Center on Health & Environment

Since the waning years of the twentieth century, politics has increasingly intruded on science. Scientific insights achieved through systematic, objective collection of data and empirical testing have been subjected to political screening. Pioneering research findings that do not conform to political orthodoxy have too often been considered “politically incorrect” and even attacked and censored.

This trend has been particularly apparent in the fields of health and environmental science, where the stakes are very large. Respected scholars have been vilified when their research findings called into question the assumptions of “conventional wisdom” and the agendas of powerful special interests.

In the public arena, alarmist rhetoric over complicated issues has tended to drown out calm, rational discourse. Highly significant findings of great import have been ignored. Politicians and government regulators have made public policy decisions based upon false or fragmentary information. As a result, a host of unscientific, intrusive and counter-productive government policies have become commonplace, including takings of private property, bans of harmless substances, unwarranted liability court awards, byzantine bureaucratic controls, and regulatory measures that endanger economic growth as well as health and the environment.

The Center on Health and the Environment networks with scholars to conduct multi-disciplinary research that combines the highest caliber of environmental and health science with economic and legal analysis. The objective is to identify sound scientific findings that have direct bearing on environmental and health issues, to understand the implications of these findings, to investigate innovative policy options, to present this information in effective forms to educate both professionals and broader audiences, and to redefine and redirect public debate.

The Center integrates the findings of diverse disciplines so that they can be evaluated not only by experts, but also by opinion leaders in the media, business, government and other fields; interested non-professionals who want to understand the issues; and policy makers who need to choose intelligently between conflicting policy options. In other words, the Center’s mission is to foster rational, objective, fact-based discourse about major health and environmental issues.

Center on Health & Environment Books

Center on Health & Environment People

Personnel

Bruce L. Benson
Senior Fellow, Independent Institute; DeVoe Moore Distinguished Research Professor of Economics, Florida State University
John C. Goodman
Senior Fellow, Independent Institute
Raymond J. March
Research Fellow, Independent Institute; Director, FDAReview.org

Senior Fellows

Research Fellows

Dominick T. Armentano
Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Hartford
Emeritus Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford University
William Volkman Chair of Business and Law, Wheaton College
Associate Professor of Economics, Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, North Georgia College & State University
Director, Center for Environmental Risk Assessment, Pennsylvania State University
Richard A. Epstein
James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago
Professor of Economics, Center for Health Services Research, University of Minnesota
William M. Gray
Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University
Peter J. Hill
George F. Benett Professor of Economics, Wheaton College
Randall G. Holcombe
DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics, Florida State University
Professor of Gerentology and Economics, Wayne State University
Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Utah State University
Daniel B. Klein
Professor of Economics, George Mason University
Andrew N. Kleit
Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics, Pennsylvania State University
Dwight R. Lee
Professor of Applied Economics, Johns Hopkins University
David R. Legates
Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Climate Research, University of Delaware
Roger E. Meiners
Professor of Economics and Law, University of Texas at Arlington
Michael A. Morrisey
Director, Lister Hill Center for Health Policy, University of Alabama
Andrew P. Morriss
H. Ross and Helen Workman Professor of Law and Professor of Business, University of Illinois
Ernest C. Pasour, Jr.
Professor Emeritus of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University
Jeffrey J. Pompe
Nellie Cooke Sparrow Professor of Business and Professor of Economics and Trustee Research Scholar, Francis Marion University
Professor of Economics and Law, Emory University
Randal R. Rucker
Professor of Agricultural Economics and Economics, Montana State University
John Semmens
Research Project Manager, Arizona Department of Transportation Research Center
Randy Simmons
Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute of Political Economy, Utah State University
Shirley V. Svorny
Professor of Economics, California State University, Northridge
Bruce Yandle
Professor Emeritus of Economics, Clemson University
Ryan M. Yonk
Senior Research Faculty, American Institute for Economic Research

Advisors

Adjunct Fellows

Charlotte Twight
Professor of Economics, Boise State University

In Memoriam

B. Delworth Gardner
Emeritus Professor of Economics, Brigham Young University
Ronald Hamowy
Emeritus Professor of History, University of Alberta
S. Fred Singer
Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia
Richard L. Stroup
Adjunct Professor of Economics, North Carolina State University; Professor of Economics, Montana State University

Center on Health & Environment Contact

Center on Health and the Environment
The Independent Institute
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA 94621-1428
510-632-1366 Phone
510-568-6040 Fax

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the Independent Institute
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About the Independent Institute Centers

Each center is tasked with assessing, refining, and proposing innovative solutions to pressing social and economic challenges. Our programs focus on three core components: rigorous scholarly research, insightful publications, and the strategic dissemination of findings to opinion leaders and the public through conferences and media initiatives.

By fostering evidence-based solutions, our centers encourage informed discussions that can be scrutinized not just by experts, but also by media influencers, business leaders, religious organizations, engaged citizens, and policymakers. Our goal is to promote rational, objective dialogue that sheds light on key issues and shifts public discourse away from interest-group politics.