Cato Event Podcast

Part three of this year’s Summer with Sphere is coming to you live from Sphere Summit. Join us on  Tuesday, July 25th  from  2–3 pm EDT  for a panel discussion on the most important issues in tech policy and regulation. Joining us will be  Jennifer Huddleston , Technology Policy Research Fellow at the Cato Institute,  Nicol Turner Lee , Senior Fellow in Gove...

The classroom can be a place of learning, wonder, and exploration of challenging ideas. Yet often the most engaging learning environments provide moments for difficult conversations. How can educators manage these tough topics in a way that promotes learning while navigating the challenges of the current education environment? Sphere Education Initiatives and Retro Report are pleased to...

At its essence, shareholder capitalism is a means for mutually beneficial trade. It fosters specialization, fuels innovation, and propels economic growth. While shareholder capitalism is a central theme in Finance 101 courses, it is increasingly criticized, especially with the popularization of sustainability, ESG investing, and stakeholder capitalism. In this engaging new book, author D...

For nearly 30 years, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been the bedrock of the global trading system, serving as a negotiating forum for its 164 members, providing a system for resolving trade disputes, and acting as an essential clearinghouse for trade‐​related information. Over three‐​quarters of cross‐​border trade is carried out based on members’ WTO commitments, fostering...

The Republican Party is engaged in a more vigorous debate over foreign policy than it has been for decades. On one side is an old guard that sees no need to prioritize among threats, viewing all dangers as linked, so that facing down anything constitutes facing down everything. On the other side are the prioritizers, who have argued that America’s interests and its resources both have limits....

Many have expressed alarm over the rapid rise of cancel culture.  The Canceling of the American Mind  is the first book to codify it and survey its effects. Following the best‐​selling  The Coddling of the American Mind , this new book looks at the topic with hard data and research on what cancel culture is and how it works, along with hundreds of new examples showing the left and t...

Hong Kong rose from poverty to prosperity by adhering to the rule of law and safeguarding freedom of speech, property rights, free trade, and the whole range of personal and economic liberties that made the territory one of the freest places on Earth. As Beijing brazenly violated Hong Kongers’ basic rights and autonomy, media entrepreneur and democracy activist Jimmy Lai became one of the territor...

How free is your state? In the seventh edition of  Freedom in the 50 States , authors Jason Sorens and William P. Ruger answer that question with the most comprehensive measure of governmental respect for economic and personal freedom at the state level. The 2023 edition presents a revised and updated ranking of each state and introduces many new policy variables and changes in the broad...

In an era marked by contentiousness, rancor, and bitter divide, what role does or should civility play in our society? Further, how ought proper civility be understood and meaningfully differ from mere politeness? In her new book,  The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves , Alexandra Hudson addresses these insights with a refreshing exploration that digs de...

In their new book,  We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care , economists Liran Einav (Stanford University) and John Bates Clark Medal winner Amy Finkelstein (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) note, “No one is actually uninsured.” They nevertheless critique the US health sector as “a sprawling yet arbitrary and inadequate mess.” Where many advocate piecemeal reform, Einav an...

Since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, the prospect for a larger regional conflict has loomed. The Biden administration has sent two carrier strike groups to the region to “serve as a deterrent signal to Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and any other proxy across the region,” in the words of a senior defense official. At the same time, regional actors such as Iran have de...

The arrival of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has captured the imagination of the public and policymakers. While often hailed as the newest new thing in many sectors, AI has been a core financial technology for decades. From market makers to consumer‐​facing fintechs, our financial markets both deploy and innovate cutting‐​edge AI. In 2023 alone, more than half a dozen US financ...

Pharmacists have sufficient training to autonomously prescribe medications to prevent or treat many medical conditions. But states generally require patients to obtain a doctor’s prescription before purchasing pharmaceuticals. This restriction drives up health care costs and unnecessarily inconveniences patients, often when they are in distress. Canadian provinces, by contrast, give pharmacis...

When commentators and politicians discuss misinformation, they often repeat five words: “fire in a crowded theater.” This outdated analogy, originally deployed to justify the conviction of an anti‐​draft pamphleteer, has taken on a life of its own as a catch‐​all justification for the regulation of false speech. Along with the other half‐​truths, exaggerations, lies, and falsehoods...

In France, students in public schools are prohibited from wearing religious clothing, which authorities fear would contaminate the secular oases public schools are supposed to be. It is a coercive interpretation of secularism, which imposes secular values on religious individuals, instead of protecting state neutrality, pluralism, and liberty. Is education in the United States heading in the...

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Please join us for a cocktail reception and thought‐​provoking conversation with Cato Senior Fellow  Johan Norberg , author of the new book  The Capitalist Manifesto: Why the Free Market Will Save the World . Globalization has come under fire over the past two decades as the world has lived through an international financial crisis, terrorist attacks, a pandemic, and the return...

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Join Sphere Education Initiatives for an exclusive book release event for  Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the World  on Wednesday, October 11th at 7:30 pm eastern. Hear from the author, Chelsea Follett, about these extraordinary cities, the impact they have had on advancing human progress, and learn about the key conditions that allowed for their success. Following the...

Disagreements over the necessity or wisdom of policies to advance economic equity have riven the country and Washington in recent years. Is equity a goal to be pursued by a vigorous policy agenda? Would doing so prove to be counterproductive? Debating this issue will be leading student debaters from the Washington Urban Debate League in Washington, DC, with an expert panel of judges from...

Please join us for a thought‐​provoking evening with author and award‐​winning investigative reporter  Matt Taibbi . Matt will discuss government suppression of speech, the significance of First Amendment principles, and why a free press is needed to preserve our democracy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please join us for a thought‐​provoking evening with author and award‐​winning investigative reporter  Matt Taibbi . Matt will discuss government suppression of speech, the significance of First Amendment principles, and why a free press is needed to preserve our democracy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Health care in the United States is not a free market. In many ways, U.S. residents are less free to make their own health decisions than residents of other nations. State and federal governments subsidize low‐​quality medical care and penalize high‐​quality care. They block innovations that would otherwise reduce medical prices. The harms are so wide‐​reaching, the way Congress funds veteran...

Are states rational? Much of international relations theory assumes that they are. But many scholars believe that political leaders rarely act rationally. John J. Mearsheimer will argue that rational decisions in international politics rest on credible theories about how the world works and emerge from deliberative decisionmaking processes. Using these criteria, he will describe how most states ar...

There is no question that certain places, at certain times in history, have contributed disproportionately toward making the world a better place. In this book forum, Chelsea Follett will discuss her debut book that tells the story of 40 of those places, ranging in diversity from ancient Athens to Song‐​era Hangzhou to post–World War II New York. She will note some common themes that have eme...