Hoover Institution Newsletter - Summer 2006

8/6/2019 Hoover Institution Newsletter - Summer 2006

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N ew York Times columnist and

author David Brooks discussed

“What’s Happening to the Republican

Party” in his talk at the opening dinner

of the 2006 Hoover Spring Retreat on

April 30.Brooks said he believes that the dif-

ferences between entrenched Washing-

ton, D. C., policy wonks and elected

conservatives from other parts of the

country have made it difficult for them

to work with one another. President

George W. Bush has many good ideas,

POWER , POLITICS ARE

THEMES OF SPRING

RETREAT

Edward Lazear, chairman of the pres-

ident’s Council of Economic Advis-

ers and the Morris Arnold Cox SeniorFellow on leave, is the recipient of the

2006 Society of Labor Economists’

Jacob Mincer Prize honoring lifetime

achievements in the field of labor eco-

nomics.

At the same meeting of the society,

during May 5 and 6, three Hoover

senior fellows—Robert Hall, Eric

Hanushek, and Thomas MaCurdy—

were among the fellows elected. By

granting them the honorary title of

fellow, the society recognizes labor econ-

omists who have made contributions of

unusual distinction to the field.

“We are proud that the Society of

Labor Economists has honored these

four Hoover fellows for their exemplary

achievements,” said Hoover director

John Raisian. “I have always felt that

Hoover is very strong in the areas of

labor market analysis and the impor-

tance of human capital accumulation in

society. These scholars have distin-guished themselves over the years, and it

is gratifying to have the society recog-

nize their contributions.”

Lazear is the Jack Steele Parker Profes-

sor of Human Resources, Management

and Economics at Stanford University’s

SOCIETY OF L ABOR

ECONOMISTS HONORS

EDWARD L AZEAR , 3NAMED FELLOWS

Summer 200

NewsletterH O O V E R I N S T I T U T I O N

The very latest HOOVER newsupdated daily news, features, people, and events

at the Hoover Institution at— www.hoover.org

Author and columnist David Brooksdiscusses the Republican Party and

American politics during the springretreat.

Photo by Steve Gladfelter/Visual Art Services

• I N S I D E •

HERBERT HOOVER IN POLANDEXHIBIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

FELLOWS COLLABORATE

ON STANFORD GLOBAL ISSUES

PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Q&A: STEPHEN HABER ON THE

IMMIGRATION WAVE FROM

MEXICO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

continued on page 8 continued on page 5

When Hoover director John

Raisian and fellows Peter

Berkowitz and Tod Lindberg analyzedthe possibilities, they knew they had a

winning plan with which to share good

ideas in policy.

The plan started with the essay

“Power and Weakness,” by Rober

Kagan, in Hoover’s own Policy Review

journal, which Lindberg edits, in

June/July 2002. The piece was expand

ed by Kagan into a short book that

became a best seller for a major U.S

publishing house.

What Raisian, Berkowitz, and Lind

berg discovered—having successfully

developed a powerful but modest

length essay into a moderate-sized

book that led to heated and healthy

discussion around the world—was a

new niche for publishing at the Hoover

HOOVER STUDIES

SERIES BOOKS ARE

WINNING PLANS FOR

POLICY DISCUSSION

continued on page 4



Why are the countries of the world, for the most part,divided between rich, democratic states and poor, au-

thoritative states? How is it that some countries have success-

fully implemented free market concepts, whereas others have

tried and failed? These are some of the questions being

studied by Hoover fellows Stephen Haber, Herbert Klein, and

Barry Weingast as part of a campuswide collaboration at

Stanford University to identify and respond to global issues.

Their research is being funded by grants from Stanford Uni-

versity’s Presidential Fund for Innovation in International

Studies. The Presidential Fund grants create opportunities for

faculty from different disciplines at Stanford University to

collaborate on research and teaching on issues of global sig

nificance.

Weingast, a Hoover senior fellow and the Ward C. Krebs

Family Professor in Stanford University’s political science de

partment, noted that one of the benefits of working with

others is that each participant brings a different perspective.

“The problem with development is that it’s not simply an

economic problem, simply a political problem, or simply a

social problem,” he said, “it’s a little of each.” Because disci-

plines are organized separately, researchers tend to concen-

trate on their own pieces, he pointed out. “Solving this

problem requires interaction of an interdisciplinary group,”

he said.

The Presidential Fund grants are the result of a process that

began in 2004. In April of that year Stanford provost John

HOOVER FELLOWS JOIN STANFORD

COLLABORATION TO IDENTIFY AND

R ESPOND TO GLOBAL ISSUES

The acclaimed exhibit Herbert Hoover in Poland: Pioneer

Humanitarian at Work, which toured Poland in 2004 and2005, showcases rare photographs, documents, posters, and

footage illustrating Herbert Hoover’s commitment to the sur-

vival and well-being of Poland.

