Editor's note.

• Author: Dorn, J.A.

This special issue of the Cato Journal considers the Unintended Consequences of Government Intervention by examining a number of public policies ranging from occupational licensing to the War on Poverty to the minimum wage and public education. The articles in this volume were written in honor of Richard K. Vedder, Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University, by his fonner students and colleagues. Vedder has long focused on the importance of economic freedom for human well-being, and has shown how big government and die regulatory/welfare state undermine individual responsibility, encourage rent seeking, and slow economic growth.

In his opening essay, Vedder reflects on "the current state of political economy" and points to "the disconnect...