planet has enjoyed a broad readership for a piece of environmental research, selling more than 20,000 copies in its first year.
The Heartland Institute, Chicago, IL
Eco-Sanity: A Common-Sense Guide To Environmentalism by Joseph L. Bast, Peter J. Hill and Richard C. Rue
Madison Books, Lanham, MD, 1994
The Heartland Institute’s Eco-Sanity represents the type of intellectual cross-fertilization between institutes that Atlas likes to encourage. By the mid-1990s, the work of the Political Economy Research Center, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and others had laid the groundwork for a libertarian paradigm of environmentalism.
With Eco-Sanity, Bast Hill and Rue synthesized and summarized existing research to produce ‘a common-sense guide to environmentalism,’ which would be useful to both free-market scholars interested in exploring environmental questions, and to a large non-academic audience which includes members of business and industry as well as the general public.
Reviewers have called the book ‘the best reference work on environmental issues available anywhere,’ and ‘an excellent primer for the intelligent non-specialist.’ The Heartland Institute’s emphasis on providing important research in a readable fashion has helped the book find a large audience nationwide. Eco-Sanity has gone through multiple editions, with over 20,000 copies now in circulation, and it has become a popular text with grassroots and educational organizations. In addition, individual chapters have been reprinted in a number of books and have been included on college reading list around the country.
Institute of Economic Affairs Environment Unit, London, UK
Global Warming: Apocalypse or Hot Air? by Roger Bate and Julian Morris
IEA Environment Unit, London, UK, 1994
With Global Warming, Roger Bate and Julian Morris set out to expose what they call the shoddiness of the apocalyptic predictions surrounding global climate change.
Arguing that calls for urgent and drastic action to combat a tendency toward global warming are based on contestable science and unsound economics, the authors begin by spotlighting the many limitations on the so-called scientific ‘consensus’ over global warming. Drawing on a wealth of data they suggest that the ‘evidence’ of global warming rests on dubious analysis and predictions, and they provide startling evidence that the scientists promoting an apocalyptic theory of global warming are often knowingly disregarding contrary evidence.
Even if a gradual warming is occurring, the IEA Environment Unit book suggests that the benefits, including an expanded growing season and improved plant growth, may more than make up for any problems. Drastic measures called for by today’s environmental crusaders impose enormous unjustified costs on society costs that are most often born by society’s poorest with no evidence that they are needed at all. The most economically and scientifically sound policy governments can take, Bate and Morris suggest, is to adopt a hands-off approach, which gives the market the room to operate.
Global Warming has played a pivotal role in educating the public in Europe, Latin America and Australia about global change misconceptions, and helped to establish Roger Bates as a key expert in the debate over global warming. The book also provides a good example of how the publications of free-market think tanks can act as catalysts for further research and activism, helping to transform the debate over the most important public policy questions. IEA’s book directly led to the creation of the European Science and Environment Forum, which serves as a platform for scientists whose views are not being heard in the mainstream media.
Global Warming was the first book from IEA’s Environment Unit, which was established in 1993 to counter popular environmental myths with rigorous scientific analysis and to introduce a property rights, free-market approach to environmental policy.
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