Spring 2007 Schedule
	LECTURE 1 of 3
	Thursday, February 8, 2007 -- 5:15-6:45 p.m. Martin Luther King Library, Room 225 "Making Great Decisions: How Economics Helps" David R. Henderson, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Associate Professor of Economics, Graduate School of Business and Public Policy, Naval Postgraduate School Decisions, decisions, decisions! From the general, “What subject should I choose for a major?” to the specific, “Should I open a new franchise at this location?” the list is endless. Economics, the study of individual choice, can actually help you to make better decisions. The problem is that not everyone has time to study economics, and even those who do often never learn how to apply economic reasoning to their own lives. David Henderson, co-author of MAKING GREAT DECISIONS IN BUSINESS AND LIFE, will highlight some of the most important principles of great decision-making along with true stories of good and bad decisions. David R. Henderson is a Research Fellow with the Hoover Institution and Associate Professor of economics at the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School.  He was previously a senior economist with President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers. He wrote THE JOY OF FREEDOM: AN ECONOMIST'S ODYSSEY (2001) and edited THE FORTUNE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ECONOMICS (1993). In addition to testifying before committees of the U.S. Congress and appearing on The O'Reilly Factor, the Jim Lehrer Newshour, CNN, and NPR, Professor Henderson has published over a hundred articles in such publications as the WALL STREET JOURNAL, FORTUNE, the RED HERRING, and other major newspapers and magazines. Following the lecture, students, alumni, faculty, and guests will continue the discussion at the Tied House, 65 North San Pedro Street, San Jose. This is an informal, no host gathering where all are welcome.
	LECTURE 2 of 3
	Tuesday, April 17, 2007 -- 5:15-6:45 p.m. Morris Dailey Auditorium "Immigration: A Defense of a Completely Free Labor Market" Benjamin Powell, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, San Jose State University and Director, Center on Entrepreneurial Innovation, The Independent Institute Will immigration destroy America's standard of living? If more immigrants are allowed in will our economy suffer? Do immigrants steal jobs from Americans? Does immigration depress wages of the native born population? What does economics have to say about the current immigration reform debate? What are other spillover costs of immigration and how can they be dealt with. What about national security? Are there political considerations beyond economics? Professor Powell will address these timely topics among others during his lecture. Benjamin Powell is Assistant Professor of Economics at San Jose State University and Director of the Center on Entrepreneurial Innovation at The Independent Institute. Receiving his Ph.D. from George Mason University, he has been a fellow with the Mercatus Center's Global Prosperity Initiative and a visiting research fellow with the American Institute for Economic Research. Professor Powell is the author of Housing Supply and Affordability and the editor of Making Poor Nations Rich: Entrepreneurship and the Process of Development. His scholarly research has been published in such journals as Public Choice, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Private Enterprise, Indian Journal of Economics and Business, Human Rights Quarterly, Journal of Labor Research, Cato Journal, Boston University Public Interest Law Journal, California Labor and Employment Law Review, Florida State University Law Review, Journal of Law, Economics and Public Policy, Review of Austrian Economics, and Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.
	LECTURE 3 of 3
	Tuesday, May 15, 2007 -- 4:45-6:45 p.m. (Note start time is half hour earlier than usual) Morris Dailey Auditorium "Freedom, Economic Theory, and Experiment" Vernon L. Smith, 2002 Nobel Laureate in Economics and Professor of Economics and Law, George Mason University Globalization is controversial.  It confronts people with the social and political challenge of living simultaneously in two different worlds of exchange:  personal versus impersonal exchange.  Professor Smith exposes frequent misunderstandings about how the rules of each world interact and collide.  Globalization is less controversial when viewed as a contemporary expression of the ancient human capacity for discovery, for economic and social development, for migration, trade, and specialization.  Globalization is driven by human curiosity, diversity, innovation and freedom.  Freedom is associated with economic development but that does not mean that we know how to plan either freedom or development, from the top down or from the outside in.  Come and enjoy the reflections of a Nobel Laureate who in his own words muses that economic experiments “are a window on the human career with close intellectual connections to philosophy, science, anthropology, psychology, history and the classical tradition of the Scottish Enlightenment. It’s all great fun.” Vernon L. Smith was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 “for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms.” He is currently Professor of Economics and Law at George Mason University. Professor Smith is also a research scholar in the Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science in Arlington, Virginia, and President of the International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics, which he helped found in 1997. He has authored or co-authored over 250 articles and books on capital theory, finance, natural resource economics, and experimental economics. His books include Papers in Experimental Economics, Bargaining and Market Behavior, and the forthcoming Rationality in Economics: Constructivist and Ecological Forms. He has held appointments at: Purdue University, Stanford University, Brown University, University of Massachusetts, University of Southern California, Cal Tech, University of Arizona, and the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