The exhibit, which will be at the Hoover Institution until

August 26, dramatically illustrates the means by which

Hoover fulfilled his commitment to Poland during the early

twentieth century, when famine threatened that country’s pop-

ulation.

Guests at an opening reception on May 31 were welcomed

by John Raisian, director of the Hoover Institution. Other

speakers were Maciej Siekierski, curator of the East European

Collection, who discussed the development of the exhibit, and

Zbigniew Stanczyk, library specialist of the East European

Collection. The former president of Poland, Aleksander

Kwasniewski, who was in residence at Hoover as the Tad and

Dianne Taube Distinguished Visiting Fellow, was among the

guests at the reception.

The exhibition and accompanying catalog were made possi-

ble through the support of the Taube Family Foundation and

Henrietta Fankhauser, with assistance from the Herbert

Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch,

Iowa.

During and after World War I, Hoover directed the largestrelief operation ever mounted in Europe, during which mil-

lions of Europeans were saved from starvation and death. In

the first months of 1919, tens of thousands of railcars full of

food sent from the United States left Gdansk on their way to

Polish cities. Within six months, more than $50 million worth

of food had been delivered. In 1919 alone, the program fed

more than 1.5 million children. After 1920, Hoover increased

that number to two million and expanded the number of

kitchens to ten thousand. For almost four years following the

war, half a billion meals were fed to the hungry and starving

of Poland.

During World War II, Hoover led another organization, the

Commission for Polish Relief, which again alleviated the suf

ferings of hundreds of thousands of Polish people. After the

war, in 1946, Hoover visited Poland and drafted yet another

relief plan. For the next thirty years Poles benefited from that

assistance.

The exhibit is open to the public in the Herbert Hoover Me-

morial Exhibit Pavilion, next to Hoover Tower, and is free ofcharge. Pavilion hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00

a.m. to 4:00 p.m. More information is available a

www.hoover.org/hila/pavilionexhibit.htm or by telephoning

650-723-3563.

HERBERT HOOVER IN POLAND

EXHIBIT SHOWCASES COMMITMENT

TO POLAND AND ITS PEOPLE

continued on page 4

Former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski, center, meetswith Hoover overseer Tad Taube, left, and East European libraryspecialist Zbigniew Stanczyk at the exhibit opening.


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Robert Conquest honored forscholarship on Ukraine

Hoover research fellow Robert Conquest,

center, was honored with Ukraine’s Medal of

Iaroslav Mudryi on June 15 for his path-

breaking scholarship on the Ukrainian famine

of 1932–33 in his book Harvest of Sorrow

(1986). Joining Conquest at the ceremony

were Oleh Shamshur, left, ambassador from

Ukraine to the United States, and Conquest’s

colleague Hoover senior fellow John Dunlop,

whose work also focuses on Russia.

Photo by Zbigniew Stanczyk

Liechtenstein’s Prince Alois, above, and

its Ambassador to the U.S. Claudia

Fritsche met with Hoover’s George P.

Shultz, the Thomas W. and Susan B.

Ford Distinguished Fellow, on May 31.

Deputy Secretary of the United

States Treasury Robert Kimmitt

visited the Hoover Institution on

Friday, May 5. He was the guest of

honor at a roundtable discussion

with Hoover fellows.

Li Junru, vice president of the

Chinese Communist Central Party

School, visited the Hoover

Institution on Friday, April 21. He

met with Hoover scholars to

discuss political trends in

contemporary China.

Major General Gerald

Minetti, director ofCENTCOM, visited

Hoover on May 9. He

offered the military’s

insight and

perspective on Iraq,

Afghanistan, the Horn

of Africa, and the

global war on terror.

CENTCOM has

responsibility for

military operations in

twenty-seven

countries.

Bigadier General

Mark T. Kimmitt,deputy director of

plans for the U.S.

Central Command

(CENTCOM), on

May 23 met with

Hoover fellows

and addressed the

future of

counterterror

operations in the

Middle East and

outlined the

principles behind CENTCOM’s military strategy and

organization in the region.



Institution.

Early on, the project was nicknamed

“small books.” After several years,

these so-called small books (no more

than 250 pages each) have come to

comprise a growing body of solid work

devoted to timely topics in politics and

economics being pursued by Hooverfellows and the Hoover Institution.

The new project was launched under

the rubric of Hoover Studies in Politics,

Economics, and Society—the Hoover

Studies series, for short—with

Berkowitz and Lindberg serving as

general editors.

“John Raisian was anxious to reach

busy people with the good ideas pro-

duced by Hoover fellows and others,”said Tod Lindberg. “The idea was and

is to appeal to readers on the basis of

good research and well-defined con-

cepts and proposals. We aim these

books at journalists and academics and

policy makers, including businesspeo-

ple. The idea is that, in time it takes to

fly from one city to another, on, say, a

business trip, the reader can dive into a

book, spend some focused time reading

material that is well written but not too

technical, and land having learned a lotabout a topic or issue or idea.”

