Cato Event Podcast

In Pruitt v. Burwell and Halbig v. Burwell , federal courts have ruled that the Internal Revenue Service is misinterpreting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, unlawfully paying billions of dollars to private health insurance companies, and unlawfully subjecting more than 50 million individuals and employers to the Act's individual and employer mandates. In King v. Burwell , another fe...

In Pruitt v. Burwell and Halbig v. Burwell , federal courts have ruled that the Internal Revenue Service is misinterpreting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, unlawfully paying billions of dollars to private health insurance companies, and unlawfully subjecting more than 50 million individuals and employers to the Act's individual and employer mandates. In King v. Burwell , another fe...

In Pruitt v. Burwell and Halbig v. Burwell , federal courts have ruled that the Internal Revenue Service is misinterpreting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, unlawfully paying billions of dollars to private health insurance companies, and unlawfully subjecting more than 50 million individuals and employers to the Act's individual and employer mandates. In King v. Burwell , another fe...

When the Federal Reserve was founded in 1913, it was with the purpose of providing for a stable monetary and financial system. However, the Great Depression, the Great Inflation, and the Panic of 2008 serve as serious reminders of the Fed’s failure to achieve its original mission. Yet, despite this record, the Fed’s regulation of the economy has expanded. After a century, it is time to judge the F...

Police misconduct and abuse have been getting a lot of extra media attention lately. In just the past few months, Americans have been horrified by stories of grenades thrown in children's cribs , homeless men beaten to death , unwarranted anal probes , and more. The outrage in Ferguson underscored the rapid growth in police militarization , highlighting the perceived code of silence upheld by thos...

In 2012, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey contended that “we are living in the most dangerous time in my lifetime, right now.” In 2013, he was more assertive, stating that the world is “more dangerous than it has ever been.” Is this accurate?  A Dangerous World?  brings together leading experts on international security to assess the supposed dangers to American...

Ben Freeth and his father-in-law, Mike Campbell, were successful Zimbabwean farmers and model employers. The family farm, purchased after Robert Mugabe came to power in 1980, was declared of “no interest” to the government in 1999. Yet they were later evicted and savagely beaten by government thugs. Mike, who would later to die from his injuries, launched a legal battle against the Zimbabwean gove...

John Allison will discuss "The Philosophical Fight for the Future of America"—the battle of ideas and morality between Progressive collectivism and free market capitalism that will define the future well being of America. These divergent world views are not reconcilable and lead to radically different public policy outcomes. Cato’s president will examine the threat posed by the proliferation...

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, communist governments crumbled throughout the Soviet bloc. By late December 1991, the Soviet Union itself ceased to exist. The pace of transition from communist dictatorship to democracy and market economics was uneven. Some countries experienced high rates of economic growth and rapid return to political freedom, while others remained stu...

Experimental self-driving cars will be on the market by 2020 and will radically transform the 21st century. What should Washington policymakers know about the future of American mobility? How will self-driving cars affect the viability of urban transit and regional planning? What kind of regulation will be needed to protect safety and privacy? Please join us for a preview of the future of American...

The "Bootlegger and Baptist" theory, an innovative public-choice theory developed more than 30 years ago, holds that for a regulation to emerge and endure, both the "bootleggers," who seek to obtain private benefits from the regulation, and the "Baptists," who seek to serve the public interest, must support the regulation. Economists Adam Smith and Bruce Yandle provide an accessible description of...

When Congress authorized the arming and training of Syrian moderates to combat ISIS, it explicitly stated that this action should not be construed as an authorization for the introduction of U.S.armed forces into hostilities. Yet, on the orders of President Obama, the United States has begun bombing ISIS targets within Syria. Did the president violate the Constitution, which grants Congress the ex...

Balance sheet crises, in which the prices of widely held and highly leveraged assets collapse, pose distinctive economic challenges. In what promises to be a deeply insightful event, authors Vernon L. Smith and Steven D. Gjerstad will discuss their new book  Rethinking Housing Bubbles.  Their book examines causes and consequences, and with both authors’ well-known backgrounds in experime...

Why do people borrow? An attempt to live beyond their means or income smoothing that accompanies growing prosperity?  Consumer Credit and the American Economy  examines the economics, behavioral science, sociology, history, law, and regulation of consumer credit in the United States. The authors look at why Americans use credit and the implications for both the American economy and gover...

Originalism, which has become the most prominent theory of constitutional interpretation, holds that the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted according to its meaning at the time it was enacted. In a new book that offers an innovative defense of that theory, John McGinnis and Michael Rappaport maintain that the text of the Constitution should be followed because it was enacted by supermajoritie...

To celebrate  Constitution Day  and the publication of the thirteenth annual  Cato Supreme Court Review . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To celebrate  Constitution Day  and the publication of the thirteenth annual  Cato Supreme Court Review . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To celebrate  Constitution Day  and the publication of the thirteenth annual  Cato Supreme Court Review . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When government imposes new taxes, rules, or regulations, it creates outcomes that often differ from the original intent. In some cases, these outcomes are so severe that they render the policy a failure. The law of unintended consequences has taken on an increasing importance during the era of ever-expanding government, and this book explores four important examples: cigarette taxes, alcohol proh...

To celebrate  Constitution Day  and the publication of the thirteenth annual  Cato Supreme Court Review . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To celebrate  Constitution Day  and the publication of the thirteenth annual  Cato Supreme Court Review . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following the controversial use of military vehicles and weapons by the police in Ferguson, Missouri, President Obama ordered a review of federal programs that facilitate the flow of weaponry from the Pentagon to local police departments. These military transfers raise a host of questions. Do the police need armored vehicles, M-16s, and grenade launchers to do their job effectively? Are the Pentag...

The shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson sparked days of protest in Ferguson, Missouri. Meanwhile, in New York City, thousands of residents have protested the violent arrest that led to Eric Garner’s death. In recent years, the Department of Justice has sought to clean up police forces in Albuquerque, New Orleans, Seattle, and Detroit. Are the tensions that boiled over in Ferg...

In the wake of the 2008–2009 financial crisis a pervasive view began to emerge of banking as an inherently unstable occupation that must be tightly regulated and monitored by government agencies. Charles Calomiris and co-author Stephen Haber overturn this notion by presenting an inconvenient truth: not all countries suffer systemic banking crises. Some countries have managed to create a system tha...

When and why does the American public support war? Washington politicians and pundits often puzzle over these questions as they try to win support for their policies, but there is a large body of academic research on public opinion and war. Do events, such as casualties or the prospect of victory, affect support more, or do partisan identities or other attachments play a larger role? What sorts of...