As director of Cato's health and welfare studies, Michael Tanner heads research on a variety of domestic policies, with an emphasis on poverty and social welfare policy, health care, and Social Security and entitlement reform.

A prolific author and frequent lecturer, Tanner served as director of research of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation before joining Cato in 1993. Under Tanner's direction, Cato launched the Project on Social Security Choice, widely considered the leading impetus for transforming the soon-to-be-bankrupt system into a private savings program.

Tanner has written eight books. His book, The Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America’s Poor (2018), looks at the ways government contributes to poverty in the United States and suggests reforms that will enable the poor to more fully participate in a growing economy. Tanner's other titles include Going for Broke: Deficits, Debt, and the Entitlement Crisis, Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution, Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It, The Poverty of Welfare: Helping Others in Civil Society, and A New Deal for Social Security.

Tanner’s writings have appeared in nearly every major American newspaper, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. He writes a weekly column for National Review Online, and is a contributing columnist with the New York Post.

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