Cato Event Podcast

In his final State of the Union address, President Obama hinted at plans for his last year in office, which included efforts to further regulate the economy as a means of addressing policy issues like climate change and income inequality, and paid only scant attention to the Constitution where executive power is concerned. What does the president’s agenda mean for free markets and personal freedom...

Five U.S. states either permit aid in dying or are poised to do so shortly. Several others are considering legislation and/or court judgments that may find in favor of it in various ways. Yet the ethical questions surrounding aid in dying run deep, as even its advocates must admit: Is the choice to hasten a terminally ill patient’s death ever an ethical one? If so, what legal safeguards may be nec...

For thousands of years, farmers used selective breeding to produce more plentiful harvests and increase the usefulness of domesticated animals. Today, genetic engineering allows businesses to do the same—but more cheaply, precisely and speedily. Unbeknownst to most people, the use of genetically modified organisms is not limited to agriculture. GMO technology is all around us, helping to produce l...

The benefits from international trade have been huge. However, because of a deep flaw in global markets for natural resources like oil, consumers are forced to enrich repressive governments and armed groups overseas when paying at the pump, in stores, and online. In his book, Blood Oil , Leif Wenar shows how an antiquated, anti-market rule at the foundations of global trade can be replaced by a ru...

On the morning of January 7, 2015, Cherif and Said Kouachi, two brothers deeply offended by satirical drawings of the Muslim prophet Mohammad published in the French weekly newspaper  Charlie Hebdo , exacted their own punishment for perceived blasphemy. They forced their way into a staff meeting in the newspaper’s offices and massacred 12 people. The phenomenon of killing or threatening to ki...

In his new book The Economics of Immigration: Market-Based Approaches, Social Science, and Public Policy , editor and economics professor Benjamin Powell brings together several immigration scholars to discuss how immigrants affect the wages of American workers and government budgets, as well as how they assimilate into American culture. The book also presents different policy recommendations in l...

During his first presidential run, Barack Obama repeatedly promised to roll back the imperial presidency that had grown inexorably over the past half century. Then he was elected. Since 2009 Obama has claimed unprecedented power for himself while advancing a novel argument about his duty as president to ignore the separation of powers and act unilaterally to overcome congressional gridlock. "We ca...

“We’ve paid a heavy price for having a president whose priority is expanding his own power,” then-senator Barack Obama proclaimed on the campaign trail in 2007. As president, he promised, “I’ll turn the page on the imperial presidency.”And yet, as Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Charlie Savage documents in his new book  Power Wars , from the early days of the Obama administration, “policy c...

The REAL ID Act is a law that Congress passed without hearings in 2005, which sought to make state driver licensing into a national ID system. The law tries to coerce state compliance with federal identification standards by threatening that the Transportation Security Administration will refuse driver’s licenses and IDs from noncompliant states when Americans go to travel. This fall, a Department...

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is authorized by Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to restrict the importation of articles that infringe patents and other intellectual property rights. In its ClearCorrect decision, which involves clear plastic teeth straighteners, a 5–1 ITC majority found that electronic data transmissions also qualify as articles under Section 337. A three-judge...

Liberal democracy improves foreign policy. That, at least, is the view of most political scientists and the idea behind the U.S. Constitution’s assignment of war powers to both executive and legislative branches. The need for public consent, the theory goes, prevents leaders from launching reckless wars. Divided power and a free press generate debate that exposes bad ideas. U.S. politics inhibits...

Featuring Terence Kealey , Author, The Economic Laws of Scientific Research ,Adjunct Scholar, Cato Institute; Ronald Bailey , Author, The End of Doom:Environmental Renewal in the Twenty-first CenturyScience Correspondent, Reason ; Peter Goettler , President and CEO, Cato Institute; and George Selgin , Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Monetary andFinancial Alternatives, Cato Institute. 12:40...

Featuring Terence Kealey , Author, The Economic Laws of Scientific Research ,Adjunct Scholar, Cato Institute; Ronald Bailey , Author, The End of Doom:Environmental Renewal in the Twenty-first CenturyScience Correspondent, Reason ; Peter Goettler , President and CEO, Cato Institute; and George Selgin , Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Monetary andFinancial Alternatives, Cato Institute. Online...

The highly publicized officer-involved killings of Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and others have prompted renewed discussions about American law enforcement. Police departments face increasing criticism from protesters, the media, and the federal government. President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing published its recommendations earlier this year, but what do they mean for of...

The highly publicized officer-involved killings of Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and others have prompted renewed discussions about American law enforcement. Police departments face increasing criticism from protesters, the media, and the federal government. President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing published its recommendations earlier this year, but what do they mean for of...

The highly publicized officer-involved killings of Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and others have prompted renewed discussions about American law enforcement. Police departments face increasing criticism from protesters, the media, and the federal government. President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing published its recommendations earlier this year, but what do they mean for of...

The highly publicized officer-involved killings of Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and others have prompted renewed discussions about American law enforcement. Police departments face increasing criticism from protesters, the media, and the federal government. President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing published its recommendations earlier this year, but what do they mean for of...

The highly publicized officer-involved killings of Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and others have prompted renewed discussions about American law enforcement. Police departments face increasing criticism from protesters, the media, and the federal government. President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing published its recommendations earlier this year, but what do they mean for of...

The highly publicized officer-involved killings of Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and others have prompted renewed discussions about American law enforcement. Police departments face increasing criticism from protesters, the media, and the federal government. President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing published its recommendations earlier this year, but what do they mean for of...

The highly publicized officer-involved killings of Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and others have prompted renewed discussions about American law enforcement. Police departments face increasing criticism from protesters, the media, and the federal government. President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing published its recommendations earlier this year, but what do they mean for of...

Since assuming the presidency of China in 2013, Xi Jinping has become the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, centralizing his authority over the Communist Party, the military, and the government. Eminent scholars and civil rights activists from China will describe the deterioration of human rights under Xi’s rule, citing the rise of arbitrary arrests and detentions; a crackdown on acad...

10:30 – 10:50AM. Registration 10:50 – 11:00AM Welcoming Remarks Peter Goettler , President and CEO, Cato Institute 11:00 – 11:40AM Keynote Address—Debunking the Myths of Dynastic Wealth Rob Arnott , Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Research Affiliates 11:40AM – 12:10PM Freedom and Progress around the World Ian Vásquez , Director, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, C...

Judge Alex Kozinski recently published a scathing critique of the American criminal justice system in an article titled “Criminal Law 2.0.” According to Judge Kozinski, we should be alarmed by the number of people who have been exonerated by DNA testing. That testing has exposed a system that is rife with false confessions, unreliable eyewitnesses, junk forensics, and misbehaving prosecutors, amon...

Finland's top scores on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) have prompted policymakers worldwide to seek the source of that nation's seemingly meteoric shot to prominence and to replicate its policies. Standard explanations for Finland's rise include its focus on equity and the absence of standardized tests, accountability, and market-based reforms such as school choice. But Fi...

Since the 2008 financial crisis, there has been a convergence of monetary policies by major central banks aimed at keeping benchmark interest rates near zero and supporting asset prices in the hope of stimulating economic growth. Yet global growth is still sluggish and the risk of asset bubbles is mounting. The distinguished speakers at this conference will consider the risks of unconventional mon...