Editor's Notes

– CONFERENCE PLANS. The Liberty Fund conference on regulation cohosted by the Reason Foundation and the UCSB Economics Department, as announced here previously, will take place this fall. It will explore many of the normative'"value-related'"aspects of government regulation, rather than focusing on cost-benefit analysis. As an interdisciplinary gathering, it will bring together speakers from the fields of law, economics, and philosophy. Confirmed speakers include Dean Thomas Haggard of South Carolina's School of Law; James Liebeler, former member of the FTC and now professor at UCLA's School of Law; Steven Kelman of the JFK School of Government at Harvard; Yale Brozen of the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago; Leland Yeager of the University of Virginia's Economics Department; Karl Brunner of the University of Rochester Graduate School of Management; Judith Jarvis Thomson of MIT's Philosophy and Linguistics Department; Nicholas Rescher, editor of the American Philosophical Quarterly and university professor at the University of Pittsburgh; and Tibor Machan, the Reason Foundation's educational programs director, on leave from the Philosophy Department at SUNY College, Fredonia, N.Y. A number of scholars will comment on the papers delivered by these speakers.

This is just the first of what we expect will be a series of conferences, exploring various issues of relevance to a good and free society. Suggestions for future conference topics and participants are welcome.

– PUBLICITY. Once again, REASON articles will be finding their way into the hands of "those who deal in the currency of ideas as decision-makers, educators, artists, journalists." The International Communications Agency, which earlier reprinted Dick Bjornseth's article on non-zoning in Houston, has now requested (and received) our permission to (a) provide copies of selected tables of contents on subjects of professional interest to various overseas individuals, and (b) photocopy and mail directly to specific individuals articles judged relevant to their interests. This is in addition to the subscriptions to REASON that the agency already maintains for its overseas libraries. We are very pleased to have material from REASON receive this extended international circulation.

Another way to increase access to REASON's ideas is to get more libraries to carry the magazine. Your tax-deductible gift can add REASON subscriptions to your local public, high school, or college library'"or that of your alma mater. A special rate is available for library gifts: just $15 per year.

– CONTRIBUTOR ACTIVITIES. Two more REASON contributors have accomplishments worth reporting here. Paul Craig Roberts, author of a number of economics/public policy articles in these pages, has become associate editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page. As such, he will contribute a monthly column under the heading "Political Economy," the first of which appeared on January 11. Roberts is also a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Frequent contributor John McClaughry ("The Rise and Fall of the Loco-Focos," March) has just completed a year serving on the National Commission on Neighborhoods. As noted in Trends (p. 10), McClaughry was instrumental in persuading the commission to endorse his proposal for replacing traditional building-code enforcement by a more flexible, voluntary system modeled after that of France. McClaughry heads the Institute for Liberty and Community in Concord, Vermont.

– STAFF CHANGE. We bid farewell this issue to Art Director Don Wood, who has decided to become a full-time free-lance illustrator. Don came to REASON in the spring of 1977 and was responsible for a major redesign of the magazine and a steady evolution in graphic quality. Stepping into Don's shoes is our new art director, Nanette Boyer. A graduate of Connecticut College for Women with a B.A. in studio arts, Nanette previously served as art director at the Longevity Research Institute.

– NEW JOURNAL. Readers may be interested to learn of the founding of a new publication called Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children. The first issue was due out in December. It's intended to cover a wide spectrum of issues in the field of children's thinking skills. A four-issue (one year) subscription is $12, with a special $8 rate for students. Write: IAPC, Division 108, Montclair State College, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043.