Project Staff

[Project Staff]  [Project Co-Chairmen]  [Project Advisory Board]  [Speakers Bureau]

Michael Tanner

As director of Cato's health and welfare studies, Michael Tanner heads research on new, market-based approaches to health, welfare and Social Security. His approach is based on individual responsibility rather than government control. Under Tanner's direction, Cato launched the Project on Social Security Choice, which is widely considered the leading impetus for transforming the soon-to-be-bankrupt system into a private savings program. Time Magazine calls Tanner, "one of the architects of the private accounts movement," and Congressional Quarterly named him one of the nation's five most influential experts on Social Security. In addition to his work on Social Security, Tanner oversees Cato's research on new, market-based approaches to health care reform and social welfare programs. His most recent book is Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution. His other books include, Healthy Competition: What's Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It, A New Deal for Social Security and The Poverty of Welfare: Helping Others in Civil Society. Tanner’s writings have appeared in nearly every major American newspaper, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. A prolific writer and frequent guest lecturer, Tanner appears regularly on network and cable news programs. Before joining Cato in 1993, Tanner served as director of research of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and as legislative director for the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Speaking Topics

• The Need for Reform of the Current Social Security System
• The Case for Social Security Privatization
• Social Security and Minorities
• Social Security and the Poor
• Dangers of Government Investment
• International Social Security Reform
• Politics of Reform
• Reforming Health Care
• Medical Savings Accounts
• Welfare Reform

Jagadeesh Gokhale

Jagadeesh Gokhale was a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute during 2003 (on sabbatical from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland). There, and as a consultant at the U.S. Treasury during the latter half of 2002, Jagadeesh measured and analyzed fiscal imbalances in Social Security, Medicare, and other federal government operations. Earlier, his work on the sustainability of U.S. fiscal policy and its effect on intergenerational transfers appeared in the Budget of the United States (fiscal years 1993, 1994, and 1995). Jagadeesh has also analyzed the impact of the U.S. Social Security System on the economy and has testified before the Senate Budget Committee on Social Security's treatment of postwar U.S. generations. In related work, Jagadeesh has studied how fiscal policy affects national saving and the accumulation and distribution of wealth. Jagadeesh has also constructed computer simulations to study the causes of wealth inequality in the United States. His research on U.S. fiscal policy has received widespread recognition.

Jagadeesh's other research fields pertain to labor productivity and labor compensation, and he is a co-developer with Laurence J. Kotlikoff of ESPlanner, a highly acclaimed financial planning software program. His research is considered among the most definitive and is frequently cited by his peers in the economics profession. Dr. Gokhale has published several papers in top-tier journals, such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, and in several publications of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.