National Center for Policy Analysis
Encyclopedia
The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) is a non-profit American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 conservative think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...






whose goals are to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and control. Topics addressed include reforms in health care, taxes, Social Security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...

, welfare, education and environmental regulation.

The NCPA was founded in February 1983
by British businessman Antony Fisher
Antony Fisher
Sir Antony Fisher was one of the most influential background players in the global rise of libertarian think-tanks during the second half of the twentieth century, founding the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. Through Atlas, he helped establish up to 150...

 together with Dallas businessmen Russell Perry (CEO of Republic Financial Services
Delek Group
Delek Group is of one Israel's largest companies, owned by Isaac Sharon , a self-made multi-millionaire. Delek Group is involved in the energy and infrastructure, with investments in upstream and downstream energy, water desalination and power plants. Delek Group' subsidiaries are also involved in...

), Wayne Calloway
D. Wayne Calloway
Wayne Calloway was chairman and CEO of PepsiCo from 1986 until the mid 1990s. He was chairman of the board of Wake Forest University. They named their undergraduate school of business in his honor in 1995. He died July 8, 1998 from cancer. As of 2007, the Calloway Business School is ranked 17th in...

 (CEO of Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay North America is the division of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets and sells corn chips, potato chips and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavored snacks, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips,...

), John F. Stephens (CEO of Employers Insurance of Texas
Old Republic International
Old Republic International Corporation is a property insurance and title and deed Fortune 500 company. Its headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois and its 2003 revenue was $3.286 billion USD....

), and Jere W. Thompson (CEO of the Southland Corporation).

History

Its first offices were at the University of Dallas
University of Dallas
The University of Dallas is a private, independent Catholic regional university located in Irving, Texas, established in 1956, which is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. According to U.S...

. The NCPA's founding and current president is libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

 economist John C. Goodman
John C. Goodman
John C. Goodman is a libertarian economist and the founding president of the Dallas based, conservative think-tank the National Center for Policy Analysis...

. Today the organisation has offices in Dallas and Washington, D.C.

Leadership of the NCPA includes:
  • Pierre S. du Pont, IV
    Pierre S. du Pont, IV
    Pierre Samuel "Pete" du Pont IV is an American lawyer and politician from Rockland, in New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. He is a member of the Republican Party, who served three terms as U.S...

    , Chairman of the Board.
  • Dr. John C. Goodman
    John C. Goodman
    John C. Goodman is a libertarian economist and the founding president of the Dallas based, conservative think-tank the National Center for Policy Analysis...

    , President.
  • Richard Walker
    Richard Walker
    Richard Walker may refer to:*Dick Walker , English footballer who played for West Ham United*Richard Walker , English angler and writer on angling*Richard Walker *Richard Walker...

    , Senior Vice President.


Media attention has focused on the NCPA (for example, US News & World Report , Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel , Orange County Register ) for rcommending pension reform legislation including automatic enrollment into companies' 401(k)
401(k)
A 401 is a type of retirement savings account in the United States, which takes its name from subsection of the Internal Revenue Code . A contributor can begin to withdraw funds after reaching the age of 59 1/2 years...

 plans.

NCPA President John Goodman has written or co-authored numerous books, including Handbook on State Health Care Reform (ISBN 1-5680-8173-1) (2007), Leaving Women Behind: Modern Families, Outdated Laws (ISBN 0-7425-4545-8) with Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....

editorial writer Kim Strassel (2005), Lives at Risk: Single-Payer National Health Insurance Around the World with Gerald L. Musgrave and Devon M. Herrick with a forward by Dr. Milton Friedman (ISBN 0-7425-4151-7) (2004), Patient Power: The Free-Enterprise Alternative to Clinton's Health Plan with Gerald L. Musgrave (ISBN 1-8825-7710-8) (1993).

Goodman has also written "John Goodman's Health Care Policy Blog" since December 2005. The NCPA website describes the blog as "the premier right-of-center health care blog on the Internet. It is the only place where pro-free enterprise, private sector solutions to health care problems are routinely examined and debated by top health policy experts across the ideological spectrum." Twice per week, Goodman also writes "Health Alerts," which the NCPA website describes as containing "exclusive, in-depth analysis of health policy." "Health Alerts" are available free by email at Goodman's blog.