The books in the series are copub-

lished with Rowman and Littlefield

Publishers, which has a solid track

record in the area of book marketing

and distribution.

Books in the series to date include

I Warrant for Terror: The Fatwas of

Radical Islam and the Duty to Jihad ,

by Shmuel BarI Fight Club Politics: How Partisan

ship Is Poisoning the House of Repre-

sentatives, by Juliet Eilperin

I Uncertain Shield: The U.S. Intelli

gence System in the Throes of Reform

by Richard Posner

Lindberg said that the Hoover

Studies series books under develop

ment are on such topics as the United

Nations, the U.S. judicial system, U.S

welfare policy, and U.S. foreign policy

regarding the promotion of democracyin the Middle East and elsewhere.

Further information about books in

the Hoover Studies Series is available

from the Hoover Institution

Press at 1-800-935-8626 or

www.hooverpress.org

HOOVER STUDIES

SERIES BOOKS

continued from page 1

Etchemendy announced what would become the Internation-

al Initiative, an effort to tap into the expertise of faculty in

identifying and addressing issues of global importance.

Under the leadership of Coit Blacker, director of the

Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and

Elisabeth Pate-Cornell, management science and engineering

professor and a senior fellow with FSI, a steering committee

for the International Initiative established three broad cross-

cutting themes for research: Pursuing Security in an Insecure

World, Reforming and Improving Governance at All Levelsof Society, and Advancing Human Well-Being. In October

2005 FSI posted a call for grant proposals that included each

theme of the International Initiative and called for an inter-

disciplinary approach to the research.

Of eight grants awarded by the Presidential Fund, two went

to projects being participated in by Hoover fellows: “Gover-

nance under Authoritarian Rules” and “Evaluating Institu

tional Responses to Market Liberalization: Why Latin

America Was Left Behind.”

Stephen H. Haber is the Peter and Helen Bing Senior

Fellow at Hoover. Herbert Klein is a Hoover research fellow

COLLABORATION ON GLOBAL ISSUEScontinued from page 2

“While the objective of home-

land security is clear, the

road map is not,” said National Securi-

ty Affairs fellow Scott F. Smith, U.S.

Air Force, who discussed the issue in

the seminar “A House Divided: Our Bi-

furcated National Security” on April 6.Following 9/11, new strategies and

organizations, such as the Department

of Homeland Security and the Nation-

al Response Plan, were developed to

enhance the domestic mission of na-

tional security, Smith pointed out.

“Despite these changes,” Smith said,

“the nation’s conceptual and opera-

tional approach lacks an embrace of a

wartime mission, which limits both ef-

ficient and effective levels of security.”

Other National Security Affairsfellows completing a year at the

Hoover Institution and their seminar

topics were Brian K. Buckles, with the

U.S. Marine Corps, “Coming Ashore:

The Future of Amphibious Warfare,”

on March 23; Jim Fanell, with the U.S.

Navy, “People’s Liberation Army Navy

(PLAN): Out from the First Island

Chain?” on March 30; and Jonathan

Moore, U.S. State Department, “The

State Department’s New Skills and

New Challenges: Defining Transformational Diplomacy,” on April 20.

The National Security Affairs

Fellows Program allows military per

sonnel to pursue intensive, independent

research on topics relevant to their

service careers during an academic year

spent in research and study at the

Hoover Institution.

N ATIONAL SECURITY A FFAIRS FELLOWS PRESENT

R ESEARCH SEMINARS



Graduate School of Business. He taught

previously at the University of Chicago’sGraduate School of Business, where he

was the Brown Professor of Urban and

Labor Economics.

Founding

editor of the

Journal of

Labor Eco-

nomics, he is

also an

e l e c t e d

fellow of the

A m e r i c a n

Academy of

Arts and Sci-

e n c e s

(2000), the

Econometric

Society, and

the Society of Labor Economists. He is a

research associate of the National

Bureau of Economic Research and a

member of the National Academy of

Sciences and the Board on Testing andAssessment.

His book Personnel Economics (MIT

Press, 1995) expands on his 1993 Wick-

sell Lecture. Lazear’s newest edited

volume is Education in the Twenty-first

Century (Hoover Institution Press,

2002).

The Mincer Prize is awarded annually

to two social scientists in recognition of

their contributions. The other winner is

Richard B. Freeman, Harvard Universi-

ty.

Hoover fellow Robert Hall holds a

joint position endowed by Robert andCarole McNeil as a senior fellow at the

Hoover Institution and a professor in

the economics department at Stanford

University. He is a member of the Na-

tional Academy of Sciences and a fellow

of the American Academy of Arts and

Sciences and of the Econometric Society.

Hall, an active proponent of the flat tax,

cowrote The Flat Tax (Hoover Institu-tion Press, 1985 and 1995).

Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean

Hanna Senior Fellow at Hoover. He is

also chairman of the Executive Commit-

tee for the Texas Schools Project at the

University of Texas at Dallas, a research

associate of the National Bureau of Eco-

nomic Research, and a member of the

Koret Task Force on K–12 Education. In

2004, he was appointed as a member o

the National Board for Education Sci

ences for a two-year term. He was re

cently appointed to the California gover

nor’s Advisory Committee on EducationExcellence.

Thomas MaCurdy holds a joint ap

pointment as the Dean Witter Senio

Fellow at Hoover and a professor o

economics at Stanford University. He is

also a senior fellow at the Stanford Insti-

tute of Economic Policy Research, an

adjunct fellow at the Public Policy Insti

tute of California, and a research associ-ate of the National Bureau of Economic

Research.

The Society of Labor Economists was

founded in 1996 to promote the study of

labor economics and to make more sig

nificant the contribution of labor eco-

nomics and labor economists.

J ACOB MINCER PRIZE;THREE FELLOWS


Edward Lazear Robert Hall Eric Hanushek Thomas MaCurdy

The William C. and Barbara H. Edwards Media Fellows

Program allows print and broadcast media professionals

to spend time in residence at the Hoover Institution.

Media fellows have the opportunity to exchange informa-

tion and perspectives with Hoover scholars through seminars

and informal meetings and with the Hoover and Stanford

communities in public lectures. As fellows, they have access

to the full range of research tools that Hoover offers.

More than 100 of the nation’s top journalists have visited

the Hoover Institution recently and interacted with Hoover

fellows on key public policy issues, including

Scott Higham, Washington Post, May 1–5Andrew Nagorski, Newsweek, May 8–12

Greg Sangillo, National Journal, May 8–12

Tom Edsall, Washington Post, May 8–12

David Kaplan, Newsweek, May 15–19

David Plotz, Slate.com, May 29–June 2

Robert Draper, Gentleman’s Quarterly, June 5–9

Elizabeth Bumiller, New York Times, June 5–9

Joyce Murdoch, National Journal, July 24–28

Deb Price, Detroit News, July 24–28

Tom Bethell, freelance, August 15–September 8

Griffin Smith, Arkansas Democrat, August 21–25

HOOVER MEDIA FELLOWS PROGRAM

OFFERS A CCESS TO R ESEARCH,SCHOLARS



Q: What policy should America adopt

toward illegal immigrants from

Mexico? You’ve done quite a bit of

work on this issue, and it’s not one that

can be easily solved or will go away.

What are the perspectives and issues at

stake in this discussion?

A: One view is that illegal immigrants

drive down the wages of American

workers, burden taxpayers, and under-

mine the integrity of American culture.

That view is embodied in the recent

immigration bill passed by the House

of Representatives: it seeks to seal off

the border and treat immigrants who

are already here as felons.

Q: But there is also a positive view of

this immigration, isn’t there?

A: A second view is that Mexican im-migrants increase the competitiveness

of the United States economy. That

view is embodied in the draft legisla-

tion in the Senate that would make it

possible for illegal immigrants who

have been in the U.S. for more than

five years to obtain a visa and eventu-

ally citizenship—provided they learn

English. The Senate bill also contains

provisions for workers who have been

here for less than five years to either

obtain a green card or become a guest

worker, after they return to Mexico

and make the necessary applications.

Q: But there is more to this issue.

Could you discuss this?

A: Any serious attempt at reform needs

to take account of facts regarding

illegal immigrants that are often given

a back seat to ideology by partisans on

either side of the debate.

Any serious attempt at immigration

reform also needs to take account of

facts about Mexico’s fragile economy

and democracy—facts that both sides

in the debate have tended to miss en-

tirely. Indeed, most discussion about

immigration reform implicitly assumes

that its effects stop at the border. The

truth is that our immigration policy is

more consequential for what happens

to Mexico’s political and social stabili-

ty than it is for America’s economy or

cultural integrity.

Q: You’ve noted that there are also a

number of fine points to be considered

A: Those who favor a "soft line" on

Mexican immigration often simulta

neously argue that Mexican workers

make American industry more interna-

tionally competitive and that Mexican

workers do not reduce the wages o

U.S.-born workers.

Both statements could simultaneous

ly be true if Mexican immigrants in

cluded large numbers of highly educat-

ed electrical engineers and molecular

biologists who had a tremendously

positive effect on American total factor

productivity.

