Hanke has produced eight books and numerous articles and proposals dealing with the privatization of public-sector resources. In 1972, he was a Research Associate at the National Museums of Kenya, where he worked with anthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey on the economics of big game cropping and hunting, as well as the privatization of big game reserves to combat poaching. Hanke also worked with Barney Dowdle of the University of Washington and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Lincoln County, Oregon on a proposal to privatize portions of their reservation, as a means of improving economic opportunity on Native American reservations.