The NCPA was a member of the Cooler Heads Coalition
Cooler Heads Coalition
The Cooler Heads Coalition was originally a project of the National Consumer Coalition in the United States, a project of the nonprofit organization Consumer Alert. The Cooler Heads Coalition is now financed and operated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Its objective is described as...

, an organization created by the now-defunct non-profit group Consumer Alert that described itself as "an alliance of some two dozen non-profit public policy groups concerned about the implications of the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...

 for consumers," and which was generally skeptical of the anthropogenic theory of global warming. NCPA has also attempted to debunk peak oil
Peak oil
Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. This concept is based on the observed production rates of individual oil wells, projected reserves and the combined production rate of a field...

 claims.

In 2005, the NCPA dismissed Bruce Bartlett
Bruce Bartlett
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian who turned to writing about supply-side economics. He was a domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and was a Treasury official under President George H.W. Bush....

, a Republican commentator, after he submitted a copy of the manuscript of his book, "The Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy."

Funding

NCPA's revenues for the fiscal year ending 9/30/09 were $4,222,403 against expenses of $7,569,793; for the fiscal year ending 9/30/08 they were revenues of $4,102,806 against expenses of $4,898,261 and as of October 2009, the organizations's web site reported that for 2008 its funding breakdown was 39% from foundations, 39% from individuals and 22% from corporations. In 1992, the New York Times reported that the NCPA was partially funded by the insurance industry. According to an article in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 newspaper, in 2008 the NCPA received USD 75,000 from ExxonMobil.

According to Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...

, the NCPA received at least USD 570,000 from Koch Industries
Koch Industries
Koch Industries, Inc. , is an American private energy conglomerate based in Wichita, Kansas, with subsidiaries involved in manufacturing, trading and investments. Koch also owns Invista, Georgia-Pacific, Flint Hills Resources, Koch Pipeline, Koch Fertilizer, Koch Minerals and Matador Cattle Company...

 in the eleven-year period ending in 2008.

Views

The NCPA carries the following statement on its web site regarding global warming:

While the earth has warmed between 0.3 and 0.6 degrees Celsius and carbon dioxide (CO2), has increased more than 30 percent over the last 150 years, scientists still debate the extent to which human activity is the cause of global warming. NCPA scholars believe that while the causes and consequences of the earth’s current warming trend is still unknown, the cost of actions to substantially reduce CO2 emissions would be quite high and result in economic decline, accelerated environmental destruction, and do little or nothing to prevent global warming regardless of its cause.

In a 2010 pamphlet entitled "What does Health Reform Mean for You?", the NCPA asserted without referencing any sources that under the health care reform law: "Most employers will have to reduce what they pay in wages and other benefits in order to afford the required coverage" and that "The extra burden on employers could cost as many as 700,000 jobs by 2019."

Criticism

The NCPA has been characterized as a "right wing think tank" by organizations including People for the American Way
People For the American Way
People For the American Way is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. Under U.S. tax code, People For the American Way is organized as a tax-exempt 501 non-profit organization.-Purpose:...

, a politically liberal advocacy organization, which noted that NCPA funding has come from foundations with a conservative orientation such as Bradley, Scaife
Scaife Foundations
The Scaife Foundations refer collectively to four foundations: the Allegheny Foundation, the Carthage Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and the Scaife Family Foundation. The organizations are based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-External links:*...

, Koch, John M. Olin Foundation
John M. Olin Foundation
John M. Olin Foundation was a grant-making foundation established in 1953 by John M. Olin, president of the Olin Industries chemical and munitions manufacturing businesses. Unlike most non-profit foundations, the John M. Olin Foundation was charged to spend all of its assets within a generation of...

, Earhart Foundation
Earhart Foundation
The Earhart Foundation is a private charitable foundation that funds research and scholarship. It was founded in 1929 by oil executive Harry Boyd Earhart.- History :...

, Castle Rock, and the JM Foundation.

External links

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