Past Lectures Fall 2006
	Tuesday, September 19, 2006 -- 5:15-6:45 p.m. Music Hall Auditorium "Taking Homes for a Shopping Mall: The U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo Decision and the Incredible Grassroots Backlash Against Eminent Domain Abuse" Scott Bullock, Senior Attorney, The Institute for Justice In June 2005, The U.S. Supreme Court held for the first time that governments may use the power of eminent domain to take property for private economic development projects. Kelo vs. City of New London has probably become the most universally despised Court decision in decades. It has generated numerous legislative efforts and state court rulings that have rejected the notion that government can take homes, small businesses, and other types of private property for so-called “higher and better” uses. Scott Bullock will analyze the case from both a constitutional and practical perspective. He will also report on the incredible grassroots backlash against eminent domain abuse unleashed in the wake of Kelo.  Come and learn about this vital current issue. Scott Bullock is Senior Attorney with the Institute for Justice in Washington, D.C., and litigates property rights, free speech, and other constitutional cases in federal and state courts. He was co-counsel in and argued the landmark Kelo case before the U.S. Supreme Court. He was also co-counsel in the first state Supreme Court case to address eminent domain abuse after Kelo, in which the Ohio’s Supreme Court unanimously stopped the use of eminent domain for private development. Bullock has worked with property owners in scores of other cities, including litigation that saved the land and homes of the Archie family in Canton, Mississippi, from an effort by the state to take them for a Nissan plant. For that accomplishment, he was awarded in 2002 the top civil rights prize by the Mississippi chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He has appeared in the New York Times, in the Wall Street Journal, on 60 Minutes, on ABC Nightly News, and on National Public Radio. Bullock was born in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his B.A. in economics and philosophy from Grove City College.
	Tuesday, October 31, 2006 -- 5:15-6:45 p.m. Martin Luther King Library, Room 225 "Cancer Risks: Government Myths and Scientific Reality" Bruce N. Ames, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley Concern over cancer and other degenerative diseases only mounts as baby boomers age. The government and the legal system focus enormous attention on the alleged risks from synthetic chemicals. But is this focus misplaced? Professor Ames has devoted much of his career to the study of cancer and aging. He concludes that dietary imbalances, hormonal factors, infections or inflammations, and genetics are far more significant than environmental chemicals, with the notable exception of tobacco and lung cancer. Politicians, bureaucrats, and environmental activists tend to direct large amounts of money to small hypothetical risks, thereby diverting resources, distracting the public, and damaging public health. The poor, in particular, are ill served by a misallocation that slights the benefits possible from inexpensive improvements in nutrition. Bruce N. Ames is a Professor of the Graduate School in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley, and a Senior Scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute. Prior to assuming his position at Berkeley, he worked at the National Institutes for Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and was on their Commission on Life Sciences. Professor Ames was also a member of the board of directors of the National Cancer Institute, the National Cancer Advisory Board, from 1976 to 1982. The recipient of over a dozen scientific awards, including the Tyler Environmental Prize (1985), the Glenn Foundation Award of the Gerontological Society of America (1992), the U.S. National Medal of Science (1998), and the American Society for Microbiology Lifetime Achievement Award (2001), he has over 500 professional publications and ranks among the few hundred most-cited scientists (in all fields).
	Tuesday, November 14, 2006 -- 5:15-6:45 p.m. Rotary Summit Center, Seventh Floor, Fourth Street Garage   (on Fourth and San Fernando across from SJSU) "The Rise of the Corporatist State and the Fall of Freedom in Russia: An Insider's View" Dr. Andrei Illarionov, President, Institute of Economic Analysis and   Former Chief Economic Advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin The Department of Economics is pleased to present an insider’s perspective on the financial crisis in today’s Russia. Drawing on his extensive experience, Dr. Andrei Illarionov will provide a personal, in-depth view of the policies and the politics that have led to Russia’s membership in the G-8 and to its current economic stagnation. When Russia first embarked on economic reforms, Dr. Illarionov joined the team of “young reformers.”  He became Deputy Director of the Center for Economic Reform, the Russian government’s think tank and later served as the Chief Economic Advisor of Viktor Chernomyrdin, then Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. From 2000 to 2005, Dr. Illarionov, served as President Valdimir Putin’s Chief Economic Advisor and his personal representative to the G-8.  While serving in President Putin’s administration, Dr. Illarionov was the driving force behind the adoption of a 13% flat income tax, the creation of a Stabilization Fund for windfall oil revenues, and the early repayment of foreign debt. Under his leadership, Russia became a full-fledged member of the G-8 in 2002. Dr. Illarionov’s passionate, provocative talks about the political, economic, and social climate in Russia have been called Churchillian in style.  He is widely known in Russia and abroad for his sharp, comprehensive and often unexpected analysis of Russian economic policies and development.
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November 18, 2004 - 5:15-6:45pm
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Room 225
"Heroism and the Historical Struggle for Liberty"
Dr. Tom Palmer, Sr. Fellow, Cato Institute