But Mexican immigrants tend to

have very low levels of education by

U.S. standards; they also tend to

6

W AVES WASHING OVER

THE BORDER

Q & A

Stephen Haber

Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution;A. A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan Professor in the School of Hu-manities and Science and director of the Social Science HistoryInstitute at Stanford University. Also a senior fellow at the Stan-

ford Institute for Economic Policy Research, a senior fellow atthe Center for International Development, and a research econ-omist at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The relationship between political organization and economicgrowth, with most research focused on Latin America, particu-larly Mexico and Brazil

The Politics of Property Rights: Political Instability, CredibleCommitments, and Economic Growth in Mexico (CambridgeUniversity Press, 2003); The Mexican Economy, 1870–1930:Essays on the Economic History of Institutions, Revolution, and Growth (Stanford University Press, 2002); Crony Capitalism and Economic Growth in Latin America (Hoover Press, 2002); Polit-ical Institutions and Economic Growth in Latin America (HooverPress, 2000); How Latin America Fell Behind: Essays on the Eco-nomic Histories of Brazil and Mexico, 1800–1914 (Stanford Uni-versity Press, 1997); Industry and Underdevelopment: The Indus-trialization of Mexico, 1890–1940 (Stanford University Press,1989). He is also the author of numerous articles on Latin Amer-ican political economy.

American Association of Political Science, the AmericanAcademy of Political and Social Science, and the Association of Iranian Studies

Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles

F E L L O W

T I T L E

R E S E A R C H

P U B L I C A T I O N S

A F F I L I A T I O N S

D E G R E E S



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H O O V E R I N S T I T U T I O N N E W S L E T TE R

cluster in industries that produce goods

that do not enter into international

trade, such as restaurant meals, home

construction, landscaping, and janitor-

ial services.

Q: So it looks as though the effects of

immigration from Mexico are notsevere.

A: The overall effect of Mexican immi-

gration on the U.S. economy overall is

trivial. However, to the degree that

Mexican immigration makes some in-

dustries more internationally competi-

tive, it does so by reducing the wages

of the U.S.-born workers in those in-

dustries. And this reduction is not

trivial. Careful research done by

Harvard University’s George Borjas in-

dicates that Mexican immigration has

caused a 7 percent decline in the wages

of U.S.-born high school dropouts and

a 1 percent decline in the wages of

workers with only a high school

diploma. Score one for the hard-liners

on immigration.

Q: So it would seem to be a good idea

to take a hard line?

A: Hard-liners, however, have it wrong

about the social and cultural impact of

immigration on the U.S. They tend tolook at recent immigrants and decry

their low levels of education, difficul-

ties with the English language, and

propensity to choose marriage partners

from their own immigrant group. They

tend to ignore that every other large-

scale immigrant group in the history of

the U.S.—Poles, Italians, Irish, Eastern

European Jews—had many of the

exact same social and cultural charac-

teristics.

Q: So we do have a track record on

how immigration works out over the

long term.

A: Correct. The impact of immigration

on American culture is not determined

by what immigrants do, but by what

their children and grandchildren do.Here the evidence is unambiguous: The

children and grandchildren of Mexican

immigrants assimilate and move up the

income ladder. Meticulous research by

James Smith at the Rand Corporation

demonstrates that second- and third-

generation Mexican Americans quickly

overcome the educational deficit faced

by their immigrant parents and grand-

parents. As a result, they do not consti-

tute a permanent economic underclass;

they have been steadily narrowing the

income gap with native-born whites.

Nor do they constitute a social and cul-

tural group independent of mainstream

America. The reason is clear: 80

percent of third-generation Mexican

Americans cannot speak Spanish.

Score one for the soft-liners on immi-

gration.

Q: So both sides have good points to

make.

A: And yet both sides in the immigra-tion debate have it wrong when it

comes to one core assumption—that

Mexican immigration is only a domes-

tic policy issue. What we choose to do

will have serious ramifications for

Mexico.

To understand why, we need to take

into account that the large-scale immi-

gration of Mexicans to the U.S. is a

recent phenomenon. Until the 1980s,

Mexicans migrated to the U.S. at very

modest rates—on the order of 50,000

people per year. In the 1980s it surged

to roughly 200,000 people per year

and in the 1990s it went through the

roof, averaging 500,000 people pe

year. The reason is that the Mexican

economy collapsed in the early 1980s

and since then Mexico’s per capitaGDP, adjusted for inflation, has grown

at a staggeringly slow 0.7 percent per

year, less than one-third the U.S. rate.

There is little reason to think that the

Mexican economy will recover any

time soon. Indeed, all of the fundamen

tals, most particularly the preference of

foreign multinational companies to site

new facilities in China instead of in

Mexico, point toward continued slow

growth.

Q: What would happen to Mexico if

we were to suddenly cut off the escape

valve provided by immigration to the

U.S.?

A: Unemployment and underemploy

ment, already major problems, would

increase dramatically in Mexico. Re

missions from immigrants, which tota

some $18 billion per year and are the

lifeblood of many rural communities

would dry up. The widespread frustra-

tion felt by the population caughbetween rising crime and diminished

economic expectations—which fuels

the populist presidential campaign of

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador—

would almost certainly become more

acute.

There is no scenario in which these

developments would be positive fo

Mexican political and social stability

And there is no scenario in which a po-

litically and socially unstable Mexico is

in the interest of the U.S.

