Hoover Institution - Hoover Digest - Hoover Digest 1998 No. 4

Don’t Tinker with Social Security. Reinvent It
How to reform Social Security? Simple. Privatize it. By Hoover fellow Robert J. Barro.

A Social Security Reserve Fund? Don’t Bet Your Retirement on It
Proposals now in Congress call for the creation of a large reserve fund to keep the Social Security system solvent. A reserve fund? Could Congress be trusted not to spend it? Hoover fellow John F. Cogan has his doubts.

Environment

Will Conservatives Ever Get It?
How conservatives can save environmentalism from the environmentalists. By Hoover fellow Terry L. Anderson.

The Economy

The Entrepreneur as Moral Hero
The profit motive is good—for more reasons than you might think. By Hoover fellow David R. Henderson.

Tax Policy

Whither the Tax Revolt?
Poll after poll shows that Americans today feel overtaxed, frustrated, and ready for change. So why hasn’t there been a tax revolt? By Hoover media fellow Amity Shlaes.

Politics

The Big Enchilada
Who will govern the Golden State? Hoover media fellow Michael Barone examines the gubernatorial race between Democrat Gray Davis and Republican Dan Lungren—and concludes that on one issue, education, the returns are already in.

Big Government: The Perpetual Motion Machine
Despite media hoopla about a Republican revolution, little has changed in Washington since the GOP took control of Congress in 1995. Voters tend to blame politicians for the gridlock. Hoover media fellow Tom Bethell blames the system itself.

Why the GOP Is Doomed
Captive to its southern base, the Republican Party has become “obsolescent.” A provocative essay by Hoover media fellow Christopher Caldwell.

Family

Why the Market Can’t Raise Our Children for Us
Neither the government nor the marketplace is any substitute for mothers and fathers. By Hoover fellow Jennifer Roback Morse.

Families under Pressure
Is the average American worker better off today than thirty years ago? Yes—and no. By Hoover media fellow Peter Brimelow.

Health Policy

The Battle over the Battle of the Bulge
A new fat-free cooking oil called olestra could radically reduce fat consumption in American diets. Why is the government restricting its use? Hoover fellow Henry I. Miller reports.

Education

How Progressive Education Gets It Wrong
John Dewey invented progressive education a hundred years ago. It was wrong then and hasn’t gotten better. By Hoover fellow Williamson M. Evers.

School Vouchers: The Next Great Leap Forward
Milton and Rose D. Friedman have made a career of advocating radical changes in public policy and economic thinking. Hoover media fellow Amity Shlaes recently spoke with the Friedmans about their latest cause.

Defense

Information Technology as a Force Multiplier
Technology helped American forces outpace Saddam Hussein in Desert Storm. But can the Pentagon keep its high-tech edge? By Hoover fellow and former U.S. secretary of defense William J. Perry.

International Relations

Why Economic Sanctions Don’t Work
Congress has gotten in the habit of imposing economic sanctions in order to punish foreign governments. It is a habit Congress should break. By Hoover fellow David R. Henderson.

Korea

What Happened?
In January 1997, the South Korean economy was the envy of much of the world. Twelve months later, it lay in ruins. Hoover fellow Jongryn Mo joins Chung-in Moon in explaining what happened.

It’s Time to End Sanctions against North Korea
U.S. economic sanctions against North Korea have failed for forty years to bring down the regime. Hoover fellow Thomas H. Henriksen argues that it’s time for another approach.

Inside the Gulag
North Korea — the world’s last Stalinist dictatorship — is home to some of the harshest political prisons and labor camps in the world. Hoover fellow Larry Diamond recently met several people who escaped from the North Korean gulag.

Hong Kong

The Handover Hangover
How has Hong Kong fared during the first fifteen months of Chinese rule? In almost every respect, its people are worse off. By Hoover fellow Alvin Rabushka and David Newman.

Europe

A Euroskeptic Speaks Out
The euro is coming—and with it more centralized power for the bureaucrats in Brussels. Nobel laureate and Hoover fellow Gary S. Becker wishes it weren’t so.

Russia

Russia Needs Reform, Not Higher Taxes
Mismanagement plunged Russia into the present economic abyss. Hoover fellow Michael McFaul explains what the country must do to climb out.

Stop the Bailout
Teetering on the verge of collapse, the Russian banking system is threatening to bring the entire Russian economy down with it. Hoover fellows Michael S. Bernstam and Alvin Rabushka argue that Russia’s banks need to be reformed, not bailed out.

The Islamic Threat
The war between Russia and Chechnya has been over for more than a year, but the trouble is far from ended. Hoover fellow John B. Dunlop describes the continuing Islamic threat to Russia’s southern flank.

Two Lucky People

Tribute on the Quad
Milton and Rose D. Friedman recently published their memoirs, Two Lucky People. Herewith tributes paid to the Friedmans at the dinner the Hoover Institution hosted in their honor on the Stanford Quad.

One Week in Stockholm
Milton and Rose D. Friedman recall what it was like when Milton received the Nobel Prize in 1976: The Nobel Committee was gracious enough, but the demonstrators in Stockholm were another matter. An excerpt from the Friedmans’ new memoir, Two Lucky People.

History and Culture

Culture and Equality
What accounts for the enormous disparities in economic, social, and political development among nations and peoples? Not race or genes—but culture. Hoover fellow Thomas Sowell reflects on the findings of his masterwork, the trilogy made up of the volumes Race and Culture, Migrations and Cultures, and Conquests and Cultures.

Fateful Decision*
Fifty years ago nuclear scientists from Robert Oppenheimer to Enrico Fermi advised President Truman against developing the hydrogen bomb. Only one nuclear scientist disagreed, instead advising the president to go ahead. Hoover fellow Edward Teller looks back on his decision to break ranks.

Faith and Reason, Together Again
Who says it’s possible to believe in science and God? Scientists do. Hoover fellow Peter Robinson reports.