RESEARCHERS’ AND STAKEHOLDERS’
VIEWS ON THE JONES ACT
I N S T I T U T E F O R H U MAN E STU DIE S AN D
TH E M ERC AT U S C EN T ER AT G EO RG E M A SON UN IVER SIT Y
April13, 2017 • Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa • Lahaina, HI
Welcome to the Policy Research Seminar discussing Researchers’
and Stakeholders’ Views on the Jones Act, co-sponsored by the Institute
for Humane Studies (IHS) and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. You
have been invited to this event because we hold your work in high esteem for both its
scholarly contributions and for its practical applications to our understanding of a free
society. As such, we encourage you to join in what promises to be an active and lively
conversation, and to draw from your own research and experiences in doing so.
One of the primary goals for this program is to help facilitate scholarly collaboration
among the approximately 35 faculty, graduate students, policy experts, and IHS &
Mercatus staff in attendance. I hope you see this as a valuable opportunity to get to
know dozens of like-minded scholars with similar research interests. We are hosting
several world-class speakers who can share their experience and advice on how
to flourish, as they have, in the trenches of academia, and an often-hostile policy
world. We have found that some of the best conversations from our seminars occur
spontaneously in the hallways and during receptions, so please be present for all
meals and receptions.
Thank you again for joining us. We look forward to meeting each of you individually
over the course of the seminar. We hope you benefit as much from this seminar as we
benefit from having you in attendance. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if we may
do anything to improve your experience.
Sincerely,
Ryan Zinski
Seminar Director Institute for Humane Studies
Res earchers’ and Stakeho l d e r s’
view s o n the J ones Ac t
I N S TI TUTE F O R H U M A N E ST U DI ES A N D
TH E ME RC ATU S C EN T ER AT G EO RG E M A SON UN IVER SIT Y
April 13, 2017 • Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa • Lahaina, HI
About IHS
Founded in 1961 by Dr. F.A. “Baldy” Harper, the Institute for Humane Studies is a non-profit
educational organization that engages with students and professors around the country to
encourage the study and advancement of freedom. We support this audience in advancing
the principles and practice of freedom in their careers and connect them to a community of
individuals committed to the power of freedom and of ideas. Specifically, we facilitate the
impact of professors both on and beyond their campuses – partnering with faculty to run
campus programs and connecting scholars to opportunities to further their careers both in
and out of the academy.
IHS Policy Research Seminars
Our Policy Research Seminars bridge the gap between the academic and policy worlds by
connecting liberty-advancing scholars to policy research organizations. IHS Policy Research
Seminars offer graduate students and faculty a unique opportunity to collaborate with
public policy experts, and to discuss and shape their research on topics where the classical
liberal perspective may be under represented. Our seminars are often attached to academic
conferences, spanning a wide range of disciplines, and are held all over the United States.
Not only do our seminars provided a platform for collaboration and networking, but we also
provide hotel and travel reimbursement that can offset the costs of attending your favorite
academic conference.
About Mercatus
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is the world’s premier university source for
market-oriented ideas—bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.
A university-based research center, the Mercatus Center advances knowledge about how
markets work to improve people’s lives by training graduate students, conducting research,
and applying economics to offer solutions to society’s most pressing problems. Our mission
is to generate knowledge and understanding of the institutions that affect the freedom to
prosper, and to find sustainable solutions that overcome the barriers preventing individuals
from living free, prosperous, and peaceful lives.
RESEARCHERS’ AND STAKEHOLDERS’ VIEWS ON THE JONES ACT
PROGRAM SCHEDULE
Thu rs day, Ap ril 13, 2017
12:00 - 12:30
Registration
Napili Foyer
12:30 - 1:15
Lunch
Kapalua
1:15 - 1:30
Kapalua
1:30 - 2:15
Napili
Welcome and Seminar Introduction
Ryan Zinski, Institute for Humane Studies
Reinventing Protectionism: The Jones Act, the
Fordney-McCumber Tariff, and the Origins of
Modern Trade Illiberalism
Phillip Magness, George Mason University
2:15 - 2:30
Coffee Break
Napili Foyer
2:30 - 3:45
Napili
3:45 - 4:00
Napili Foyer
4:00 - 5:15
Napili
What Is the Jones Act, and How Does It Hold Up
to Cost-Benefit Analysis?
