The Pacific Academy for Advanced Studies is an organization that promotes educational and humanitarian issues. ¹ The Pacific Academy has been an organizer of the Alamos Alliance conferences, where supporters of free-market economics convene to discuss economic policy in Latin America. ²

Activities

Pacific Academy for Advanced Studies does not have a website, but some of its activities are reported on its tax filings. This includes supporting the 2022 Harold Demsetz Conference at UCLA, the Antigua Forum, and the Alamos Alliance conferences. ³ Additionally, the Pacific Academy provides financial support to the Rufer Grant, the Mont Pelerin Grant, and the World Knowledge Forum Grant. ⁴

Michael Walker, a member of the Pacific Academy’s board, was a speaker at the 2020 Alamos Alliance XXVII conference, where the focus was on addressing the new challenges of disruption and discontent in the global economy. Walker spoke on the topic of then-chronically low interest rates, especially as it relates to the lender-to-borrower ratio. Walker pointed out that people over 50 own the majority of assets in the U.S. while younger adults carry most of the debt, thereby making older people natural lenders and younger people natural debtors. Walker concluded that the ratio of lenders to debtors is the principal decider of interest rates, following the simple economics of supply and demand. ⁵

Funding

The Pacific Academy for Advanced Studies is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and businesses. While the Pacific Academy for Advanced Studies does not disclose its donors, tax filings confirm donations from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation ($70,000 in 2018),  ⁶ the Brillembourg Ochoa Family Foundation ($16,000 in 2018),  ⁷ and the Tinker Foundation ($10,000 in 2018). ⁸

Board of Directors

Jerry L. Jordan is the president of the Pacific Academy for Advanced Studies, a senior fellow of the Fraser Institute, and a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. Jordan is a former adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, a former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and a former member the Council of Economic Advisers in the Reagan administration. Jordan formerly sat on the boards of the National Association of Business Economists and the Western Economic Association. ⁹

James Clayburn La Force is dean emeritus of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he formerly worked as the chair of the Economics Department. La Force is an adjunct scholar of the Heritage Foundation and a member of the Mont Pelerin Society, and sits on the boards of the Foundation for Research in Economics and Education, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the Foundation Francisco Marroquin. La Force was chair of former President Ronald Reagan’s Task Force on Food Assistance, a former member of the National Council on the Humanities, and a former chair of the State of California Worker’s Compensation Advisory Committee. ¹⁰

Michael Walker is the founder and former executive director of the Fraser Institute. Walker is a cofounder of the Economic Freedom of the World project and sits on the board of the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation. ¹¹

1. Pacific Academy for Advanced Studies, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-EZ), 2019, Schedule O.
2. “Michael Walker.” Fraser Institute. Accessed November 21, 2023. https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/michael-walker.
3. Pacific Academy for Advanced Studies, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-EZ), 2019, Schedule O.
4. Pacific Academy for Advanced Studies, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-EZ), 2018, Schedule O.
5. Navarro, Carlos I. “Executive Summary: Alamos Alliance XXVII.” Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University. Accessed November 27, 2023. https://perc.tamu.edu/perc/media/perc/policy%20study/Executive-Summary-Alamos-Alliance-XXVII-2020.pdf?ext=.pdf.
6. Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2018, Part XV, Line 3.
7. Brillembourg Ochoa Family Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2018, Part XV, Line 3.
8.  Tinker Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2018, Part XV, Line 3.
9. “Jerry L. Jordan.” Cato Institute. Accessed November 21, 2023. https://www.cato.org/people/jerry-jordan.
10. ^[1] “J. Clayburn La Force, Jr.” UCLA Anderson School of Management. Accessed November 21, 2023. https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-directory/la-force-jr.
11. “Michael Walker.” Fraser Institute. Accessed November 21, 2023. https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/michael-walker.