“We believe that some highly qualified scientists should be taking a more clear-eyed look at the data policymakers are using to draw conclusions which have resulted in a regulatory structure that inhibits economic activity and stifles innovation.”
– Pat Michaels, director, Center for the Study of Science, September 19, 2014.
The Cato Institute is expanding the reach of its Center for the Study of Science, one of its ten centers. [1] The Center began two years ago with a scholarly mission to investigate and document the role of government incentives in shaping science. This role is quite evident in the realm of global warming–and the jungle of government regulations that have grown up around it.
The Center was initially built around the climate issue (thus my early involvement). But the influence of a large centralized source of decision-making and funding is to be found in a broad range disciplines—and so part of our expanded efforts will towards enlarging our base of experts and topics covered.
A press release by Cato summarized the Center’s ongoing expansion and new adjuncts as follows:
Ross McKitrick, who teaches environmental economics at the University of Guelph, and Terence Kealey, Vice Chancellor of the University of Buckingham and a professor of clinical biochemistry, have been named adjunct scholars at the Center.
They join Distinguished Senior Fellow Richard Lindzen, an emeritus professor of meteorology at both MIT and Harvard; Adjunct Scholar Edward J. Calabrese, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Massachusetts, specializing in toxicology; and Paul C. “Chip” Knappenberger, assistant director of the Center. …
The Center for the Study of Science will seek to provide a credible source for media and members of the public who want a fresh perspective on scientific claims made by government and other research organizations. Research areas will include energy use and taxation; use of government subsidies; global warming; and overall environmental regulation. A wealth of information on the issues and perspectives the expanded Center has already brought to national and global climate change and environmental analyses is available online at www.Cato.org. Several of the key articles are linked below.
We at the Center will continue to emphasis climate change building on past efforts. The U.S. government continues to forward actions, nationally and internationally, that are aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the name at mitigating potential future climate change. Yet neither the physical science nor the economics support such actions. Overall, in fact, the world needs more, cheaper, and more reliable energy, not the opposite.
Details of the Center for the Study of Science and its on-going expansion can be found on our webpage, on Twitter, and Facebook. An interesting video on the Center’s objectives is available here. We are confident that you’ll encounter our outreach efforts, organically, in your favorite media platform as well!
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[1] The ten are the Center for Constitutional Studies; Center for Educational Freedom; Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity; Center for Representative Government; Troubled Currencies Project; Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies; Center for the Study of Science; Downsizing the Federal Government; Project on Criminal Justice; and Project on Social Security Choice.