7

Q & A



B O A R D O F O V E R S E E R S

he said, but there are problems, not only with the

war, where mistakes have been made, but withdomestic policy. The president, he believes, has

never learned to engage the people in Washing-

ton, D.C., who exercise authority. “So there is a

problem of translating ideas into policies that

work that has been one of the biggest problems

for the conservatives,” Brooks said. “These are

failures of government, not ideas.” He concluded

by saying that he believes that the Republican

Party is intellectually strong.

Welcoming remarks were made by John Raisian, Hoover

director, and Peter Bedford, Hoover board chairman.

In “Earthly Powers and Sacred Causes: Godless Europe?”

British historian and author Michael Burleigh noted in

remarks at dinner on May 1 that politics and religion have

long been contentious in Europe. He lauded the advantage of

a separation of church and state in the United States but cau-

tioned about the growing complication of rising Islamic

extremism around the world. He said he believes the virtues

of Western civilizations need to be reinforced in education

and in daily life.

Burleigh specializes in the history of Europe since 1789,

especially the history of ideas, politics, and religion. He also

studies the psychology and culture of terrorism. Formerly onthe faculty of Cardiff University and a visiting professor of

history at Stanford in 2003, he is the author of numerous

books including The Third Reich: A New History.

This year’s retreat featured speakers who examined U.S.

policy directions, upcoming elections, and ongoing conflicts

from varied points of views.

On Monday, May 1, Hoover senior fellow Michael

McFaul appraised the central tenet of President Bush’s

foreign policy, that of spreading democracy around the

world, in his thought-provoking talk “Promoting Democ

racy: Should We? Can We?”

In “Traffic Jams, Slang, and the Value of Your House: TheEconomics of Intended and Unintended Consequences,”

Hoover research fellow Russell Roberts explained why

public policy doesn’t always turn out as expected. “The fun-

damental reason,” Roberts said, “is a misunderstanding of

the process that creates the problem.”

Fox News reporter Major Garrett asked the question “Are

Democrats Primed for a Revolution Like the GOP Revolu-

tion of ’94?” In his remarks he noted that in the upcoming

election the Democrats need 15 seats in the House of Repre

sentatives to regain control.

“We live in an instant world,” Stephen Bainbridge said

“after Enron we got instant legislation.” In his talk, “Sar

banes-Oxley: Legislating in Haste, Repenting at Leisure,”

Bainbridge, professor of law at the University of California

Los Angeles, discussed how recent legislation enacted follow-

ing business scandals such as Enron is impeding busines

development.

The author of A Wealth of Ideas: Revelations from the

Hoover Institution Archives, Bertrand Patenaude, also a

Hoover research fellow, spoke about his book. A Wealth of

Stephen Haber

POWER , POLITICS ARE

THEMES OF SPRING RETREAT

Hoover director John Raisian

Hoover senior fellows, from left, Michael Boskin, John Cogan, John Shoven,and John Taylor discussed U.S. domestic policy.

Historian Michael Burleigh




B O A R D O F O V E R S E E R S

Ideas draws on the extraordinarily rich collections of theHoover Institution Library and Archives to illuminate and

illustrate some of the most important ideas, individuals, and

events of the twentieth century.

The mind-sets and worldviews of terrorists were discussed

by Shmuel Bar in “The Islamic Conflict with the West:

Fatwas and Strategies.” Bar, who recently published Warrant

for Terror: Fatwas of Radical Islam and the Duty of Jihad

(Hoover Studies and Rowman and Littlefield, 2006),

explained that fatwas provide legal and moral dispensation

for acts of terrorism that are deemed to fulfill the duty of

jihad.

In his talk, “Mexican Immigration, the Mexican Economy,

and U.S. Policy,” Stephen Haber, Hoover senior fellow,

examined the pros and cons of the current situation. In his

discussion he noted that there are facts to support those who

are for immigration and those who oppose it.

Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover senior fellow, who recently

returned from the Middle East, spoke about his views in his

talk, “Iraq: What

Went Right.”

Overall, he believes

that the region is

better off now thanit was before the

invasion by the

United States.

The retreat con-

cluded with a panel

d i s c u s s i o n ,

“Domestic Policy

Agenda in the Short

and Long Term: Is

There a Reason for Optimism between Now and 2008?”

Panel participants were Hoover senior fellows Michae

Boskin, John Cogan, John Shoven, and John Taylor.

In addition to the plenary speakers, Hoover fellows and

guest speakers presented conversations on a variety of topics

The first set of conversations included Peter Berkowitz

Hoover senior fellow, “Sharon’s Party and Israel afterSharon”; Russell Berman, Hoover senior fellow, “Europe’s

War of Ideas: Religion, Terror, and Immigration”; Pete

Robinson, Hoover research fellow, “Dubya and the Gipper

What the 43rd President Learned from the 40th—and What

He Didn’t”; and Kori Schake, Hoover research fellow, “How

to Confront Iran.”

