Independent Institute

Independent Institute
Founder	David J. Theroux
Staff	21

The Independent Institute (TII) was founded in 1985 by David J. Theroux who is also the president of this institute.

Independent?

TII seems to be not as independent as the name suggests.

Microsoft

The New York Times had on September 18, 1999 an article by Joel Brinkley called "‘Unbiased’ Ads for Microsoft Came at a Price". The 'Ads' had the form of a letter signed by 240 academic "experts" and purported to be a scholarly, unbiased view of why the government had gone overboard in its case against the Microsoft. In reality, according to that article, Microsoft had not only paid for the ads, but was in fact the single largest donor to 'The Independent Institute'. David J. Theroux, the founder and president of this institute, confirmed in his reply that they received money from Microsoft. However, that was ± 8% of their total revenues and he stated that Microsoft was not their largest supporter. Despite Jacob Sullum's denail, it later turned out that Microsoft paid $203,217 to 'The Independent Institute' in 1999 which made Microsoft the largest supporter. [1]

Tobacco Industry

Robert D. Tollison, Richard E. Wagner and Thomas Gale Moore are members of the Board of Advisors at TII, Gary Anderson, Robert Ekelund, Dwight R. Lee, Mark Thornton and S. Fred Singer are Research Fellows at TII and Richard Vedder is Senior Fellow at TII. Most of them have a long history of working for the Tobacco Institute (TI) and/or Philip Morris and all nine were also members of the 'Academic Advisory Board' for the pro-tobacco junk science report 'Science, Economics, and Environmental Policy: A Critical Examination' published by the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI) on August 11, 1994. AdTI received money from both TI and Philip Morris. (See: AdTi-Funding)

Funding

The Independent Institute received from Philip Morris in 1997 a donation of $10,000 [2] and in 1998 a donation of $25,000. [3]

Exxon donated $10,000 in 1998 [4] and again $10,000 as Exxon Mobil in 2002. [5]

'The San Francisco Foundation' gave in fiscal year 2000 (July 1, 1999-June 30, 2000) to 'The Independent Institute' $10,000 ([6])

Grants according to 'Media Transparency'

• The John M. Olin Foundation gave in 1996 to The Independent Institute $40,000 for "The promotion of two books: The Diversity Myth, by David O. Sacks and Peter a Thiel; and The Melting Pot, by Richard K. Vedder and Lowell E. Gallaway" and in 1998 another $25,000 for "The Institute's book program".
• The David H. Koch Charitable Foundation gave in 1995 - 2001 in total $160,000 for "General Operating Support".
• The Earhart Foundation gave in 1998 - 2001 in total $46,095 to support editor Dr. Robert Higgs.
• The Castle Rock Foundation gave in 2002 for "General operating support" $25,000.

What adds up to the total amount of $296,095.

