Will Wilkinson

Infobox journalist
name = Will Wilkinson


birthname =
birth_date = 1973
birth_place = Independence, Missouri
age =
education = University of Northern Iowa (1995); M.A. in Philosophy from the Northern Illinois University (1998); worked toward a Ph.D. at the University of Maryland
occupation = writer, thinker
status = unmarried; lives with partner Kerry Howley
credits = policy analyst at the Cato Institute; Academic Coordinator of the Social Change Project and the Global Prosperity Initiative at The Mercatus Center at George Mason University; host of a weekly show, "Free Will," on BloggingHeads.tv; biweekly commentator on American Public Media's Marketplace
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Will Wilkinson (born 1973) is an American libertarian writer and thinker. Currently he is a research fellow at the Cato Institute where he works on a variety of issues including Social Security reform and, most notably, the policy implications of happiness research. He is currently working on a paper on how to think about economic inequality. Wilkinson is also the managing editor of the Cato Institute's monthly web magazine, Cato Unbound. Previously, he was Academic Coordinator of the Social Change Project and the Global Prosperity Initiative at The Mercatus Center at George Mason University and before that he ran the Social Change Workshop for Graduate Students for The Institute for Humane Studies. His political philosophy is described by The American Conservative magazine as "Rawlsekian"; that is, a mixture of John Rawls's principles and Friedrich von Hayek's methods. [ [http://www.amconmag.com/article/2008/jul/28/00024//] ]

Wilkinson was born in Independence, Missouri and grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1995, received his M.A. in Philosophy from the Northern Illinois University in 1998 and did work toward a Ph.D. at the University of Maryland.

His writing has appeared in Slate [http://www.slate.com/id/2141633/] , Reason [http://www.reason.com/0602/cr.ww.happiness.shtml] , TCS Daily [http://www.tcsdaily.com/Authors.aspx?id=700] , National Review [http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODg2NTY1YTRlZjZkYmE2MGYyNWM2Zjk5NzJhZWRlMDc=] , the FoxNews website [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155619,00.html] , and on The Economist's Free Exchange economics blog [http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2007/05/welcome_will.cfm] , where he was until recently a regular contributor.

Wilkinson is widely regarded as an expert in the relationship of happiness research to public policy. ["Arguably the most knowledgeable nonscientist in the United States on happiness and public policy, Wilkinson has emerged as a cogent critic of the nascent movement," writes journalist Ryan Blitstein in [http://www.miller-mccune.com/article/391|a May 2008 article in Miller-McCune] .] He has been cited on happiness and public policy in articles Forbes [http://www.forbes.com/2006/02/11/tim-harford-money_cz_th_money06_0214harford.html] , The Los Angeles Times [http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/03/local/me-happy3] , and The Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/07/AR2008020701904_pf.html] .

Wilkinson appears as a commentator every other week on American Public Media's widely-syndicated radio show Marketplace . He is also the host of a weekly show, "Free Will," on the current affairs diavlog site Bloggingheads TV. The show runs every Sunday and features discussions of new books and ideas with writers and intellectuals.

Wilkinson frequently appears in public forums and debates with leading intellectuals. In November 2007, Wilkinson, teamed with George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen, was pitted against Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs and University of Pennsylvania economist Betsey Stevenson in a highly-publicized public debate on the economic and politics of happiness sponsored by The Economist newspaper. [http://www.economist.com/nydebates/] Wilkinson has recently appeared with University of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein and Stanford University psychology professor Philip Zimbardo at Cato Institute book forums where he offered critical comments on their recent books. [http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=4526] [http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=4894]

On June 27, 2008, Wilkinson was cited by David Brooks as a member of a "group of young and unpredictable rightward-leaning writers" who have "emerged on the scene" in recent years. He calls their emergence a "genuine bright spot" for the conservative movement. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/opinion/27brooks.html]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.catounbound.org/ Cato Unbound] , Cato's Online Monthly Magazine
* [http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/ The Fly Bottle] , Wilkinson's personal weblog
* [http://happinesspolicy.com Happiness & Public Policy] , Wilkinson's blog on the political implications of happiness research
* [http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/about/ Wilkinson's biography at his blog]
* [http://www.cato.org/people/wilkinson.html Cato bio] , Wilkinson's official Cato Institute page
* [http://bloggingheads.tv/search/?participant1=Wilkinson,%20Will Wilkinson video interviews and conversations] at Bloggingheads.tv