Moderator: Don Boudreaux, Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Thomas Grennes, North Carolina State University
Woan Foong Wong, University of Oregon
Nita Ghei, Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Coffee Break
How Does the Jones Act Affect Hawaii?
Moderator: Joe Kent, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Michael Hansen, Hawaii Shippers Council
Ken Schoolland, Hawaii Pacific University
Keli’i Akina, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
PROGRAM SCHEDULE continued
5:15 - 6:15
Break
6:15 - 7:00
Dinner
Coral Reef
7:00 - 7:15
Coral Reef
7:15 - 8:00
Coral Reef
Opportunities at the Institute for Humane Studies
Ryan Zinski, Institute for Humane Studies
Introduction to the Program on the American
Economy and Globalization
Don Boudreaux, Mercatus Center at George Mason University
8:00 - 10:00
Coral Reef
Reception
RESEARCHERS’ AND STAKEHOLDERS’ VIEWS ON THE JONES ACT
Speaker Bios
KELI’I AKINA
Keli’i Akina, Ph.D., is a recognized scholar, educator, public policy spokesperson,
and community leader residing in Honolulu, Hawaii. Currently, he is President/
CEO of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, an independent public policy think tank
dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, free markets and limited,
accountable government in Hawaii and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2016, Dr. Akina was elected to statewide public office as Trustee-at-Large of
the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. An expert in East-West Philosophy and Ethics, Dr.
Akina has lectured at universities throughout Asia and the United States and is an
adjunct professor at Hawaii Pacific University. He holds advanced degrees from
Northwestern University and the University of Hawaii. Dr. Akina also has a 30+ year
career in leadership development in community and faith-based organizations.
Dr. Akina’s academic website with his C.V. and sample articles is:
http://hpu.academia.edu/WilliamKeliiAkina
The Grassroot Institute’s website is: www.GrassrootInstitute.org.
DON BOUDREAUX
Professor Donald J. Boudreaux was the Chairman of the Department of Economics
at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia from August 2001 to August 2009.
Previously, he was president of the Foundation for Economic Education (19972001), Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Economics at Clemson University
(1992-1997), and Assistant Professor of Economics at George Mason University
(1985-1989). During the Spring 1996 semester, he was an Olin Visiting Fellow
in Law and Economics at the Cornell Law School. His Ph.D. in economics is from
Auburn University (1986) and his law degree is from the University of Virginia
(1992).
He has lectured in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europew on a
wide variety of topics, including the nature of law, antitrust law and economics,
and international trade. He is published in the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business
Daily, Regulation, Reason, Ideas on Liberty, the Washington Times, the Journal of
Commerce, the Cato Journal, and several scholarly journals such as the Supreme
Court Economic Review, the Southern Economic Journal, Antitrust Bulletin, and
Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking. He is the author of Globalization (Greenwood
Press, 2008) and has a blog with Russ Roberts entitled Cafe Hayek.
RESEARCHERS’ AND STAKEHOLDERS’ VIEWS ON THE JONES ACT
NITA GHEI
Nita Ghei is the senior policy research editor for the Mercatus Center at George
Mason University. Prior to coming to Mercatus, Nita Ghei was at the Cato Institute.
Previously, she was on the faculty of George Mason University School of Law
and Northwestern University Law School, following a clerkship at the Maryland
Court of Appeals (the state’s highest court). Before going to law school, Nita
was a member of the editorial board at the Economics Times in New Delhi, after
working at the World Bank in Washington, DC.
Born in India, Nita received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland,
College Park, and her J.D. from George Mason School of Law. She graduated from
Delhi University with a B.A. (Honors) degree in Economics. Nita writes a weekly
column for the Washington Times, and has published op-eds in Newsweek, the
Philadelphia Inquirer, the Star-Ledger, the Daily Caller, and other news outlets. Her
scholarly articles have been cited in the Harvard Law Review and other journals.