The next set of conversations included Annelise Anderson

Hoover research fellow, and Martin Anderson, Hoove

senior fellow, “Reagan: A New Biography”; Kenneth Jowitt

Hoover senior fellow, “Potential Movements of Rage: Latin

America”; Abraham Sofaer, Hoover senior fellow, “Should

Israel Continue the Disengagement Process?”; and Tunku

Varadarajan, Hoover distinguished visiting fellow and edito-

rial features editor at the Wall Street Journal , “What on

Earth Is ‘the World’? A Radical Reinterpretation of Foreign

News (as seen by the Wall Street Journal ).”

The final set of conversations included Lawrence Chicker-

ing, Hoover research fellow, “Strategic Foreign Assistance”

David Davenport,

Hoover research

fellow, “Higher Edu-

cation: A Diversity of

Everything butIdeas”; Alvin

Rabushka, Hoover

senior fellow, “Taxes:

Present, Past, and

Future”; and David

Satter, Hoover re-

search fellow, “The

Decline of Democ-

racy in Russia.”

SPRING R ETREAT


Stephen Bainbridge

Shmuel Bar Bertrand Patenaude

Major Garrett, Fox News

Victor Davis Hanson



Instead of building an expensive, hideous, and probably ineffective Iron Curtain [at the United States–Mexico border], why not use

the money to get this simple message across to kids in American high schools: If you flunk, you’re sunk. Yes, boys and girls, aca-

demic achievement is the only route to decent employment in an economy at the top of the technological food chain. Drop out of

education without qualifications, and you’ll be lucky to get a job alongside the Mexicans picking fruit or stacking shelves.

Sounds kind of harsh, I know. But a second Great Depression sounds a lot harsher.

INiall Ferguson, senior fellow, Los Angeles Times, April 10

America welcomes more immigrants than any other country. But in keeping open that door of opportunity, we also must uphold

the rule of law and enhance a fair immigration process, as Ronald Reagan said, to “humanely regain control of our borders and

thereby preserve the value of one of the most sacred possessions of our people: American citizenship.”

I Edwin Meese, distinguished visiting fellow, New York Times, May 24

Certainly textbooks should accurately portray society in all its complexity. But to impose contemporary political requirements on

how the events are portrayed only ensures that the history we teach our students is inaccurate and dishonest. History books have

already grown larger and duller to accommodate every group’s demands.

What the state should expect of publishers is that they produce books that are as honest and accurate as possible. Such narra-

tives would be far likelier to instill humility, a recognition of human folly, an understanding of conflict and differences, and a sense

of our common humanity rather than a sense of pride.

I Diane Ravitch, senior fellow, Los Angeles Times, May 16

There is a new virtuous circle here: The International Monetary Fund has intervened in fewer crises in part because there are fewer

crises to intervene in. And there have been fewer crises in part because of the expectation that the IMF will intervene less: Antic-

ipating fewer large-scale loans from the IMF, countries have built up reserves and greatly improved monetary and fiscal policies.

Let’s not break that circle and go back to the bad old days.

I John Taylor, Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Senior Fellow, Wall Street Journal, April 19

H O O V E R I N T H E N E W S

10

The death of terrorist Abu Musab Al-

Zarqawi in June was the subject of

commentary by a number of Hoover

fellows. Speaking on his death and its

consequences were Senior Fellow

Thomas Henriksen on KGO-TV

(ABC), San Francisco, and Abraham

Sofaer, George P. Shultz Senior Fellow

in Foreign Policy and National Securi-

ty Affairs, on KNTV (NBC), San Fran-

cisco, on June 8.

OOO

Abraham Sofaer was quoted on KGO-

AM (ABC) morning news on June 13

on the formation of the new Iraqi gov-

ernment and the ability of its military

to take more control.

Sofaer also discussed alleged military

misconduct on KGO-TV (ABC), San

Francisco, on June 2.

OOO

Negotiations with Iran to halt itsnuclear development program were

discussed by Victor Davis Hanson, the

Martin and Illie Anderson Senior

Fellow, on June 1 on the Big Story on

the Fox News Channel.

Research Fellow Abbas Milani dis-

cussed political struggles within Iran

and its threats over nuclear capability

on KTVU-TV (Fox), San Francisco, on

June 5 and on KCBS-AM (CBS) radio,

San Francisco, on June 6.

OOO

Senior Fellow Michael McFaul was in

terviewed on ABC’s World New

Tonight on May 10 about Russian

president Vladimir Putin’s recent criti-

cism of United States foreign policy.

OOO

Research Fellow Shelby Steele was fea

tured on News Weekend on KRON

TV (Independent), San Francisco, onMay 7 as he discussed his new book

White Guilt and his work on race and

social issues. He also was a guest on

News and Notes with Ed Gordon on

National Public Radio on May 5.

OOO

Research Fellow William Ratliff ad

dressed the potential threat o

Venezuela to the United States on

KGO-AM (ABC) on May 30.

