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Listed below are some of the book summaries that we have in our library. Business Books A-F G-M N-S T-Z A
Culture of Its Own: Taking Latin America Seriously
This volume brings together essays on Latin American politics, economics, and culture written over the past fifteen years by Mark Falcoff, a resident scholar at AEI and the author of its monthly Latin American Outlook. According to Foreign Affairs, "This book demonstrates why Falcoff . . . has become the most formidable conservative commentator on Latin America in the United States." Mr. Falcoff has written several books, including Panama's Canal: What Happens When the United States Gives a Small Country What It Wants (AEI Press, 1998) and is currently working on a major study of U.S.-Cuban relations. This summary is abridged from the introduction to A Culture of Its Own. Against
the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade
This book is a study of how free trade came to occupy such a commanding position in economics and how it has maintained its intellectual strength despite the numerous arguments that have arisen against it over the past two centuries. The author is Henry Wendt Scholar in Political Economy at AEI. A summary of the book follows. The
proposition that free trade is economically more beneficial
than protection is one of the most fundamental that economic
theory has to offer for economic policy. This proposition
has survived repeated scrutiny from economists ever since
Adam Smith made his celebrated case for free trade in the
Wealth of Nations (1776), and it continues to receive overwhelming
support from professional economists today.
This book is a collection of essays that critique recent U.S. agriculture policy and propose alternatives to the current regulatory regime. The editor is Frank H. Buck, Jr., Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of California, Davis. The introduction to the book follows. For most of this century the United States and other wealthy countries have applied intensive regulations to agricultural prices, production, and practices. In addition to regulation, these nations have pursued complex schemes of direct income subsidies for producers of selected crops. Recently, some progress toward more market orientation in agricultural policy has been made. While moderate at best, the continuing reforms are encouraging to those who believe that the world would benefit from less subsidy and regulation of agriculture. Although change has been slow and difficult, there is growing evidence that agricultural policy is responsive to well-developed empirical arguments that demonstrate the unwelcome consequences of current policy interventions and the benefits of specific reforms. For several decades, the American Enterprise Institute has helped create the analytical underpinning for many agricultural reform efforts. This book represents a continuation of that effort. Agricultural
Trade Policy: Letting Markets Work
This book is a study of U.S. agricultural trade programs
in the aftermath of the Uruguay Round of multilateral
trade negotiations. The author is the Frank
H. Buck, Jr., Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of California,
Davis. A summary of the book follows. American
Trade Policy: A Tragedy in the Making
This
book is a study of the dangers to American productivity
and living standards of the shift in recent years away
from an open multilateral trading system toward bilateral
trade agreements. The author is professor of economics,
Stanford University, and 1996 president of the American
Economic Association. A summary of the book follows.
Adolescence is a time of both great opportunity and great
risk, as young people experience physical change, intellectual
growth, self-discovery, and greater
independence. Unfortunately, some have serious difficulty making the transition
from adolescence to productive adulthood. America's Disconnected Youth: Toward
a Preventive Strategy identifies those youth as "disconnected" and
examines ways to assist them. Antidumping
Industrial Policy: Legalized Protection in the WTO
and What to Do about It
In this book, the authors analyze the claims that antidumping policies are necessary to achieve fairness in trade relations and that such policies are a safeguard against the predatory pricing that leads to monopoly. They describe the current antidumping programs of the World Trade Organization, the European Union, and the United States and offer pragmatic recommendations for reform of antidumping rules and practices. Mr. Hindley is a reader in trade policy in the Department of Economics at the London School of Economics and is codirector of the Trade Policy Unit of the London-based Centre for Policy Studies. Mr. Messerlin is professor of economics at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and consultant to the OECD and the European Union Commission. Assessing
the Environmental Impact of Farm Policies
This book is a study of the ways in which U.S. agriculture policies contribute to or help to ameliorate the adverse effects of farming on the environment. The author is a professor of economics and agricultural economics at North Carolina State University. A summary of the book follows. Although
the land base devoted to agriculture in the United States
has remained roughly the same size over the past forty
years and farm labor has fallen by a factor of three, the
production of crops and livestock has increased dramatically.
Constantly improving farm methods, the increased use of
fertilizers and pesticides, and the intensification of
cultivation on smaller acreage have made American agricultural
productivity the envy of farmers worldwide.
This book is a practical guide to the ethical responsibilities of individuals and firms based on moral theory and the real-world experiences of business professionals. The author is the George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion and Public Policy at AEI. A summary of the book follows. This
inquiry is for Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others who
take the inner life seriously, including those who, while
hesitant to belong to any church, take seriously their
vocation as thoughtful and self-questioning beings.