The story of the struggle for liberty, starting with the earliest written account (about 2,800 B.C.E.) up to the modern age. Dr. Palmer will offer a narrative that focuses on key persons, actions, and events, from ancient Sumeria to modern America. A detailed outline with all names, dates, and significant events will be handed out (so that attendees need not write anything down). He will contrast the historical narratives of western Europe (briefly) with events in the Islamic world, China, and Russia. Dr. Palmer will describe common themes, such as the use of power to restrain power and the central importance of competition among sources of law for the development of liberty, and lessons for the present will be drawn out.

Dr. Tom G. Palmer is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, where he undertakes public policy research and promotes libertarian ideas. He was very active in the late 1980s and the early 1990s in the propagation of those ideas in the Soviet bloc states and their successors. Before joining Cato he was an Earhart Fellow at Hertford College, Oxford University, and a vice president of the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University.

He regularly lectures in America and Europe on public choice, individualism and civil society, and the moral and legal foundations of individual rights. He has published reviews and articles on politics and morality in scholarly journals such as the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Ethics, Critical Review, and Constitutional Political Economy, as well as in publications such as Slate, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

He received a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from St. Johns College (Annapolis, Maryland), a master's in philosophy from Catholic University (Washington, D.C.), and a doctorate in politics from Oxford University. He is a trustee of the Foundation for Economic Education and a member of the board of directors of the Iraqi Institute for Law, Liberty, and Prosperity.

October 21, 2004 - 5:15-6:45pm
Morris Dailey Auditorium
"The Frankenfood Myth: How Protest and Politics Threatens the Biotech Revolution"
Henry I. Miller, M.D., Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Few topics inspire as much international furor and misinformation as genetically-modified plants and foods. For thousands of years, farmers have bred crops to enhance productivity, nutritional value, and resistance to disease. Only during the past 30 years have scientists developed precise, predictable methods for modifying plants at the molecular level. Gene-splicing promises to dramatically improve agricultural products, but it has met with public opposition far out of proportion to the potential risks.

