Pat Choate

Pat Choate
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Name	Pat Choate
Birth date	1941
Birth place	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
Occupation	Economist, author, politician, consultant
Alma mater	University of Oklahoma, University of Missouri–Rolla

Pat Choate

Pat Choate is an American economist, author, and politician known for work on industrial policy, trade protection, and technology policy. He served as the 1992 vice-presidential nominee of the Reform Party running mate and has published widely on issues of trade policy, intellectual property, and industrial policy. His career spans academia, government advisory roles, consulting, and multiple public policy debates involving United States national competitiveness.

Early life and education

Choate was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and raised amid the postwar growth of United States industry. He earned degrees from the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri–Rolla where he studied engineering and economic analysis. During his formative years he became familiar with manufacturing centers such as Detroit, Michigan, Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which influenced his later focus on regional industrial decline and technological displacement.

Academic and economic career

Choate held academic appointments and research positions at institutions that engaged with industrial strategy debates, including affiliations with think tanks and universities that intersected with policymakers from Congress of the United States, the United States Department of Commerce, and state economic development agencies. He collaborated with scholars and practitioners concerned with the effects of North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations, the World Trade Organization framework, and the impact of Japan and China on manufacturing employment in United States regions. His analyses often referenced comparative cases from Germany, South Korea, and Taiwan to argue for active national industrial policies.

Political career and 1992 vice-presidential campaign

Choate became involved in electoral politics through engagement with reformist movements that critiqued existing party platforms in the early 1990s. In 1992 he joined the national campaign ticket headed by a third-party presidential candidate associated with the Reform Party and worked alongside campaign figures who sought to challenge incumbents from the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The 1992 ticket campaigned on themes related to trade protectionism, industrial revitalization, and reform of trade agreements that they argued disadvantaged United States workers and manufacturers.

Publications and economic theories

Choate authored and co-authored multiple books and articles critiquing prevailing trade orthodoxy and proposing alternative policies to protect domestic manufacturing. His writings engaged with policy debates surrounding tariffs, antidumping, and intellectual property rights in contexts tied to semiconductor and steel industries. He drew on examples from policy histories such as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act disputes and postwar Marshall Plan industrial rebuilding to argue for an assertive national response to global competition. His work intersected with commentary on institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and congressional committees including the United States Senate Committee on Finance.

Business and consultant roles

Beyond academia and politics, Choate served as a consultant for corporations, labor groups, and state governments confronting plant closures, outsourcing, and technological displacement. He provided expert testimony before legislative bodies and panels involving representatives from entities such as the United Auto Workers, state economic development offices in Ohio and Michigan, and manufacturing firms in sectors including aerospace and electrical equipment. His consultancy drew on comparative industrial strategies employed by firms in Germany and Japan and engaged with executives from multinational firms operating in Texas and the Midwest.

Awards, honors, and memberships

Choate received recognition from civic organizations, policy institutes, and academic societies that study industrial policy and regional economic development. He participated as a member or fellow in organizations that included policy research networks with ties to the National Academy of Sciences panels, regional development consortia in the Great Lakes area, and advisory councils that consulted for committees in the United States Congress on trade and competitiveness.

Personal life and legacy

Choate's personal biography includes residence in the United States Midwest and ongoing involvement in public debates about the intersection of technology, trade, and national competitiveness. His legacy is reflected in discussions by contemporary policymakers and commentators in outlets connected to Think tanks in the United States and in references by journalists covering deindustrialization in cities such as Youngstown, Ohio and Flint, Michigan. His contributions continue to be cited in debates over trade policy reform, industrial subsidies, and strategies for regional economic revitalization.

Category:American economists Category:American politicians Category:1941 births