Hoover Institution - Hoover Digest - Hoover Digest 1998 No. 3

Let ’Er Rip
Ever since Joseph Schumpeter’s work at the turn of the century, economists have understood that entrepreneurial activity—what Schumpeter called creative destruction—creates economic growth. Nobel laureate and Hoover fellow Gary S. Becker just wishes a few of the world’s finance ministers understood it too.

Five Things We Know for Sure
Malthus versus Ricardo, Friedman versus Keynes—for more than 150 years the study of economic growth has been a field of battle. Hoover fellow John B. Taylor argues that the smoke has finally begun to clear.

The Budget

Social Security and Abracadabras
President Clinton stated two years ago that the era of “big government” is over. Unfortunately, no one seems to have told his budget director. Hoover fellow John F. Cogan takes a closer look at the latest budget—and doesn’t like what he sees.

Regulation

The Era of Big Government Ain’t Over
These days it’s difficult to find an avowed socialist. But Washington is crawling with neosocialists—in both parties. By Hoover media fellow Peter Brimelow.

Politics

The Second Tocquevillian Age
Postindustrial America looks a great deal more like Alexis de Tocqueville’s America than the industrial America in which most of us grew up. In many ways, that should be reassuring—and in a few ways alarming. An essay by Hoover media fellow Michael Barone.

Why Can’t Congress Get More Done?
The 103d Congress was controlled by Democrats. It didn’t accomplish much. The 104th Congress was controlled by Republicans. It didn’t accomplish much either. Why? Hoover fellow David W. Brady joins Hoover visiting scholar Craig Volden in explaining that there are some very good answers.

The First Casualty of Politics
Americans distrust politicians—and with good reason. Hoover fellow David R. Henderson explains why principles are often the first casualty of politics.

The Modern State as an Occasion of Sin
The usual defense of the welfare state? That whatever its economic inefficiencies, it accomplishes a great deal of good. Hoover fellow Jennifer Roback Morse begs to differ. A rigorous essay in economics—and moral theology.

Fast Times at Annandale High
The stated goal of President Clinton’s Advisory Board on Race is to heal racial rifts. In practice, it widens them. By Hoover media fellow Christopher Caldwell.

Health Policy

Brave New Beauty
Advances in genetic engineering may make it possible for people to alter their genetic structure for purely cosmetic purposes. Should the government intervene? Hoover fellow Henry I. Miller thinks not.

Environment

The Science behind Global Warming
Hoover fellow Thomas Gale Moore concludes that the evidence for a coming global catastrophe is mostly . . . hot air.

The Politics behind Global Warming
Vice President Al Gore and his allies have been able to present global warming to the American public as an accomplished fact only by ignoring scientific controversy. Hoover media fellow Tom Bethell warns us to “prepare for a new wave of lies, dressed up as science.”

New Age Fanatics and the Upper Muddle Class
Plenty of evidence suggests that global warming is a hoax. Why does no one care? Hoover fellow S. Fred Singer explains.

California, High and Dry
With California on the verge of a major water shortage, bureaucrats are proposing wildly expensive and inefficient responses. Hoover fellow Terry L. Anderson wonders why they haven’t considered the simplest solution of all—letting the market work.

Foreign Affairs

One World, One Bank
In an increasingly integrated global economy, the International Monetary Fund has become desperately obsolete. Hoover fellow and former U.S. secretary of state George P. Shultz makes the case for merging it with the World Bank.

Defense

The Next Threat
The Pentagon recently announced that it will begin inoculating troops against anthrax. Hoover media fellow Peter Schweizer says the decision came just in time.

High Tech to the Pentagon: Take a Number and Stand in Line
For decades many of the nation’s high-tech companies were in thrall to the Pentagon for their livelihood. No more. By Hoover fellow and former U.S. secretary of defense William J. Perry.

Asia

Asia May Be Shaken, but It’s No House of Cards
A swarm of revisionists is busy explaining what the Asian Tigers did wrong. Nobel laureate and Hoover fellow Gary S. Becker points out what the Tigers did right.

The Hong Kong Experiment
A controlled experiment in the field of economics? The last fifty years of history have provided just that. The free economy: Hong Kong. The mixed economy: the United States. The socialist economies: Great Britain and Israel. Nobel laureate and Hoover fellow Milton Friedman evaluates the results.

What Went Wrong?
The countries that have suffered the most in the Asian financial meltdown are those that engaged most heavily in state planning. Hoover media fellow William McGurn explains.

Europe

The More NATO, the Better
The Senate has now approved the Clinton administration’s proposal to expand NATO to include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Arguing that NATO has kept the peace for fifty years, Hoover fellow Peter Duignan votes a resounding aye. Take that, Mel Krauss (see below).

NATO Expansion? It’s Just Welfare for Europe
Hoover fellow Melvyn Krauss argues that Americans have every right to be wary of the proposed NATO expansion. Under the NATO collective security arrangement, Americans do the securing, Europeans the collecting. Right back at you, Peter Duignan (see above).

Israel

Why Aid to Israel Hurts . . . Israelis
The United States gives Israel roughly $4 billion a year. How is it used? “To bail out or prop up every money-losing socialist institution in the country.” By Hoover fellow Alvin Rabushka.

Between Iraq and a Hard Place
Saddam Hussein still appears determined to develop chemical weapons. Should Israel consider a preemptive strike? Hoover fellow Arnold Beichman considers the options.

Africa

Building a Democratic Africa
In Africa, in any given year, twenty civil wars are being fought. The first step toward peace and stability? Establishing the rule of law. Hoover fellow Larry Diamond explains how.

Latin America

Another Country
Hoover media fellow Michael Barone first visited Argentina a dozen years ago. When he returned recently, he discovered that he was in another country—one that free markets had transformed.

The High Cost of Castro
How much have Fidel Castro’s economic policies cost the people of Cuba? Hoover media fellow Peter Brimelow reviews the numbers. It might be time to offer the world’s worst manager a golden handshake to retire to Spain.

History and Culture

A Nation Transformed
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Czech Republic made arguably the most successful transition to democracy and free markets in Eastern Europe. How? By managing “the gap between expectations and reality.” By former prime minister Václav Klaus.

Interview

Triple Threat
Hoover fellows William J. Perry and George P. Shultz—the former secretaries of defense and state—recently spent a morning talking with Hoover fellow Peter Robinson. Asked about three security concerns—Russia, China, and terrorism—the former secretaries were reassuring, but only on two out of three.