Cato Podcast

Americans know the Declaration’s soaring opening case for natural rights and government by consent. Fewer remember its long list of “injuries and usurpations” against King George III. Cato’s Tommy Berry joins Ryan Bourne to discuss Cato's new book - A History of Repeated Injuries—and whether modern governments have revived threats to liberty that the Declaration denounces, from taxe...

Golf courses and factories use just as much water and electricity as data centers, yet only the latter draws local protests and construction bans. Cato's Rikki Schlott sits down with Travis Fisher and Jennifer Huddleston to make the case for energy abundance and technological advancement over fearmongering and warn that moratoriums could hand China the AI edge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...

60% of Americans say their rights and freedoms are at risk. Yet nearly two thirds still call America the land of opportunity and three quarters believe the American dream is personally achievable. Cato's Stephen Rowe and Emily Ekins dig into Cato's new survey on what Americans really think at 250 years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Republicans and Democrats are finding rare common ground: taxing AI. But should they? Cato's Adam Michel and Daniel Bunn of the Tax Foundation dismantle the three biggest arguments around the idea: showing why the data doesn't support the claims that AI is replacing workers, labor is losing out to capital, or the tax code unfairly favors automation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

Abundance liberals want a politics focused on delivering more homes, energy projects, infrastructure, and innovation, and will even countenance deregulation to achieve it. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks to Ilya Somin and Jeremiah Johnson about whether libertarians should ally with this movement—or whether shared ground on housing, permitting, trade, and immigration masks irreconcilable disagreements ove...

Before 1776, the world was largely run by monarchies and despots. The Declaration changed that. Cato's Paul Meany and Tommy Berry explore why its principles remain relevant, why 53% of Americans can't explain it, and why it’s still the best tool we have for checking concentrated power Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new Global Justice Report associated with Thomas Piketty urges near-zero growth for rich countries, sweeping redistribution, global wealth taxes, shorter working hours, and rapid decarbonization. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks to Marian Tupy about what degrowth gets wrong—and why its promise of justice masks a dangerous agenda of government control. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more info...

Social Security crowds out private savings, the tax code penalizes investment, and Trump accounts can leave families worse off than a plain brokerage account. Cato's Romina Boccia and Adam Michel break down what's wrong with Trump accounts and why universal savings accounts are the fix. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ticket prices, scalpers, tourists, visas, turf, trade, and politics: the 2026 FIFA World Cup is a rich case study for economists. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks with AEI’s Stan Veuger about why match prices are so high, why hosting the tournament rarely delivers an economic boom, how soccer became an exemplar of globalization, and what FIFA teaches us about the benefits and risks of global governance. H...

The Anti-Weaponization Fund started as a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS in his personal capacity and ended as a $1.776 billion slush fund with no appeals, no transparency, and a tax immunity addendum that looks a lot like a self-pardon. Tad DeHaven and Daniel Greenberg join Molly Nixon to unpack what happened and why it should alarm everyone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

Kidneys, surrogacy, prostitution, gambling, price gouging, assisted dying: some transactions make people recoil, even when all parties consent. Cato's Ryan Bourne talks with Nobel Prize-winning economist Alvin Roth about his new book, Moral Economics, what makes markets “repugnant,” what economists can add to moral debates, and why banning exchange rarely makes scarcity, exploitation, or hard trad...

Most Americans can recite the Declaration's second paragraph. Far fewer understand what it really means. Paul Meany sits down with Timothy Sandefur to dig into his new book Proclaiming Liberty to recover the Declaration as a scientifically grounded, universally applicable claim about human nature, not just a founding myth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Supreme Court's Callais decision signals that drawing districts with race in mind is now legally hazardous, whether the goal is minority representation or not. Cato's Thomas A. Berry and Walter Olson unpack the ruling, the collision between the 14th and 15th Amendments, and why a simple compactness rule could solve most of this if Congress had the will. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...

The third party doctrine has gutted the Fourth Amendment in the digital age, letting the government collect your data without ever getting a warrant. Cato's Nick Anthony and Naomi Brockwell of the Ludlow Institute discuss a new bill that would change that, and what you can do to protect yourself today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

California’s $20 fast-food minimum wage cut employment by roughly 18,000 jobs and pushed up restaurant prices. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks to UC San Diego economist Jeff Clemens about California’s wage-floor experiment—and the broader lessons for state and federal minimum wage policy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The US-China summit produced few deliverables and no breakthroughs on Taiwan, Iran, or trade. Cato's Clark Packard and Evan Sankey break down what was actually agreed, why rare earths and semiconductors have created a strategic stalemate, and what the US should do before Xi comes to Washington. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Asylum entries are down 99.9%. Student visas, family visas, and H-1B applications have all cratered. Ryan Bourne is joined by Cato's David Bier to examine how President Trump's executive actions have blocked far more legal immigrants than illegal ones, and why the president's stated support for legal immigration doesn't match his policy record. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 sat dormant for 50 years for good reason. Cato's Clark Packard and Alfredo Carrillo Obregon break down why courts keep rejecting the administration's tariff theories and what the looming Section 301 investigations mean for American importers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Federal farm subsidies have kept growing from occasional disaster relief into a sprawling system of commodity supports, crop insurance, sugar protection, and bailouts. With the backdrop of the Farm Bill, Cato’s Ryan Bourne, Chris Edwards, and Clark Packard discuss who really benefits, why reform never sticks, and how tariffs hurt farmers that Congress then subsidize. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...

People call methadone a life sentence, a ball and chain. Cato's Dr. Jeffrey Singer talks with Helen Redmond, author of "Liquid Handcuffs," about how a Nixon-era crime control program became America's dominant addiction treatment model, and why it needs to be abolished. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The United States has left the World Health Organization, but infectious diseases remain one of the clearest cases for cross-border cooperation. Cato’s Ryan Bourne is joined by Roger Bate of the International Center for Law & Economics to discuss how the WHO suffered from damaging mission creep, why it failed so badly during Covid, and what a narrower, more accountable global health institutio...

The War Powers Resolution allows the president up to 60 days of defensive latitude in introducing U.S. forces into hostilities; it is not a blank check for open-ended war. Cato's Molly Nixon and Katherine Thompson examine what the law actually says, how Trump's strikes on Iran test its limits, and whether the looming 60-day deadline&...

Medicaid spending on autism therapy jumped from $300 million to $2 billion in just eight states over seven years. Cato's Ryan Bourne, Jeff Singer, and Adam Omary argue the cause isn't an epidemic; it's distorted incentives and a diagnostic manual that keeps expanding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For 18 years, the NSA has collected Americans' communications under FISA Section 702 with no probable cause warrant required. Cato's Patrick Eddington and Maria Sofia break down the latest reauthorization fight and what genuine reform would look like. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Consumer prices are up 28% in six years and inflation is accelerating again. Cato's Ryan Bourne, Jai Kedia, Colin Grabow, and Stephen Slivinski unpack Cato's new Handbook on Affordability and the macroeconomic and supply-side reforms that could actually help. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.