THOMAS GRENNES
Thomas Grennes is a Professor of Economics Emeritus at North Carolina State
University. He previously served as a Professor of Economics at the Stockholm
School of Economics Riga in Riga, Latvia. He is the co-author of a blog on
international economics at www.EconoMonitor.com with Andris Strazds.
His research has covered many topics in international economics, including
financial markets, sovereign debt, agricultural trade, energy, economic reform
in Eastern Europe, and sovereign wealth funds.
RESEARCHERS’ AND STAKEHOLDERS’ VIEWS ON THE JONES ACT
MICHAEL HANSEN
Mike Hansen was born in Honolulu, HI and attended Punahou School,
Willamette University, and the University of Hawaii. His maritime employment
began in the early 1970s, and included working in a shipyard and at Hawaiian
Tug & Barge in several trade and supervisory positions. After that, Mike ran his
own ship agency in Honolulu from the late 1970s through the 1990s. He was
also involved in ship chartering and founded a container shipping company
that operated a direct liner service from Honolulu to the South Pacific for more
than five years. Mike is currently active in consulting and some commercial
shipbroking.
Since the late 1990s, Mike has been the President of the Hawaii Shippers
Council, and continues to be actively involved with the Jones Act and other
shipping issues affecting island shippers. He is widely known as a commenter
on these issues. The Hawaii Shippers Council is a business league organization
incorporated in 1997. The Council represents those cargo owners known as
“shippers” who tender their goods for shipment with ocean carriers also known
as “ship owners.”
JOE KENT
Joe Kent is Vice President of Research at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, the
state’s only think tank dedicated to individual liberty, the free market, and
limited, accountable government.
He received his B.S. in Education at Minnesota State University, and was a
teacher for eight years at Sleepy Eye Public School in Minnesota, and at King
Kamehameha III School in Lahaina, Maui. Joe Kent is also a writer and researcher
for Liberty International.
RESEARCHERS’ AND STAKEHOLDERS’ VIEWS ON THE JONES ACT
PHIL MAGNESS
Phil Magness is a policy historian and Academic Talent Development Officer at the
Institute for Humane Studies. Echoing the warnings Bastiat and Tocqueville, his
research area encompasses the two great political problems of the 19th century
United States: slavery and taxation. Magness is the co-author of the critically
acclaimed book Colonization after Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement
for Black Resettlement (University of Missouri Press), offering reexamination of
Abraham Lincoln’s anti-slavery and freedmen’s policies during the American Civil
War. He has also written extensively on the history of the federal income tax, the
American free trade movement, and the history of abolitionism.
His historical writings have appeared in the Journal of the Early Republic, the
Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Constitutional Political Economy,
and Slavery & Abolition, as well as popular outlets including the New York Times,
the Daily Caller, Britannica.com and the History News Network. Originally from
Houston, Texas, Magness completed his undergraduate studies in political
science and economics at the University of St. Thomas and obtained his MPP and
Ph. D. at George Mason University. In addition to his role at IHS, he also teaches at
GMU’s School of Public Policy.
KEN SCHOOLLAND
Ken Schoolland is an Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the
Entrepreneurship Center at Hawaii Pacific University. Schoolland is President
of Liberty International, on the Board of Scholars at the Grassroot Institute of
Hawaii, a member of the Mont Pelerin Society, and author of The Adventures of
Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey, now published in 80 editions in 50
languages.
He served as an international economist in the U.S. International Trade
Commission, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Office of the Special
Representative for Trade.
RESEARCHERS’ AND STAKEHOLDERS’ VIEWS ON THE JONES ACT
WOAN FOONG WONG
Woan Foong Wong is a Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Her research area is in international trade, particularly
focusing on trade costs.
She will be joining the Economics Department faculty at the University of
Oregon this coming fall.
Staff Bios
JUSTIN DAVIS
Justin Davis serves as the Faculty Programs Coordinator at IHS, where he hopes
to facilitate the advancement of classical liberal ideas by connecting the worlds
of academia and policy. He completed his M.A. in Economics at George Mason
University in 2016 and previously attained his B.S. in Business Administration
from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. His research interests include
monetary institutions, entrepreneurship, and institutional development.