This book is a study of the nature and formation of the moral integrity and intellectual competence that make individuals and institutions worthy of the public trust. The book focuses above all on the achievement of integrity and competence in policing and law enforcement. The fourth edition emphasizes ethics in the future of policing and in the capacity of police departments and law enforcement agencies to seek to prevent and mount first responses to terrorist atrocities. The author is a professor of philosophy and a resident scholar in the Center for School Improvement at Boston University and an adjunct scholar at AEI. A summary of the book follows. Since the third edition of Character and Cops was published in 1996, leading police departments have continued to refine the mission of policing. Many have renewed or expanded their efforts to help local residents turn fragmented and dangerous neighborhoods into safe and livable communities. A substantial number of police departments are making themselves into progressively more complex and sophisticated institutions dedicated to community service, public safety, crime prevention, and law enforcement. Yet policing faces persistent and familiar ethical problems and unexpected levels of incompetence and grave wrongdoing within some departments. Deregulating Freight Transportation: Delivering the GoodsBy Paul Teske, Samuel Best, and Michael Mintrom AEI Press December 1995 ISBN 0844738964 236 pages
This
book examines the effects of government intervention on
the operations of the freight transportation industry.
Mr. Teske is an associate professor of political science
at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Mr. Best
is an assistant professor of political science at the University
of Notre Dame. Mr. Mintrom is an assistant professor of
political science at Michigan State University. A summary
of the book follows.
This book is a study of the nature and formation of the moral integrity and intellectual competence that make individuals and institutions worthy of the public trust. The book focuses above all on the achievement of integrity and competence in policing and law enforcement. The fourth edition emphasizes ethics in the future of policing and in the capacity of police departments and law enforcement agencies to seek to prevent and mount first responses to terrorist atrocities. The author is a professor of philosophy and a resident scholar in the Center for School Improvement at Boston University and an adjunct scholar at AEI. A summary of the book follows. Since the third edition of Character and Cops was published in 1996, leading police departments have continued to refine the mission of policing. Many have renewed or expanded their efforts to help local residents turn fragmented and dangerous neighborhoods into safe and livable communities. A substantial number of police departments are making themselves into progressively more complex and sophisticated institutions dedicated to community service, public safety, crime prevention, and law enforcement. Yet policing faces persistent and familiar ethical problems and unexpected levels of incompetence and grave wrongdoing within some departments. China's
Military Faces the Future
Understanding
the orientation and growing capabilities of the Chinese
military has become one of the primary challenges for U.S.
foreign and defense policy. This volume presents fresh
analyses of leadership, doctrine, expenditure, logistics,
readiness, and China's security concerns in Northeast Asia
by specialists on the Chinese military.
Despite
the fact that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency spent
four decades and between $5 billion and $10 billion in
estimating the size of the Soviet economy, the CIA's research
methods persistently underestimated the size of Soviet
military expenditures and ignored growing evidence of the
economic problems that contributed to the Soviet Union's
collapse. This AEI special report on intelligence explains
why the CIA was so wrong on such a crucial issue. The author,
who began his professional career at the Central Intelligence
Agency in 1951, conducted research on Soviet military and
economic affairs for a number of government and private
research organizations until his retirement in 1992. A
summary of the report follows.
This book examines competition and monopoly elements in specific areas of the health care system. The author is a professor of economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A summary of the book follows. To the surprise of almost everyone, competition in health care has recently blossomed. Health insurance schemes that encourage competition are being introduced. Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are booming. Preferred provider organizations (PPOs) that negotiate price discounts from providers are growing even faster. Hospitals, especially in California, are making competitive bids for Medicaid and health insurer business. Physicians and hospitals are advertising. Health care marketing specialists, almost nonexistent a decade earlier, are in great demand. The increasing competition in every part of health care markets is good for consumers and the economy. Competitive
Pricing for Medicare
The Medicare health maintenance organization program is a mixture of public and private health plans. This book explains why the current pricing system has increased the inefficiency of the Medicare program and presents a detailed proposal for reform through the use of a competitive-pricing system. Mr. Feldman is Blue Cross Professor of Health Insurance, and Messrs. Dowd and Christianson are professors at the Institute for Health Sciences Research, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota. A summary of the book follows. According to its supporters, Medicare is one of the most popular social programs in U.S. history. Politicians are regularly warned, and appear to believe, that tampering with any part of the program that affects beneficiaries directly can be damaging to their professional health. Some of the program's popularity, however, stems from two misconceptions. First, many believe it is like an account where money is placed until it is needed. It is not. Second, many believe that current retirees have paid for their benefits. They have not. On the contrary, they receive a large subsidy from current workers. For these and other reasons, behind the veneer of popularity and political clout lies a program in serious trouble. Competitive
Strategies in the Pharmaceutical Industry
This volume is a continuation of an AEI series on pharmaceutical economics
and policy. It is composed of five parts, four of which present recent research
on various aspects of the continuing policy dispute. To summarize the research
and look ahead, the fifth part offers several views on the future of the pharmaceutical
industry. A synopsis of each of those parts follows.
