As trade liberalization talks get under way in Hong Kong, many of the world’s media outlets continue to focus on protectionism in the developed world and its negative effect on poor countries. But trade liberalization in rich countries as a cure for world poverty is often overemphasized. Based on his new study, Marian Tupy will demonstrate that the main causes of African impoverishment are internal; namely, political instability, high trade tariffs, and a general lack of economic freedom. Please join our distinguished panel to hear suggestions on policies that Africa should adopt to increase trade and growth.

POLICY FORUM
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
12:00 PM (Luncheon to Follow)

Featuring Marian Tupy, Assistant Director, Project on Global Economic Liberty, Cato Institute; Julius Coles, President, Africare; and Robert Guest, Washington Correspondent, The Economist.

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

The Greenspan era is coming to an end, and President Bush has nominated Dr. Ben Bernanke to become the next chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Will we see a new approach to monetary policy and, if so, what might be the consequences? What challenges will the new chairman face? Is inflation a problem? What are the plusses and minuses of inflation targeting? If the Fed decides to target inflation explicitly, what kind of flexibilities should be considered; also, what measure of inflation should it choose? How should the Fed become more transparent? In addition, the committee will discuss other important economic issues that may influence future monetary policy, including such topics as trade and exchange rate issues and fiscal policy.

A Cato Policy Forum Conducted by the Shadow Open Market Committee

POLICY FORUM
Monday, December 5, 2005
11:00 AM (Luncheon to Follow)

Featuring Shadow Open Market Committee members: Charles Plosser, Cochair; Gregory Hess; Bennett McCallum; Anna J. Schwartz, Cochair; Lee Hoskins; Alan Stockman; and Mickey Levy.

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

America’s health care system is at a crossroads, faced with rising costs, quality concerns, and a lack of patient control. Some blame market forces. But as Michael Cannon and Michael Tanner argue in their new book, Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It, many troubles can be traced directly to pervasive government influence: entitlements, tax laws, and costly regulations. Consumer choice and competition deliver higher quality and lower prices in other areas of the economy and can do the same for medical care and health insurance. Please join us for a summary of this new book and a lively discussion on health care reform.

Featuring the coauthor Michael F. Cannon, Director, Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute; with comments by Jonathan Cohn, Senior Editor New Republic; Dr. John Nelson, Immediate Past President American Medical Association; Sen. Jim DeMint, (R-SC)

BOOK FORUM
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
4:00 PM (Reception To Follow)

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Most poor countries are missing large growth opportunities because of extensive regulatory burdens imposed on businesses and entrepreneurs. Doing Business in 2006 documents those costs in 155 countries. Simeon Djankov, lead author of the report, will explain how excessive bureaucratic procedures and fees on starting a business, registering property, and enforcing contracts make it prohibitively expensive for the poor to join the formal economy. Djankov will quantify the extent to which taxes and regulations on business are higher in poor countries than in rich countries, and explain how some countries are benefiting from reforms. Ben Bernanke will comment on the importance to economic development of the report’s ease-of-doing-business index.

Featuring Simeon Djankov, Manager, Monitoring, Analysis and Policy Unit World Bank

BOOK FORUM
Monday, November 28, 2005
12:00 PM (Luncheon to Follow)

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

The economic performance of Latin America has contrasted sharply with that of North America for centuries. Despite Latin America’s adoption at times of outwardly market-liberal policies and republican forms of government, the region’s social and economic institutions have been more difficult to change. Drawing from historical examples including his own Argentina, Guillermo Yeatts will describe how institutional continuity explains most of the difference in prosperity between the two Americas. He will also discuss changes in the ââ??rules of the gameââ?¬Â in Latin America that offer the region hope for lasting reforms that promote prosperity.

Featuring the author Guillermo Yeatts, with comments by Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Author of Liberty for Latin America: How to Undo Five Hundred Years of State Oppression

BOOK FORUM
Thursday, November 17, 2005
12:00 PM (Luncheon to Follow)

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Poverty reduction requires adopting the right institutionsââ?‰?including monetary institutions. Emerging market economies that peg their currencies and thwart market adjustments risk overheating and might engender protectionism on the part of their trading partners. This year’s monetary conference will address the following issues:

* What kinds of monetary institutions should emerging market economies adopt for sustainable development?
* Is China’s new exchange rate regime conducive to future development?
* What have we learned from the failure of debt-based development?
* What is the link between financial market liberalization and economic development?
* How will global imbalances and financial crises be resolved in the post-Greenspan era?

Conference Schedule
8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Registration ââ?‰? F. A. Hayek Auditorium Foyer

9:00 – 9:10 a.m. Welcoming Remarks ââ?‰?
F. A. Hayek Auditorium

James A. Dorn
Vice President for Academic Affairs,
Cato Institute

9:10 – 9:45 a.m. Keynote Address

Rodrigo Rato
Managing Director,
International Monetary Fund

9:45 – 11:00 a.m. Panel 1: Monetary Credibility and Sustainable Development

Moderator: Zanny Minton Beddoes
Washington Economics Editor,
The Economist

Roger W. Ferguson Jr.
Vice Chairman,
Federal Reserve Board

Jonathan Anderson
Chief Economist for Asia,
UBS

Mickey Levy
Chief Economist,
Bank of America

Morris Goldstein
Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow,
Institute for International Economics