Dr. Miller will explain how a "happy conspiracy" of anti-technology activism, bureaucratic over-reach, and self-interested business lobbying has resulted in a paradoxical inverse relationship between regulation and the actual risks. Regulation by such agencies as the USDA, EPA, and FDA results in profoundly negative consequences for the environment, and for starving people around the world.

September 28, 2004 - 5:15-6:45pm
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Room 225
“Socialist Cuba: Paradise or Disaster?”
Rodolfo Gonzalez, Professor of Economics, SJSU

Cuba is one of the few, fully socialist countries remaining in the world. The Cuban government claims that the population's low infant mortality and high literacy rates are benefits of a command economy. On the other hand, it blames the country's unambiguously low standard of living on the United States embargo. Professor Gonzalez provides an economic and historical comparison of Cuba's current economic conditions with Cuba prior to Fidel Castro's rise to power in the late 1950s. Have socialist policies turned the country into a paradise or a disaster? Come and hear the details; you be the judge!

Rodolfo Gonzalez is Professor of Economics here at San Jose State University, and a former Chair of the Department of Economics. Born in Cuba, he immigrated to the United States in 1960 and received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Davis, in 1990. An expert on public sector economics, public choice theory, and law and economics Professor Gonzalez has written over twenty articles for such economic journals as the "Southern Economic Journal", "Public Finance", and "Public Choice". He is also one of the Economic Department's most popular lecturers.

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"Liberty," says Stossel, "is what made America great, yet little by little, Americans are giving up that liberty." Stossel talks about the amazing benefits of individual freedom and free markets, and what he has learned in his 30-year journey from a Portland, Oregon consumer reporter to his current job as ABC's in-house contrarian. He discusses:

• Who are today's American heroes?
• Has our fear of technology led us to reject the very freedom that has lifted more people out of poverty than any society anywhere, ever?
• Might safety regulations actually injure more people than they protect?
• Finally, why does the media ceaselessly hype unrealistic fears?
  Every day newspapers and television warn us of new, unsuspected dangers -- from Alar and asbestos to cyclamates to the Audi 500. Stossel compares those risks to life's REAL risks.

Milton Friedman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics describes Stossel as "...that rare creature, a TV commentator who understands economics, in all its subtlety." The winner of 19 Emmy Awards, Stossel was named co-anchor of ABC News “20/20” in May, 2003. He joined the highly-acclaimed newsmagazine in 1981, and began doing one-hour primetime specials in 1994. Stossel’s specials tackle issues that face Americans today. His specials consistently rate among the top news programs and have earned him uncommon praise: “The most consistently thought-provoking TV reporter of our time” said the Dallas Morning News, while the Orlando Sentinel said he “has the gift for entertaining while saying something profound.”

"For more than two decades I was a soldier in the War on Drugs," writes Judge Jim Gray. "In the course of my career, I have helped put drug users and dealers in jail; I have presided over the break-up of families. I have followed the laws of my state and country, and have seen their results." And what are those results? They include: "wasting unimaginable amounts of our tax dollars, increasing crime and despair and severely and unnecessarily harming people’s lives . . . the worst of all worlds." Is the government's war on drugs a failure? The Department of Economics invites you to hear one man's first hand account.

Judge James Gray is California Superior Justice in Orange County, California. Receiving his law degree from the University of Southern California in 1971, Gray served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica and as a staff judge advocate and criminal defense attorney for the U.S. Navy JAG Corps. He was awarded a National Defense Ribbon, a Vietnam Service Ribbon, and a Combat Action Ribbon during his tour of duty. Later, he served as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles and in private practice doing civil litigation in Newport Beach. Recipient of numerous awards, including Orange County “Judge of the Year” in both 1992 and 1995, Jim Gray has also been an adjunct professor at Chapman University, the College of Trial Advocacy for new Orange County attorneys, and Continuing Legal Education of the Bar. He is the author of Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It , published in 2001.