Board of Advisors

• Martin C. Anderson, Keith and Jan Hurlbut Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
• Herman Belz, Professor of History, University of Maryland
• Thomas Bethell, Columnist and Author, The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages
• Thomas E. Borcherding, Professor of Economics, Claremont Graduate School
• Boudewijn R. A. Bouckaert, Professor of Law, University of Ghent, Belgium
• James Buchanan, Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, University Professor, Center for the Study of Public Choice, George Mason University
• Allan C. Carlson, President, Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society
• Robert D. Cooter, Herman F. Selvin Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley
• Robert W. Crandall, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
• Richard A. Epstein, James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago
• A. Ernest Fitzgerald, Author, The High Priests of Waste and The Pentagonists: An Insider's View of Waste, Mismanagement and Fraud in Defense Spending
• B. Delworth Gardner, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Brigham Young University
• George Gilder, Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute
• Nathan Glazer, Professor of Education and Sociology, Harvard University
• William M. H. Hammett, Former President, Manhattan Institute
• Ronald Hamowy, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Alberta, Canada
• Steve H. Hanke, Professor of Applied Economics, Johns Hopkins University
• Ronald Max Hartwell, Emeritus Professor of History, Oxford University, England
• James J. Heckman, Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, University of Chicago
• Wendy Kaminer, Senior Editor, The American Prospect; Contributing Editor, The Atlantic Monthly; Member, Board of Directors, ACLU
• Lawrence A. Kudlow, Chief Executive Officer, Kudlow & Company; Co-Host, Kudlow & Cramer, CNBC, Former Associate Director for Economics and Planning, Office of Management and Budget
• John R. MacArthur, Publisher, Harper's Magazine
• Deirdre N. McCloskey, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago
• J. Huston McCulloch, Professor of Economics, Ohio State University
• Forrest McDonald, Distinguished University Research Professor of History, University of Alabama
• Thomas Gale Moore, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
• Charles Murray, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
• William A. Niskanen, Chairman, Cato Institute, Former Chairman, President's Council of Ecnomic Advisors
• Michael Novak, George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy, American Enterprise Institute
• June E. O'Neill, Director, Center for the Study of Business & Government, Baruch College, Former Director, U.S. Congressional Budget Office
• Tom Peters, Co-Author, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies, Author, Liberation Management and A Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Diffference
• Charles E. Phelps, Provost and Professor of Political Science and Economics, University of Rochester
• Paul Craig Roberts, Chairman, Institute of Political Economy, Former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Nathan Rosenberg, Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. Professor of Public Policy, Stanford University
• Simon Rottenberg, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts
• Paul H. Rubin, Professor of Economics and Law, Emory University, Editor, Managerial and Decision Economics
• Bruce M. Russett, Dean Acheson Professor of International Relations, Yale University, Editor, Journal of Conflict Resolution
• Pascal Salin, Professor of Economics, University of Paris, France
• Arthur Seldon, Founder-Director, Institute of Economic Affairs, London, England
• William F. Shughart, II, Robert M. Hearin Chair of Business Adminsitration and Professor of Economics, University of Mississippi
• Vernon L. Smith, Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, Professor of Economics and Law, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, George Mason University
• Joel H. Spring, Professor of Education, State University of New York, New Paltz
• Richard L. Stroup, Professor of Economics, Montana State University, Former Director, Office of Policy Analysis, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Thomas S. Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, Health Science Center, State University of New York, Syracuse
• Robert D. Tollison, Robert M. Hearin Chair of Business Adminsitration and Professor of Economics, University of Mississippi
• Arnold J. Trebach, Professor of Law, American University
• William Tucker, Author, The Excluded Americans: Homelessness and Housing Policies
• Gordon Tullock, University Professor of Law and Economics and Distinguished Research Fellow, George Mason University
• Gore Vidal, National Book Award-Winner, Playwright, Screenwriter, and Author of the American Chronicle Series of Historical Novels (Burr, 1876, Lincoln, Empire, Hollywood, The Smithsonian, The Golden Age, and Washington D.C.)
• Richard E. Wagner, Hobart R. Harris Professor of Economics, George Mason University
• Sir Alan Walters, Vice Chairman, AIG Trading Company
• Paul H. Weaver, Author, News and the Culture of Lying
• Walter E. Williams, Distinguished Professor of Economics, George Mason University
• Charles Wolf, Jr., Senior Economist and Corporate Fellow, International Economics, RAND Corporation

In Memoriam Board of Advisors

• Stephen E. Ambrose, Professor of History Emeritus, University of New Orleans
• M. E. Bradford, Professor of English, University of Dallas
• Arthur A. Ekirch Jr., Professor of History, State University of New York, Albany
• Jonathan Kwitny, Author, Endless Enemies and The Crimes of Patriots
• Merton H. Miller, Nobel Laureate in Economic Science; Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Professor of Finance Emeritus, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago
• Murray N. Rothbard, S. J. Hall Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• Julian L. Simon, Professor of Business Administration, University of Maryland
• William E. Simon, Former Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Aaron B. Wildavsky, Class of 1940 Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley

Staff

• Ken Barnes, Controller
• Nichelle Beardsley, Customer Service Director
• Bruce L. Benson, Senior Fellow
• Martin Buerger, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
• John Campbell, Development Director
• Carl P. Close, Academic Affairs Director
• Keshima T. Colter, Administrative Assistant
• Ivan Eland, Senior Fellow
• Gabriel Gasave, Research Analyst
• William J. Griffith, Fulfillment Coordinator
• Robert Higgs, Senior Fellow in Political Economy
• Tommi Hill, Executive Assistant to the President
• Wendy Honett, Public Affairs Assistant
• Christopher Layne, Research Fellow
• Ray Lehmann, Former Public Affairs Director
• J. Victor Marshall, Research Fellow
• Ray Massie, Publication Director
• Wendy McElroy, Research Fellow
• Brigid O'Neil, Research Assistant
• Pat Rose, Public Affairs Director
• Sanjeev K. Saini, Librarian
• Alice E. Schmidt, Director, Independent Scholarship Fund
• Jonah Straus, Sales and Marketing Director
• Alexander Tabarrok, Research Director
• David J. Theroux, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer
• Mary L. G. Theroux, Vice President
• Paul J. Theroux, Publication and Production Assistant
• Charlotte Twight, Adjunct Fellow
• Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Research Fellow
• Richard K. Vedder, Senior Fellow

Publications

Donald Downs Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus The Independent Institute and Cambridge University Press, 2005

Related Links

• David Callahan, "The Think Tank As Flack, How Microsoft and other corporations use conservative policy groups", Washington Monthly, September 1999
• David J. Theroux, "Winners, Losers & Microsoft - Strikes a Sensitive Nerve, Response to New York Times Article", The Independent Institute, September 19, 1999
• Uriel Wittenberg, "The Independent Institute"
• Uriel Wittenberg, "The Independent Institute’s Response", May 8, 2000
• Independent Institute, Oakland, CA, Media Transparency, 2002

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