H O O V E R O N T H E A I R



Strategic Foreign Assistance: Civil Society in

International Security

by A. Lawrence Chickering, Isobel Coleman,

P. Edward Haley, and Emily Vargas-BaronISBN: 0-8179-4712-4

In Strategic Foreign Assistance: Civil Society in Interna-tional Security (Hoover Institution Press, 2006), Hoover

fellow A. Lawrence Chickering

and his coauthors examine the

roles local civil society organiza-

tions (CSOs) could play in pro-

moting change in countries that

resist advice from other states

and from international organiza-

tions.

Chickering is a Hoover

research fellow and founder and

president of Educate Girls Glob-

ally, a CSO that promotes girls’

education in developing coun-

tries. Coauthors are Isobel

Coleman, senior fellow, U.S. foreign policy, and director

of the Women and U.S. Foreign Policy Program of the

Council on Foreign Relations; P. Edward Haley, Wm. M.

Keck Professor of International Strategic Studies at Clare-

mont-McKenna College; and Emily Vargas-Baron, direc-

tor of the Institute for Reconstruction and International

Security through Education.

The Struggle across the Taiwan Strait

by Ramon H. Myers and Jialin ZhangISBN: 0-8179-4692-6

Hoover fellows Ramon Myers and Jialin Zhang have

written in The Struggle across the Taiwan Strait a short,

concise history that informs readers how China divided,in 1949, into two regimes that have struggled ever since

to achieve increasingly incom-

patible political goals.

The authors describe how, for

more than a half century, com-

peting authorities had struggled

to unify China. Then, on March

18, 2000, a political earthquake

shook Taiwan as Taiwan’s

people elected a regime that

champi oned a new belief

system. “Taiwan nationalism,”

as the authors refer to it, has

locked both sides into a new

contest that increases the proba-

bility of war rather than peace.

Ramon H. Myers is a Hoover senior fellow whose most

recent publication is as coeditor of Making China Policy:

Lessons from the Bush and Clinton Administrations

(Rowman & Littlefield, 2001).

Jialin Zhang is a Hoover visiting scholar. He received

his degree at the Moscow Institute of International Rela-

tions in 1960 and was a senior fellow at the ShanghaiInstitute for International Studies. He is also the coauthor

of The Turnover of Political Power in Taiwan (2002).

R E C E N T R E L E A S E S

OTHER RECENT BOOKS BY HOOVER FELLOWS

I How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution

(Cato Institute) by Richard A. Epstein, the Peter and

Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow

I The War of the World: History’s Age of Hatred

(Allen Lane) by Senior Fellow Niall Ferguson

I Uberpower

(W. W. Norton) by Research Fellow Josef Joffe

I Revolution in Orange

(Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) by

Michael McFaul, the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow

I White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together

Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era

(HarperCollins) by Research Fellow Shelby Steele

I When Ways of Life Collide: Multiculturalism and Its

Discontents in the Netherlands

(Princeton University Press) by Senior Fellow Fellow Paul

Sniderman (with Louk Hagendoorn)

I Libertarianism Defended

(Ashgate Publishing) by Research Fellow Tibor Machan



HOOVER INSTITUTION

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

STANFORD, CA 94305-6010

NON-PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

P A I D

PERMIT NO. 114

PALO ALTO, CA

I D E A S D E F I N I N G A F R E E S O C I E T Y

…investing in knowledge and scholarship

Senior fellow Eric A. Hanushek is one of three pioneers

in educational research and policy development chosenfor membership in the National Academy of Education.

The appointments were announced on May 24 by

Lorrie Shepard, president of the National Academy of Ed-

ucation.

Also named were William H. Schmidt, codirector of the

Education Policy Center and distinguished professor at

Michigan State University, and Sidney Strauss, chairman

of the Department of Education and professor of educa-

tional psychology at Tel Aviv University.

Hanushek, the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow in

Education at Hoover and a member of its Koret Task

Force on K–12 Education, was trained as an economist.

He is widely recognized for his groundbreaking research

on the multifaceted relationship between economics and

education. For decades his work has been the launching

pad for public debate that has had national implications

for U.S. education policy. His ongoing research spans a

number of the most important areas of education policy,including the impact of high-stakes accountability, class-

size reduction, and the importance of teacher quality. His

most recent research has focused on the importance of

teacher quality and on how the financing of schools can

promote higher student achievement.

He is a member of the National Board for Education

Sciences. He has also been appointed to Governor

Schwarzenegger’s Advisory Committee on Education Ex-

cellence.

The National Academy of Education, founded in 1965,

is an honorary society that currently has 129 members

and eight foreign associates. Total membership is limitedto 150 scholars. Over the years its members have includ-

ed such luminaries as anthropologist Margaret Meade and

psychologist Jean Piaget.

ERIC H ANUSHEK ELECTED TO MEMBERSHIP IN N ATIONAL A CADEMY

OF EDUCATION

Documents

Hoover Institution Newsletter - Summer 2006