March 23, 2004 - 5:15-6:45pm
"The Hong Kong Miracle: And the Man Who Made It Happen"
Christian Wignall, President, Capstan LLC

Half a century ago, the people of Hong Kong were desperately poor. But over the following fifty years, as this British colony's population swelled from 1.3 to more than 7 million, it achieved one of the fastest growth rates in all human history. Upon unification with China in 1997, Hong Kong could boast a per-capita income higher than most of Europe, and far higher than in England, while life expectancy, health, and education ranked it among the most affluent countries in the world.

This economic miracle has long been credited to the colony’s free markets and free trade, but how did those policies come to be adopted and implemented in the first place? Come and hear the little known story of how one man, Sir John Cowperthwaite, fostered and defended freedom in Hong Kong.

Christian Wignall is the President of Capstan LLC, an investment advisory firm in San Francisco. He worked in Hong Kong in the late seventies as an economist and wrote for THE ASIAN MONETARY MONITOR. He later served as Chief Investment Officer for G.T. Capital Management, one of the most prominent investment management companies, specializing in international stocks and bonds for both institutional and individual clients. Mr. Wignall is also a Director of the Pacific Research Institute.

February 26, 2004
"Labor Unions: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"
Charles Baird, Professor of Economics, CSU-Hayward

"Without labor unions," we are often told, "corporate giants would exploit the worker." Do unions really help workers? If yes, then why has participation in them been declining in America (EXCEPT among government employees), despite the fact that organized labor still enjoys an array of special privileges granted by government? Professor Baird will expose the fundamentally coercive nature of such policies as "exclusive representation," "union security," "mandatory good faith bargaining," and "the right to strike." He will show how these privileges harm not only the economy but workers generally, and will suggest a reform plan for voluntary unionism consistent with freedom of contract.

Charles Baird is a Professor at California State University, Hayward, where he currently chairs the Department of Economics. He also is the founding director of the Smith Center for Private Enterprise Studies at Cal State Hayward. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968, and has long specialized in the law and economics of labor relations. Professor Baird is the author of a recent monograph, LIBERATING LABOR, as well as four textbooks and over seventy articles in professional journals and magazines.

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FALL 2003

November 6, 2003: Robert C. Balling, Jr., "A Climate of Doubt about Global Warming."

October 15, 2003: Richard K. Vedder, "The Growing Crisis in Higher Education: Are Students Being Ripped Off?."

September 25, 2003, Walter Block, "The Role of Freedom in Economic Well-Being: A Look at the Evidence."


SPRING 2003

May 13, 2003: Richard K. Vedder, "Why America is Number One"

April 17, 2003: Nathalie Janson, "The Future of the Euro: Blessing or Curse?"

February 18, 2003: Terry Anderson, "Markets and the Environment: Friends or Foes."


FALL 2002

November 20, 2002: David Friedman, "How the Net Will Change the World: The Promise and Perils of Strong Privacy."

October 29, 2002: Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, "Why the North Should Have Seceded From the South: An Estimate of Slavery's Enforcement Costs."

September 11, 2002: John Stossel video, "Is America #1."


SPRING 2002

May 15, 2002: Premiere of the PBS film "The Commanding Heights: The Battle of Ideas."

April 17, 2002: Robert Higgs, "Has the Nation-State Really Been the Sine Qua Non of Economic Progress."

FALL 2001

November 14, 2001: David Henderson, "The Joy of Freedom."


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About the David S. Saurman Provocative Lecture Series

The Provocative Lecture Series is dedicated to the memory of the late David S. Saurman , a professor of economics at San Jose State University.

The San Jose State University Department of Economics invites students, faculty, and the general public to consider intellectual arguments on controversial topics. Presenters in the Provocative Lecture Series are noted for their outstanding scholarship and public speaking ability.

This lecture series fosters the tradition of higher education to challenge ideas and develop critical thinking in an environment of respect and intellectual discourse. Our goal is for you to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to reach your own informed position on controversial issues.

We invite you to attend, relax, ponder, and enjoy the thought process.