Brown University News Bureau
The Brown University News Bureau

Distributed Month 11, 1997
Contact: Linda Mahdesian
`Updating the American Dream'
Clinton budget official to join debate over President's economic plans

Joseph Minarik, from the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C., will join a debate on President Clinton's budget proposals at 8 p.m. Monday, March 17, in Room 101 of the Salomon Center. The debate is part of the Providence Journal/Brown University Public Affairs Conference (March 12-20).

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Joseph Minarik, associate director for economic policy at the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C., will join two officials from politically divergent think tanks to debate President Clinton's budget proposals. The debate will take place at 8 p.m. Monday, March 17, in Room 101 of the Salomon Center for Teaching, as part of this year's Providence Journal/Brown University Public Affairs Conference, "Updating the American Dream: What To Expect from Tomorrow's Economy" (March 12-20). All sessions are free and open to the public.

The panel discussion, titled "Steering Economic Policy: A Debate on the Clinton Budget," will also feature William Niskanen, chairman of the Cato Institute, and Robert Reischauer, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Susan Dentzer, chief economics correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, will moderate the session.

Editors: For a complete conference schedule, call the Brown News Bureau or visit the "News & Events" web site at http://www.brown.edu

Joseph Minarik

Joseph Minarik was recently appointed associate director for economic policy at the Office of Management and Budget following two years as the executive director for policy and chief economist with the House Budget Committee.

Minarik has extensive experience in both economic research and public service. As an academic researcher, he has investigated topics such as poverty, income security policy, the distribution of income, and the consequences of inflation, fiscal policy and taxation. In recent years he has specialized in tax policy, with publications on the tax treatment of capital gains, indexation and income tax design.

Before joining the Urban Institute in 1984 as a senior research associate, Minarik served as deputy assistant director of the Tax Analysis Division of the Congressional Budget Office. His primary responsibility was writing the tax analysis sections of the annual deficit reduction reports. He worked with several members of both parties on proposals to restructure the individual and corporate income taxes, and served on assignment as tax economist for the Senate Budget Committee for Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.).

William Niskanen

A former defense analyst, business economist and professor, William Niskanen has been chairman of the Cato Institute since stepping down as acting chairman of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers in 1985.

Niskanen's primary long-term research focuses on the three major sectors of the economy that are substantially financed by government - defense, education and medical care - in an attempt to explain why the substantial increase in real expenditures in those sectors did not yield a proportional increase in the level and quality of their services.

One of the most respected microeconomists in the nation, Niskanen co-founded the National Tax Limitation Committee and helped draft several tax limitation amendments. He participated in a number of President Reagan's economic task forces during the 1980 campaign. He is the author of Bureaucracy and Representative Government and Reaganomics: An Insider's Account of the Policies and the People, named one of the 10 best books of 1988 by Business Week magazine. Niskanen is also editor of Cato's Regulation magazine.

Robert Reischauer

As a senior fellow of economic studies at the Brookings Institution, Robert Reischauer specializes in budget policy, health, poverty, state and local fiscal problems, welfare, medicare and medicaid. Prior to joining Brookings, Reischauer worked at the Congressional Budget Office for a number of years and served as its Director from 1989-1995. Prior to that he served as the senior vice president of the Urban Institute from 1981-1986.

Current conference schedule

All sessions take place in Room 101 of the Salomon Center for Teaching

Updating the American Dream:
What To Expect From Tomorrow's Economy

The Metcalf-Swearer Lecture
Wednesday, March 12, 8 p.m.
"The New Economy: Where Is It Taking Us?"

Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor, The American Prospect

Thursday, March 13, 4 p.m.
"The World of Work: Learning about the Present (and the Future) Through the Past"

Claudia Goldin, professor of economics, Harvard University

Thursday, March 13, 8 p.m.
"The World of Work in the 21st Century: Finding Tomorrow's Workers"

Cathy Minehan, president, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, moderates a panel discussion with

Monday, March 17, 8 p.m.
"Steering Economic Policy: A Debate on the Clinton Budget"

Susan Dentzer, chief economics correspondent, U.S. News & World Report, moderates a panel discussion with

Tuesday, March 18, 8 p.m.
"Corporate Citizenship: What Does It Mean?"

Paul Solman, business correspondent, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, moderates a panel discussion with

Wednesday, March 19, 8 p.m.
"The Growing Divide: Inequality in America"

Barry Bluestone, professor of policital economy, University of Massachusetts-Boston, moderates a discussion with

Thursday, March 20, 4 p.m.
"Where is Rhode Island Headed?: Our Emerging Economy"

(co-sponsored by the Rhode Island Public Expenditures Council)
Gary Sasse, executive director, RIPEC, moderates a panel discussion with

Thursday, March 20, 8 p.m.
"Where is Rhode Island Headed? The Jobs Equation"

Eleanor McMahon, visiting professor of public policy, Brown University, moderates a panel discussion with

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