John Hood
Email Address: jhood@johnlocke.org
John Hood is President and Chairman of the John Locke Foundation, a North Carolina think tank that issues policy studies, hosts dozens of events each year, produces radio and TV programs, and publishes
Carolina Journal, a monthly newspaper with a readership of nearly 200,000 North Carolinians. Hood helped to found JLF in 1989.
In addition to his duties at JLF, Hood is a syndicated columnist for the
Winston-Salem Journal,
High Point Enterprise,
Gaston Gazette, Durham
Herald-Sun, and newspapers in 50 other North Carolina communities. He is a regular radio commentator and a weekly panelist on “N.C. Spin,” a discussion program that is broadcast on 16 television stations in Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Greenville, Wilmington, Asheville, and elsewhere. He also created “Carolina Journal Radio,” a weekly newsmagazine broadcast on 18 radio stations.
Hood’s
latest book is
Selling the Dream: Why Advertising is Good Business (Praeger, 2005).
Adweek raved that
Selling the Dream offered “a refreshing argument” for the role advertising plays in benefiting consumers.
Choice rated the book as “highly recommended,” concluding that “Hood provides a fascinating look into the world of advertising and beyond to support his view that advertising provides a societal good.”
He is also the author of
Investor Politics: The New Force That Will Transform American Business, Government, and Politics in the 21st Century (
Templeton Foundation Press, 2001). “John Hood has produced a timely and informative account of...the most significant demographic shift of this century — the rise of a shareholder democracy in America,” said Jack Kemp.
National Review called
Investor Politics “chock-full of interesting historical anecdotes, clever policy analysis, and surprising musings.”
In 1994-95, Hood was a Bradley Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, the nation’s premier conservative think tank. At Heritage, he researched and wrote a book entitled
The Heroic Enterprise: Business and the Common Good (The Free Press, 1996).
The Wall Street Journal praised Hood’s book for “demonstrating the nexus between market incentives and socially desirable outcomes” and for providing “an avalanche of examples of Adam Smith’s invisible hand at work in the modern corporation.”
Hood writes and comments frequently on politics and policy issues for national media organizations. He covers state politics for
National Review Online and blogs daily at NRO’s “The Corner.” His articles have appeared in both magazines — such as
Readers’ Digest,
The New Republic,
National Review,
Military History, and
Reason — and in newspapers, including
The Wall Street Journal,
USA Today, and
The Chicago Tribune. He’s been interviewed by, among other news media,
The Washington Post,
The New York Times,
Time,
Newsweek, CNN, CNBC, NBC Nightly News, and the Fox News Channel.
Hood received his degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he founded a student magazine called
The Carolina Critic in the mid-1980s that ultimately grew to encompass five campus editions (at UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State, UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Charlotte, and Wake Forest University). He is a Mecklenburg County native and currently resides in Wake County with his sons Alex and Andrew.
Recent Research
May. 9th, 2005
A broad coalition of lawmakers and policy groups favors fundamental changes in NC lobbying laws to require more disclosure, create "cooling off periods" before former officeholders can lobby, and restrict the value of personal gifts to public officials. Still, reformers are overlooking an important issue: the role that special-interest lobbying plays in distorting fiscal policy and stunting economic growth.
Mar. 10th, 2005
Supporters of a proposed government lottery argue that it would be a welcome alternative to raising state taxes to fund education. But there is no evidence to suggest that politicians in lottery states use the proceeds to reduce other taxes. They just allow state budgets to grow. Also, properly understood, a state-run lottery does increase taxes — it creates a government gambling monopoly and then levies a steep tax on it.
Dec. 23rd, 2004
During the 2005 session, state lawmakers are expected to take up the issue of how to comply with court rulings in the Leandro case. It is important to discard widespread misperceptions. First, Leandro does not require taxpayers to spend more money on public education. Second, public-school funding does not differ significantly across counties when all spending is included. Third, the small gap that remains is shrinking, not growing, and is unlikely to explain differences in student outcomes. Finally, local funds are a reasonable way to compensate for elevated labor costs in counties with high housing prices.
More Research by John Hood »
Recent Radio Interviews
May. 23rd, 2010
Jul. 11th, 2010
Aug. 8th, 2010
More recent radio interviews »