11:00 – 11:15 a.m. Break

11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Panel 2: Financial Market Liberalization and Economic Development

Moderator: Ian V�¡squez
Director,
Cato Institute Project on Global Economic Liberty

Raghuram G. Rajan
Director of Research,
International Monetary Fund

Deepak Lal
James S. Coleman Professor of International Development Studies,
University of California, Los Angeles

Yasheng Huang
Associate Professor of International Management,
MIT Sloan School of Management

Reuven Brenner
REPAP Chair in Economics,
McGill University

12:30 – 1:15 p.m. Luncheon ââ?‰? Wintergarden

1:15 – 2:00 p.m. Luncheon Address ââ?‰? F. A. Hayek Auditorium

John W. Snow
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury

2:00 – 3:15 p.m. Panel 3: Emerging Markets, Debt, and the Dollar

Moderator: William A. Niskanen
Chairman,
Cato Institute

Kenneth Rogoff
Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics,
Harvard University

John H. Makin
Principal,
Caxton Associates, LLC, and
Senior Fellow,
American Enterprise Institute

Nouriel Roubini
Associate Professor of Economics and International Business,
New York University

Eugenio Andrea Bruno
Attorney,
Nicholson and Cano,
Buenos Aires

3:15 – 3:30 p.m. Break

3:30 – 4:00 p.m. Closing Address: “The Case Against a Dollar Policy”

Samuel Brittan
Economics Columnist,
Financial Times

4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Reception ââ?‰? Wintergarden

The future of the North Korean nuclear program remains in doubt. Despite the apparent breakthrough in the Six-Party Talks in Beijing, crucial details remain to be resolved. When the talks reconvene, will negotiators be able to bridge the considerable differences and achieve U.S. goals of a complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of the North’s nuclear weapons program? What should the United States be willing to pledge to North Korea in exchange for concluding a final agreement? What measures will be put in place to ensure that North Korea abides by its pledges? Will a successful outcome pave the way for a possible similar breakthrough with respect to Iran’s nuclear program?

Featuring Joseph DeTrani, U.S. Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks; Jon B. Wolfsthal, Nonproliferation Fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); Ted Galen Carpenter, Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute, and Coauthor, The Korean Conundrum

Wednesday, November 2, 2005
12:00 PM (Luncheon to Follow)

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

The public outcry that followed the Supreme Court’s decision last June in Kelo v. New London has been loud and sustained. Americans have awakened at last to the power of government to take their homes and businesses and transfer title to othersââ?‰?all in the name of ââ??economic development.ââ?¬Â In response, legislatures across the country, including in Congress, are introducing measures to better protect the rights of owners. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a former justice on the Texas Supreme Court, has introduced one such bill. Please join us for a discussion of what Congress is doing to protect owners, followed by a debate over the issues at stake.

Cato events, unless otherwise noted, are free of charge. To register for this event, please fill out the form below and click submit or email events@cato.org, fax (202) 371-0841, or call (202) 789-5229 by 12:00 PM, Friday, October 14, 2005. Please arrive early. Seating is limited and not guaranteed. News media inquiries only (no registrations), please call (202) 789-5200. If you can’t make it to the Cato Institute, watch this forum live online.

If you plan to watch this event online, there is no need to register.

featuring Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and a debate between Roger Pilon, Director, Cato Institute Center for Constitutional Studies, and John Echeverria, Executive Director, Georgetown Environmental Law and Policy Institute

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Alan Greenspan will retire as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in the next several months after serving more than 18 years, arguably the most successful period of monetary policy in the history of the Federal Reserve. Has the Fed followed an identifiable monetary rule during this period? Should the Fed follow a specific rule in the future, and if so, what should it be? How important is it for the administration, Congress, the press, academic macroeconomists, and the financial community to understand this rule?

Those are the issues that will be addressed by William Poole, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and a former member of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers. Commenting on Poole’s presentation will be William Niskanen, chairman of the Cato Institute and Poole’s former colleague on the CEA.

Cato events, unless otherwise noted, are free of charge. To register for this event, please fill out the form below and click submit or email events@cato.org, fax (202) 371-0841, or call (202) 789-5229 by 12:00 PM, Thursday, October 13, 2005. Please arrive early. Seating is limited and not guaranteed. News media inquiries only (no registrations), please call (202) 789-5200. If you can’t make it to the Cato Institute, watch this forum live online.

If you plan to watch this event online, there is no need to register.

Featuring William Poole, President, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Former member, Council of Economic Advisers; with comments by William Niskanen, Chairman, Cato Institute.

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

In his new book, Ronald Bailey evaluates the political and ethical issues raised by scientific advances and shines a light on the vastly exaggerated concerns of opponents of biotechnology and stem cell research. Bailey explains why scientists, doctors, and individual citizens�not politicians�should confront the uncertainties that come with biotech just as they confronted concerns about the ethics of X-rays, birth control pills, bypass surgeries, and in vitro fertilization when they were first introduced. Bailey argues that patients should have the freedom to embrace or reject stem cell and biotech benefits based on their own personal or religious values. Join us for a discussion of the future of biotech and freedom.

BOOK FORUM
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
12:00 PM (Luncheon To Follow)

Featuring the author, Ronald Bailey, Science Correspondent, Reason Magazine, Scholar, Cato Institute; and moderated by Mark Sagoff, Senior Research Scholar, Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, University of Maryland and President, International Society of Environmental Ethics

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001