Cato Event Podcast

On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda terrorists killed nearly 3,000 innocent men, women, and children in four coordinated attacks, the deadliest such incident in history and the bloodiest day on American soil in over a century. Since that time, the Pentagon says more than 7,000 Americans have been killed in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Greater Middle East, as well as in other military operati...

Economist Emily Oster’s new book, Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool , cuts through the alarmist rhetoric and fearmongering that surrounds modern-day parenting with a cool-headed look at the data. Oster’s book argues there is no single optimal set of child-rearing decisions. Rather, she applies economic thinking to help parents evaluate the av...

Libertarians and conservatives alike claim to be advocates of individual liberty, limited government, and free markets. In some policy spheres, these shared values lead libertarians and conservatives to similar conclusions about public policy. As a result, popular political discourse often conflates libertarianism with conservatism, and proponents of "fusionism" go so far as to regard a libertaria...

Socialism has failed every time it has been tried, yet it still appeals to parts of the American public that have little or no experience with it. Irreverent but honest economists Robert Lawson and Benjamin Powell will describe what they saw when they visited real-life examples of socialism in Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela and other countries that are living with the socialist legacy. Using ane...

Six months after Nicolás Maduro was declared a “usurper” by Venezuela’s National Assembly and Juan Guaidó was sworn in as interim president, political gridlock has set in. The ongoing talks in Barbados between the regime and representatives of the democratic forces do not hold the promise of a swift solution to the crisis engulfing Venezuela. Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of...

Since the 2016 election, college campuses have erupted in violent protests and demands for safe spaces and the silencing of views that activist groups find disagreeable. Who are the leaders behind these protests, and what do they want? In  Panic Attack , libertarian journalist Robby Soave answers these questions by profiling young radicals from across the political spectrum. Soave documents a...

The ancient Greeks believed that the mythical Gorgon could turn those who stared at it to stone. The Pentagon’s surveillance technology named after this creature, Gorgon Stare, has used its aerial near-panopticon surveillance capabilities to turn Salafist insurgents into targets. But should such a powerful, virtually all-seeing aerial spying system be allowed to operate over American communities?...

For many Americans, the distinction between military policy and domestic law enforcement is clear: the U.S. military is deployed abroad and tasked with defense of vital national interests, while at home police officers protect life, liberty, and property by investigating and deterring crimes. But as Christopher Coyne and Abigail Hall explain in their book  Tyranny Comes Home: The Domestic Fat...

Congress reformed America’s legal immigration system nearly three decades ago. Since that time, the system’s outdated and arbitrary immigration quotas have doubled wait times for green cards for legal immigrants. At the border, a new challenge has emerged in the form of illegal immigration and asylum seekers from Central America. Wide bipartisan agreement exists that both temporary and permanent i...

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program are at an impasse, and tensions are rising. And while neither side appears to want a war, the path to a diplomatic solution remains unclear. What is obvious, however, is that most U.S. policymakers have little understanding of what the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is or how it operates, a fact...

The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that police officers shoot and kill more than 10,000 pet dogs in the United States every year. From SWAT raids to standard calls for service and police visits to wrong addresses, officers are often too quick to use lethal force against family pets, despite the fact that no police officer has ever been killed in the line of duty by a dog. In the award-winnin...

Using eagles and flags to rainbows and abstract art, many people have expressed ideas about freedom in art. Are there commonalities among these representations? Do these representations reflect competing values? When do images make a stronger impression than words? What makes some images clichés and some unique and attention-getting successes? Join us to hear a discussion of these questions and mo...

The Jones Act is back in the news, with legislation introduced this year to repeal the law and the White House said to be considering a limited waiver of the law for the transport of liquefied natural gas. It’s about time. For nearly 100 years, the Jones Act has served as a burden on the U.S. economy and has raised transportation costs, damaged the environment, and even harmed U.S. exports. In the...

When is it appropriate to resist the agents of the state? For many, the answer may be (all too) easy: never. But the United States itself was founded on one such act of resistance, and libertarians have always been deeply skeptical that the agents of the state enjoy any special status in moral philosophy. May an individual legitimately resist state agents? In what cases is such resistance allowed?...

Free trade provides enormous benefits to developing countries. Arvind Panagariya will describe its impressive record in promoting growth and reducing poverty at a time when some policymakers in rich and poor countries are turning toward protectionism. He will explain how openness was key to the economic success of countries like South Korea and Taiwan and will refute claims that industrial policy,...

Depending on the type of institution, inflation-adjusted college prices have as much as  tripled  over the past 30 years. This cost increase has launched vociferous arguments about its underlying causes. Perhaps no theories loom larger than that cuts in direct state funding have forced schools to raise revenue from their students or that federal student aid has enabled colleges to inflat...

How did the modern dynamic economy, filled with wealth and opportunity, come about? In his new book,  The Wealth Explosion: The Nature and Origins of Modernity , Stephen Davies examines the surprising, fundamental, and continuing processes of innovation and transformation that have produced the world we live in today. Exploring the academic literature and competing theories, he seeks to answe...

Should art offend? Does it matter if people are offended? Should offensive art be displayed? Should it be censored? Who decides what is offensive or appropriate? Join us to hear a discussion of these questions and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.