Author Profile

Joseph Bast

Joseph Bast is president and CEO of the Heartland Institute, a national nonprofit research center located in Chicago, Illinois. He is coauthor of 12 books, including Rebuilding America's Schools (1990), Why We Spend Too Much on Health Care (1992), Eco-Sanity: A Common-Sense Guide to Environmentalism (1994), and Education & Capitalism (2003). His writing has appeared in Phi Delta Kappan, Economics of Education Review, Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, the Cato Journal, USA Today, and many of the country’s largest-circulation newspapers.
Bast is publisher of five monthly newspapers with a combined circulation of nearly 200,000 copies: School Reform News, Environment & Climate News, Health Care News, Budget & Tax News, and IT&T News.
Bast was a recipient of the 1994 Roe Award from State Policy Network; commissioned a Kentucky Colonel by Gov. Paul E. Patton on June 19, 1996; corecipient of the 1996 Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award; recipient of the 1998 Eagle Award from Eagle Forum; and recipient of the 2004 Champion of Liberty award from the Libertarian National Committee. He is a member of the Philadelphia Society and a board member of the American Conservative Union.