Cato Podcast

Conservatives like to bemoan their treatment at the hands of companies like Facebook and YouTube, but fostering decentralized alternatives is somehow nowhere in their stump speeches. Matthew Feeney comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An obvious way to diffuse fights over schooling is to put parents more directly in charge of the kinds of educations their kids receive. Neal McCluskey comments in the context of the latest fight over public schooling and critical race theory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Campaign finance laws are complicated. They leave well-meaning people on the hook for potential criminal violations. Allen Dickerson of the Federal Election Commission details just one example. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Malice says many of the criticisms of anarchism boil down to a description of the status quo. His new book, The Anarchist Handbook , provides a useful diversity of anarchist views. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The government El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as its currency, but that has problems. What does that mean for average people, and how could they have done it better? George Selgin offers a few ideas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The IRS is a broken agency with a poor record of giving advice and securing data about taxpayers. Joe Biden wants the agency to get bigger and stronger. Andrew Moylan of the National Taxpayers Union Foundation comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's a lot that we don't know about which mergers are going to pay off. In fact, there's a lot that companies don't know when faced with that prospect. Sam Bowman of the International Center for Law and Economics discusses antitrust and mergers in the U.S. and Great Britain. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Pentagon Papers launched a decades-long fight over how to protect the public from threats while respecting the public's right to know how government works. Patrick Eddington and Julian Sanchez discusses the 50th anniversary of the Pentagon Papers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As many thousands of businesses have been bankrupted or closed because of the pandemic, there are ways for state and local governments to foster a more robust recovery. Chris Edwards explains. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Art Carden is coauthor of Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich: How The Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are downsides to social entrepreneurship, according to Kimberlee Josephson of Lebanon Valley College. She details what she sees as risks of focusing on goods other than the bottom line. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New Mexico ended civil forfeiture in 2015. What's happened in policing since then? Jennifer McDonald of the Institute for Justice crunched the numbers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an especially hot housing market with significant supply constraints, why spend taxpayer money to goose demand? Housing researcher Nolan Gray argues it's precisely the wrong policy response. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The long-awaited FDA ban on menthol cigarettes is now in the works. Guy Bentley of the Reason Foundation believes the social consequences will be both negative and predictable. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cities have great opportunities to drive higher incomes and tax revenue by fostering innovative problem solving, but future beneficiaries of gig work and home-based businesses are rarely the loudest voices in the room. Greg Brooks of the Better Cities Project comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Follow the science" is good advice for lawmakers, but in so many contexts where dominant scientific views change, it should mean lawmakers intervene less often. Jeff Singer explains. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can Congress oversee the Federal Reserve? Can Congress even oversee the Fed's adherence to a monetary rule? Alexander William Salter is coauthor of Money and the Rule of Law: Generality and Predictability in Monetary Institutions . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many state leaders frustrated with the slow pace of re-employment have opted to quit offering enhanced unemployment benefits. Logan Kolas of the Buckeye Institute discusses what that means for Ohio and many other states. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big spending means high taxes for President Joe Biden. What are the real consequences? Chris Edwards explains. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to a New York state law that allows residents to carry a concealed handgun only if they can demonstrate a special need beyond a general desire for self-protection. Josh Blackman comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when the feds buy data about you and use it to surveil or prosecute you? Is it an end-run around laws meant to prohibit exactly that? Cato's Julian Sanchez and Patrick Eddington comment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Biden unveiled plans to increase the U.S. government’s science funding by some 20 percent over the next year, but the reasoning behind it is flawed. Terence Kealey explains why . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The blank check that has accompanied forest management has done damage to forest ecosystems in ways you probably wouldn't imagine. Holly Fretwell and Jonathan Wood of the Property and Environment Research Center detail why protecting America's forests requires some counterintuitive thinking . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In  The Most Common Arguments Against Immigration and Why They're Wrong , Cato's Alex Nowrasteh considers the most common arguments against immigration and rejects them using sound reasoning and evidence. Help us celebrate the Cato Daily Podcast's 15th anniversary by receiving  a small token of our appreciation for listeners . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Jones Act keeps private sector actors from responding nimbly when economic disruptions occur, like a ransomware attack on a pipeline. Colin Grabow explains why. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.