This
book is a collection of essays that explore the relationship
between media coverage of Congress and the current public
animosity toward it. Mr. Mann is the director of the Governmental
Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. Mr. Ornstein
is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
A summary of the book follows.
This
volume consists of an introduction and eleven essays on
the military confrontation in the Taiwan Strait in 1996.
The essays discuss the historical roots of the crisis,
Chinese military objectives, the military balance between
the mainland and Taiwan, the positions taken by other regional
powers, and policies that might avert future crises. Deregulating
Freight Transportation: Delivering the Goods
This
book examines the effects of government intervention on
the operations of the freight transportation industry.
Mr. Teske is an associate professor of political science
at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Mr. Best
is an assistant professor of political science at the University
of Notre Dame. Mr. Mintrom is an assistant professor of
political science at Michigan State University. A summary
of the book follows.
The essays in this volume assess the current state of distributional analysis in the policy process and suggest improvements that could soon be implemented. David F. Bradford is a professor of economics and public affairs, Princeton University, and an adjunct scholar at AEI. Excerpts from his introduction follow. The distribution of tax burdens is a central aspect of tax policy. Changes in the tax rules redistribute after-tax income and wealth among people in a variety of ways. Some are obvious, as when an increase in the top income-tax-bracket rates raises the burdens on high-income individuals. Some are much more difficult to identify, as when a change in depreciation rules affects the relative profitability of different industries and thereby the fortunes of the owners, workers, customers, and suppliers of different businesses. Dow
36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting from the Coming
Rise in the Stock Market
In
the first half of this book, the authors present their
case for a new method of assessing the proper value of
stocks and conclude that U.S. stocks, on average, are worth
approximately three times their current prices. They elaborate
that theory primarily by looking at historical rates of
return for stocks and comparing them with the rates generated
by other types of investment. In the latter half of the
book, the authors explain how to profit from their theory
and cite specific stocks and mutual funds that are well
poised to benefit from the trends they foresee. Downsizing
Science: Will the United States Pay a Price?
Although
President Clinton has recommended increased funding for
science in the 1999 budget, the broad trend of declining
federal support for science is unlikely to be reversed
any time soon. Is that a worrisome development or a sign
of leaner, more efficient government? This book considers
the rationale for public support of scientific research,
examines the probable consequences of federal cutbacks,
and recommends an approach to make the most of science
budgets. Driving
America: Your Car, Your Government, Your Choice
This
book examines the effects of government policies on the
personal mobility afforded by privately owned automobiles.
It pays particular attention to the consequences of environmental
policies, including the response to fears of global warming
and the Environmental Protection Agency's air quality standards.
This
book provides an insider's perspective on the bureaucratic
structure of governmental institutions that shape economic
policy and on the incentives and limitations of the individuals
who head those institutions. It offers readers a rare look
at some of the intended and unintended effects of public
policy on both U.S. and international political economy.
This book examines the transformation of the American labor movement from its founding as an organization that rejected socialism and accepted the private enterprise system, to its present position as an increasingly liberal movement with declining influence and membership. The author was the executive director of the Young Peoples Socialist League for three years and the special representative for the United Federation of Teachers in New York City. He is now a financial and investment adviser. A summary of the book follows. Over
the past several decades the American labor movement has
undergone a radical transformation. As recently as twenty-five
years ago, those who called themselves traditional liberals
(as opposed to New Politics liberals) saw organized labor
as the only hope for resisting the onslaught of the New
Left against the nation's economic system, social culture,
and foreign policy. The New Left and then the McGovernite
wing of the Democratic Party took aim at the union movement,
regularly denouncing labor leaders as defenders of America's
capitalist, racist, and imperialist establishment.
What are the prospects for further political and economic
integration in Europe? Will greater European unity lead
to a stronger partnership or to a rivalry
between Europe and the United States? In this volume, policy makers, business
executives, journalists, and academics from both sides of the Atlantic address
these questions. The scope of their comments includes trade policy, political
cooperation, and defense and security issues.
