I am a free-lance writer and public policy consultant living in sunny San Diego, California. I was born in Illinois and raised in southern California in Ventura County. I went to college at UCLA and, after graduating, worked for a year at a law firm in Century City. After heading to the East Coast for my masters degree at George Mason University in Virginia, I came back to California and moved farther down the coast when I got a job producing a political talk-radio program in San Diego and have been here ever since. I love living in San Diego and it is hard to complain about the weather or the city in general. My main interests are sports (tennis, football, basketball, volleyball, golf, etc.) and politics. My politics are libertarian or “anarcho-capitalist,” as I believe that people should be able to live their lives as they please—unhindered by government—so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others, and that a free market devoid of government intrusion allows for both the most moral and the most prosperous society. (For those with similar leanings, see the “Links” at the bottom of the page to find a list of organizations devoted to the scholarship and advocacy of libertarianism.)
Academically, I have earned a Master of Arts degree in economics from George Mason University. I was awarded a graduate fellowship and teaching assistantship for the duration of my studies there. I completed my undergraduate work at UCLA in three years with a double major in economics and political science. I graduated from UCLA with College Honors and finished with an overall GPA of 3.41.
While my work experience has been somewhat varied—including work as an intern for a state assemblyman, a law clerk, a radio producer, and, most recently, a researcher/writer for the Reason Foundation and a free-lance public policy consultant—at each position I have been challenged to succeed while working on many tasks and projects simultaneously and to produce quality work products under strict deadlines.
I have had dozens of works published in varying writing styles, from op-ed to non-profit research to academic. My writings have been published by the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Press-Enterprise, Reason Foundation, Maryland Public Policy Institute, American Institute for Economic Research, and Ludwig von Mises Institute, among others. I have listed them below and provided a hyperlink, where possible, to the full text of the corresponding article, policy paper, or study.
For more detail, please see my résumé.
Baseball Boondoggle
Baltimore Sun (Reprinted at RPPI.org), December 23, 2004
The Truth About the Government’s Plan for Lake Berryessa
by Adam B. Summers and Michael R. Summers
Napa Sentinel, Volume 20, No. 1192, December 17, 2004
Health Care Prop. Is Bad Medicine
CaliforniaRepublic.org, November 2, 2004
The Right Not to Vote
Reason Public Policy Institute, November 1, 2004
Power Struggle Ignores True Debate
LewRockwell.com, October 30, 2004
The New Drug War
The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, Vol. 54, No. 4, April 2004, pp. 31-33.
Props Signal No End to Big Government, Financial Mess
Reason Public Policy Institute, February 29, 2004
Put a Pork in It! Surprise, Appropriations Bill Riddled With Pet Projects
LewRockwell.com, February 14, 2004
Bush shares blame for pork-barrel bill
Los Angeles Daily News (Reprinted at RPPI.org), February 11, 2004
Lessons From the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill Debate
LewRockwell.com, January 30, 2004
Charity is Best Left to the Private Sphere
LewRockwell.com, January 5, 2004
Charity is best left to the private sphere
San Diego Union-Tribune (Reprinted at RPPI.org), January 2, 2004
Grocery Workers’ Union Strikes a Blow Against Consumers
LewRockwell.com, December 3, 2003
Bad victory: Market forces dictate that grocery workers’ demands are unreasonable
The Press-Enterprise, November 30, 2003
The Death of Responsibility
LewRockwell.com, October 24, 2003
Extracting cash from calamity: Latest outrage: lawsuits against Santa Monica over farmers market deaths
Orange County Register (Reprinted at RPPI.org), October 22, 2003
Repealing Regulations, Sort of
LewRockwell.com, October 16, 2003
“Living” Wage Measures Hurt Business and Poor
LewRockwell.com, October 10, 2003
The Economics of Bushmeat: Solving Hunger and Preserving the Environment Through Private Property
LewRockwell.com, September 22, 2003
Barking Mad: It's enough to drive you nuts—Bush and those other busybodies
Los Angeles Times (Reprinted at RPPI.org), September 18, 2003
Let's end poverty by decree! “Living wage” laws defy basic economics and hurt intended beneficiaries
Orange County Register (Reprinted at RPPI.org), August 12, 2003
Cross Burnings and Property Rights
Ludwig von Mises Institute Daily Articles, April 17, 2003
Privatize Roads to Ease Clogging
Los Angeles Times, August 10, 2002
Antitrust is Anti-Consumer
by Benjamin Powell and Adam B. Summers
Economic Education Bulletin, Vol. XLII, No. 7, American Institute for Economic Research, June 2002
Welfare solutions out there, but they must be tried
by Adam B. Summers, Dane Bagley, Tony Huang, Karen Miller, and Steve Wood
Thousand Oaks Star, May 4, 1995
Economic Analysis of the Dornbusch Associates Report and the Bureau of Reclamation's “Alternative B” Plan for Lake Berryessa
by Adam B. Summers and Michael R. Summers
Prepared for Citizens to Protect Lake Berryessa and Task Force 7 at Lake Berryessa, October 25, 2004
(See the accompanying PowerPoint presentation here)
Emergency Medical Services Privatization: Frequently Asked Questions
by Ted Balaker and Adam B. Summers
Policy Study No. 310, Reason Public Policy Institute, August 2003
Citizens’ Budget 2003-05: A 10-Point Plan to Balance the California Budget and Protect Quality-of-Life Priorities
by Carl DeMaio, Adrian T. Moore, Adam B. Summers, Geoffrey F. Segal, Lisa Snell, Vincent Badolato, and George Passantino
Reason Foundation and The Performance Institute, April 30, 2003
Competition and Government Services: Can Massachusetts Still Afford the Pacheco Law?
by Geoffrey F. Segal, Adrian T. Moore, and Adam B. Summers
White Paper No. 19, Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, October 2002
Three Cost-Saving Tools for Maryland
by Geoffrey F. Segal and Adam B. Summers
Maryland Policy Report No. 0005, Maryland Public Policy Institute, October 13, 2003
The Salinas Utility Users Tax: Necessary Revenue Source or Government Waste?
by Geoffrey F. Segal and Adam B. Summers
Policy Study No. 300, Reason Public Policy Institute, October 2002
Citizens’ Budget Reports: Improving Performance and Accountability in Government
by Geoffrey F. Segal and Adam B. Summers
Policy Study No. 292, Reason Public Policy Institute, March 2002
“Brook Doty and San Diego’s Optimization Program”
by Geoffrey F. Segal and Adam B. Summers
Privatization Watch, No. 298, October 2001, p. 3, Reason Public Policy Institute
“Trends in EMS Transport Services”
by Adam B. Summers
Privatization Watch, No. 314, February 2003, Reason Public Policy Institute
Coming soon!
Click here to see links to some of my favorite Web sites and free-market/libertarian organizations!
Please feel free to contact me by e-mail at asummers1@san.rr.com.
