William A. Niskanen (1933–2011) was Chairman Emeritus and Distinguished Senior Economist at the Cato Institute, and Research Fellow and founding Member of the Board of Advisors for both the Independent Institute and its quarterly journal, The Independent Review. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, which honored him with a lifetime professional service award.
Dr. Niskanen served as Acting Chairman of the President’s Council of Economics Advisers, Director of Economics at the Ford Motor Company, Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles, Assistant Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Defense Analyst at the Rand Corporation, Director of Special Studies in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Director of the Program Analysis division at the Institute of Defense Analysis.
His books include Bureaucracy and Representative Government, Reflections of a Political Economist: Selected Articles on Government Policies and Political Processes, After Enron: The Major Lessons for Public Policy, Autocratic, Democratic and Optimal Government: Fiscal Choices and Economic Outcomes, Corporate Aftershock: The Public Policy Lessons from the Collapse of Enron and Other Major Corporations, Going Digital!: A Guide to Policy in the Digital Age, Bureaucracy and Public Economics, Dollars, Deficits, and Trade, and Reaganomics: An Insider's Account of the Policies and the People, and Policy Analysis and Public Choice: Selected Papers by William A. Niskanen.