In
this book, Lynne A. Munson describes a culture of intolerance
that has overtaken the arts and shows how it has antagonized
the American public. Munson is a research fellow at the
American Enterprise Institute and a former official of
the National Endowment for the Humanities. The following
summary is adapted from her preface to Exhibitionism.
This volume of studies analyzes current and future trends
in the trade and investment flows between the United
States and the major East Asian economies
and describes evolving policy challenges for both U.S. and East Asian political
leaders. It includes chapters by scholars from the United States, Japan,
China, Korea, and Taiwan on their respective countries;
a sixth study covers the members
of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a group. The editor,
Claude E. Barfield, is director of trade and technology policy studies at
AEI. Fairness
and Efficiency in the Flat Tax
Robert
E. Hall and Alvin Rabushka are generally acknowledged as
the fathers of the flat tax, a proposal that captured the
public imagination in the 1996 presidential campaign and
that continues to stir discussion and controversy in the
field of tax reform. In this volume, Messrs. Hall and Rabushka
explain their plan and explore its many subtleties. The
book includes a commentary on the flat tax by House Majority
Leader Dick Armey, who has introduced legislation that
would enact the Hall-Rabushka proposal with little change.
Also included are two critical assessments, one by economist
Robert Eisner, the other by Herbert Stein, a former chairman
of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and a senior
fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Fear
of Persuasion: A New Perspective on Advertising and
Regulation
This
book challenges the conventional view that advertising
manipulates and threatens consumers. Drawing on extensive
research, the author explains how competitive advertising
improves markets, how it promotes the interests of consumers
rather than business, and how regulation tends to undermine
its benefits.
This volume consists of two essays that assess the role of government in the provision and financing of long-term care, plus commentaries by two scholars who have conducted substantial research on the economics of such care. Mr. Pauly is Bendheim Professor, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Zweifel is professor of economics, University of Zurich. A summary of the book follows. Foreign
Investment in American Telecommunications
Restrictions
on foreign investment in U.S. telecommunications firms
have harmed the interests of American consumers and investors,
argues J. Gregory Sidak in Foreign Investment in American
Telecommunications. The author explains why those restrictions,
originally intended to protect America from the perils
of wireless telegraphy by foreign agents, should be repealed.
The World Trade Organization faces two formidable challenges-one external and one internal. First, it must confront escalating attacks by outside groups and individuals proclaiming that the WTO lacks democratic accountability and is a lackey for multinational corporations. Second, the WTO must deal with a constitutional flaw caused by the imbalance between consensus-plagued rule-making procedures and a highly efficient dispute settlement system-an imbalance that creates strong pressure to "legislate" new rules through adjudication. In turn, the United States faces a different, but related, set of challenges. In responding to an increasingly globalized world, the United States must continually recalculate and rebalance a defense of national sovereignty against grants of authority over economic and social policy to international organizations like the WTO. The United States must also devise domestic political mechanisms that provide greater democratic accountability for decisions affecting U.S. international obligations. Freedom
Betrayed: How America Led a Global Democratic Revolution,
Won the Cold War, and Walked Away
This book is an interpretive essay and a call to action, trying simultaneously to put the democratic revolution of the past two decades in its proper context and to urge America to embrace that revolution and make it the centerpiece of our international strategy. The author is a resident scholar at AEI. A summary of the book follows For
the past two decades, we have been living through a global
democratic revolution of such magnitude as to warrant calling
this period the Age of the Second Democratic Revolution.
Inspired by the values of the American Revolution, supported
and advanced by American military power and a remarkable
generation of democratic leaders, the revolution has swept
the world. Antidemocratic regimes have fallen in Europe,
Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Even the American Congress
has been radically transformed. The cult of the state-
belief that government is better suited than individuals
or spontaneous, temporary organizations to solve mankind's
basic problems- under assault, and in a surprising number
of countries the powers of once-oppressive central governments
are being reduced. Tyranny has been routed on every continent,
and hopeful democrats, many of them survivors of frightful
repression, torture, and mass murder, have proclaimed the
people's right to choose their own government and live
under a system of law rather than arbitrary diktat. When
the Soviet Empire collapsed at the beginning of this decade,
it seemed that we might soon see democracy everywhere triumphant
and that our children could live in a would governed by
our highest ideals.
This
book tells the story of how the Bill of Rights was amended
to the Constitution and, more important, it explains how
that addition completed the Constitution by clarifying
the status of the American people. Click
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