Justin also served in the United States Army’s Corps of Engineers for three years
as the squad leader of a bridge erection team. His army tenure stationed him in
Fort Knox, Kentucky and included a deployment to Afghanistan with the 502nd
Engineer Company, where he was a part of the first multi-role bridge company
in the country.
Justin currently lives in Capitol Hill with his wife Sarah, an interior and graphic
designer, and their dog Max.
RESEARCHERS’ AND STAKEHOLDERS’ VIEWS ON THE JONES ACT
ASHLEY DONOHUE
Ashley Donohue is the Faculty Programs Manager at IHS. She oversees the Policy
Research Seminar program and other programs that are geared towards liberty
advancing junior and senior faculty. Outside of her work at IHS, she is finishing
her doctoral dissertation on Anti-federalism and the ratification of the U.S.
Constitution, and she previously taught U.S. History Discussion Section courses at
the University of Houston.
She has two Chihuahuas named Jack and Espresso, and enjoys practicing yoga,
traveling, and drinking too much coffee.
RYAN ZINSKI
Ryan Zinski joined the Institute for Humane Studies in June, 2011, as a Conference
Management Assistant. Prior to this development, he had been interning at IHS
with the Conference Management team throughout the spring.
Before joining IHS, Ryan interned for his Congressman in the 24th Congressional
District of New York State, and then worked as a Grant Writer for a non-profit
organization. Despite working with an amazing and passionate staff in the
Congressional Office, he learned first-hand how difficult it is for federal agencies
to address the needs of the public. Fortunately, Ryan was able to contribute to
the community further as a Grant Writer, and helped secure private funding
for programs that help people with disabilities secure and retain meaningful
employment.
Ryan earned his B.A. from Colgate University in 2009 with concentrations in
history and biology. His core academic interests include history, politics, political
philosophy, and economics. Ryan also enjoys cooking, tinkering with electronics,
exercising, being outdoors, and empowering people to live fulfilling and rich lives.
RESEARCHERS’ AND STAKEHOLDERS’ VIEWS ON THE JONES ACT
Speaker & Staff Contact Information
Keli’i Akina
Ashley Donohue
President/CEO
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
[email protected]
Faculty Programs Manager
Institute for Humane Studies
[email protected]
Don Boudreaux
Joe Kent
Professor of Economics
George Mason University
[email protected]
Nita Ghei
Senior Policy Research Editor
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
[email protected]
Thomas Grennes
Emeritus Professor of Economics
North Carolina State University
[email protected]
Michael Hansen
President
Hawaii Shippers’ Council
[email protected]
Justin Davis
Faculty Programs, Project Manager
Institute for Humane Studies
[email protected]
Vice President of Research
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
[email protected]
Phil Magness
Academic Talent Development Officer
Institute for Humane Studies
[email protected]
Ken Schoolland
Associate Professor of Economics
Hawaii Pacific University
[email protected]
Woan Foong Wong
PhD Candidate in Economics
University of Wisconsin-Madison
[email protected]
Ryan Zinski
Events Manager
Institute for Humane Studies
[email protected]
RESEARCHERS’ AND STAKEHOLDERS’ VIEWS ON THE JONES ACT
Hotel Floorplan
If you are interested in becoming a partner organization, or would like to make
a general inquiry about the Institute for Humane Studies’ Policy Research
Seminars, contact Justin Davis at [email protected].
JOIN US AT AN UPCOMING POLICY RESEARCH SEMINAR
THE SHARED BURDEN OF OVERCRIMINALIZATION
Ju ly 7 th -8 th in Aust i n, T X
UNDERSTANDING AMERICAN LIBERTY AND AMERICAN
INTERESTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Au gu s t 3 0 th in S a n Fra nc i sco, C A
Please visit theihs.org or email [email protected] for more information on future
IHS policy research seminars, and look for us at the upcoming annual meetings of the Western
Economic Association and the State Policy Network.