Cato Institute to Celebrate 25th Anniversary May 9; Milton Friedman Liberty Prize to be Awarded Posthumously to British Economist

5/6/2002

From: Joan Kirby, 202-789-5266 or Evans Pierre, 202-789-5204, both of the Cato Institute; Web site: http://www.cato.org

News Advisory:

The Cato Institute will launch a three-day celebration with a May 9 banquet at the Washington Hilton and Towers Hotel.

Featured at the dinner will be the inaugural presentation of the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty to distinguished British economist Peter Bauer, a professor emeritus at the London School of Economics. The prize carries a $500,000 cash award. It will be given every other year to a single individual for achievement in advancement of liberty. Professor Bauer died on May 2. John Blundell of London's Institute of Economic Affairs will read Peter Bauer's acceptance statement.

A nine-member international committee selected Professor Bauer on April 18. He was chosen for his pioneering work in development economics, where he stood virtually alone for many years as a critic of state-led development policy for poor Third World countries, with its emphasis on central planning and external foreign aid. Nobel laureate Milton Friedman will speak during the award ceremony.

The 25th dinner will feature a keynote address by ABC News correspondent John Stossel. Author and political satirist P.J. O'Rourke will deliver comments.

Cato is publishing a number of books to commemorate the anniversary including a collection of essays titled "Toward Liberty: The Idea That is Changing the World"; 25 years of published columns by Cato scholars titled Cato Clippings; and a special commemorative historical book and annual report. Leather-bound copies of the U.S. Constitution will be distributed. The dinner will be followed by policy presentations and other activities on May 10 and 11.

Cato, a libertarian public policy think tank, has sought to advance policies that promote individual liberty, free markets and limited government.

The program is below. The dinner begins at 7 p.m. The Washington Hilton and Towers Hotel is located at 1919 Connecticut Ave., N.W. For details about the anniversary and the Milton Friedman Prize visit the Cato Web site, www.cato.org. R.S.V.P. to Joan Kirby, 202-789-5266, jkirby@cato.org.

The Cato Institute is a 501(c)3 non-partisan public policy research foundation dedicated to broadening policy debate consistent with the traditional American principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.

--- Cato Institute 25th Anniversary Celebration Dinner May 9, 2002 Washington Hilton and Towers

Program follows:

6-7 p.m. Registration and open cocktail reception

7:10-7:25 p.m. Film: "25 Years of Advancing Liberty"

7:25-7:35 p.m. Welcoming Remarks: Hilton Hotel International Ballroom Ed Crane, president and co-founder, Cato Institute

7:35-8 p.m. Dinner Break

8-8:30 p.m. Awarding of Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty

Opening remarks David Boaz, executive vice president, Cato Institute

Introduction Dr. John Blundell, general director, Institute of Economic Affairs, London, member, Cato Institute Milton Friedman Prize Selection Comm.

Comments Dr. Milton Friedman, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution, Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Science, 1976, Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1988

Film: "Profile of Peter Bauer"

8:30-9:10 p.m. Dinner Break

9:10-9:20 p.m. Comments P.J. O'Rourke, H.L. Mencken Research Fellow, Cato Institute, author, "Parliament of Whores" and "Eat the Rich"

9:20-9:45 p.m. Keynote Address John Stossel, correspondent, ABC News, "20/20"

9:45-9:55 p.m. Performance of "America the Beautiful" Johanna Chase, member, Cato Club 200

10-11 p.m. Entertainment and Dancing: Band "Rendezvous"