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581. Drug Reimportation: The Free Market Solution

Author:
Roger Pilon
Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
As modern "miracle drugs" play a growing role in medical practice, drug prices in America soar far beyond prices in the rest of the world. Yet our law prohibits Americans from buying American-made drugs abroad at those prices and "reimporting" them to the United States. That has led many Americans, and even some state and local officials, to ignore the law and go to Canada and Mexico for their drugs; to the passage in the House last year of a bill lifting the ban on reimportation; and to similar bills now in the Senate—legislation that Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson recently called "inevitable."
Topic:
Human Welfare, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States, America, Canada, and Mexico

582. Nuclear Deterrence, Preventive War, and Counterproliferation

Author:
Jeffrey Record
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
During the Cold War, the principal function of nuclear weapons was to deter nuclear attack. Nuclear deterrence was not considered a tool of nonproliferation. The primary mechanisms for halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons were the nonproliferation regime established by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 and the U.S. extension of nuclear deterrence to states that might otherwise have sought security through the acquisition of nuclear weapons.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, Cold War, Nuclear Weapons, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States

583. CATO Institute: A Lesson in Waste: Where Does All the Federal Education Money Go?

Author:
Neal McCluskey
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Since the 1965 passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which concentrated unprecedented authority over American education in the hands of the federal government, federal lawmakers have passed increasingly restrictive laws and drastically escalated education spending, which ballooned from around $25 billion in 1965 (adjusted for inflation) to more than $108 billion in 2002.
Topic:
Economics, Education, and Government
Political Geography:
United States and America

584. CATO Institute: Deficits, Interest Rates, and Taxes: Myths and Realities

Author:
Alan Reynolds
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The federal government's swing from budget surpluses to budget deficits has raised concerns about possible negative economic effects. Some economists have argued that deficits will raise interest rates, reduce economic growth, increase trade deficits, and possibly create a financial crisis.
Topic:
Debt, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
United States

585. European Union Defense Policy: An American Perspective

Author:
Leslie S. Lebl
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
For almost 50 years, proposals by the European Union to develop a common foreign and security policy for all member states failed. Since the late 1990s, however, the situation has changed. Despite, or perhaps because of, member states' disagreements over Iraq, the EU probably will continue to develop common foreign and security policies, and the European Commission may begin to play a role in developing new European military capabilities.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Iraq, America, Europe, and Middle East

586. CATO Institute: Downsizing the Federal Government

Author:
Chris Edwards
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The federal government is headed toward a financial crisis as a result of chronic overspending, large deficits, and huge future cost increases in Social Security and Medicare. Social Security and Medicare would be big fiscal challenges even if the rest of the government were lean and efficient, but the budget is littered with wasteful and unnecessary programs.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
United States

587. CATO Institute: Can Tort Reform and Federalism Coexist?

Author:
Robert A. Levy and Michael I. Krauss
Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Critics of federal tort reform have usually come from the political left and its allies among the trial lawyers, who favor a state-based system that can be exploited to redistribute income from deep-pocketed corporations to "deserving" individuals. We offer a totally different criticism—constitutional in origin—that embraces the need for reform but reaffirms this principle: The existence of a problem, however serious, does not justify federal remedies outside the scope of Congress's enumerated powers.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Government, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
United States

588. South Africa's War against Malaria: Lessons for the Developing World

Author:
Roger Bate and Richard Tren
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Malaria imposes enormous human suffering and economic costs on many poor countries. For South Africa, which has a relatively minor malaria problem for a developing country, from 2000 to 2002 the economic cost ranged between US$15 million and US$41 million, excluding estimates of the human suffering and estimates of lost investment in malarial areas..
Topic:
Economics, Environment, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Africa and United States

589. The Syria Accountability Act Taking the Wrong Road to Damascus

Author:
Claude Salhani
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
On December 12, 2003, President Bush signed into law the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, a law designed to pressure Syrian president Bashar Assad's government to work more aggressively in fighting terrorism at home and abroad. Implementation of the new measures, which combine punitive economic sanctions with diplomatic pressure, threatens to escalate into a new conflict in the Middle East. Some influential people in Washington welcomed such a confrontation, believing that it would lead to regime change in Damascus similar to the one that was effected in neighboring Iraq.
Topic:
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Washington, Middle East, Arabia, and Syria

590. Education and Indoctrination in the Muslim World Is There a Problem? What Can We Do about It?

Author:
Andrew Coulson
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
This paper describes the threat posed to U.S. national security by militant schools in lessdeveloped nations, evaluates current policies for dealing with that threat, and suggests an alternative set of policies that would likely be more effective and also more consistent with the laws and principles of the United States.
Topic:
Education, International Trade and Finance, and Religion
Political Geography:
United States and Arabia