The economic reforms and subsequent growth in China must count as among the most astonishing and hopeful events of our age. Weiying Zhang was among the leaders who set China on its path of change. His new collection of essays recounts the successes and failures of reform and looks to the future for continued progress. He emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurs in continuing and deepening economic liberalization along with reducing state ownership and control. Please join us to hear a real her...
Jan 22, 2015•1 hr 26 min
We hear a lot about moral decline these days. Michael Shermer, the author of Why People Believe Weird Things , The Believing Brain , and eight other books on the evolution of human beliefs and behavior, argues that the scientific way of thinking has made people — and society as a whole — more moral. The Age of Reason and the Enlightenment led theorists to apply scientific reasoning to the nonscientific disciplines of politics, economics, and moral philosophy. Instead of relying on the woodcuts o...
Jan 21, 2015•1 hr 14 min
In an engaging new book, David Gans and Ilya Shapiro provide a comprehensive analysis of the issues in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby , the blockbuster legal challenge to the Obamacare regulation that required employer-sponsored health plans to provide “free” contraceptive coverage. In a series of debates, these opposing advocates examine whether for-profit corporations can assert religious-exercise claims under federal law, whether businesses (or their owners/directors/officers) with religious objectio...
Dec 16, 2014•1 hr 33 min
Never in human history have people been more connected than they are today — nor have they been more thoroughly monitored. Over the past year, the disclosures spurred by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have drawn public attention to the stunning surveillance capabilities of the American intelligence community, and the unprecedented volume of data they collect from hundreds of millions of people around the world. But the growth of government surveillance is by no means r...
Dec 12, 2014•1 hr 15 min
Never in human history have people been more connected than they are today — nor have they been more thoroughly monitored. Over the past year, the disclosures spurred by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have drawn public attention to the stunning surveillance capabilities of the American intelligence community, and the unprecedented volume of data they collect from hundreds of millions of people around the world. But the growth of government surveillance is by no means r...
Dec 12, 2014•35 min
Never in human history have people been more connected than they are today — nor have they been more thoroughly monitored. Over the past year, the disclosures spurred by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have drawn public attention to the stunning surveillance capabilities of the American intelligence community, and the unprecedented volume of data they collect from hundreds of millions of people around the world. But the growth of government surveillance is by no means r...
Dec 12, 2014•1 hr 19 min
Never in human history have people been more connected than they are today — nor have they been more thoroughly monitored. Over the past year, the disclosures spurred by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have drawn public attention to the stunning surveillance capabilities of the American intelligence community, and the unprecedented volume of data they collect from hundreds of millions of people around the world. But the growth of government surveillance is by no means r...
Dec 12, 2014•1 hr 6 min
Never in human history have people been more connected than they are today — nor have they been more thoroughly monitored. Over the past year, the disclosures spurred by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have drawn public attention to the stunning surveillance capabilities of the American intelligence community, and the unprecedented volume of data they collect from hundreds of millions of people around the world. But the growth of government surveillance is by no means r...
Dec 12, 2014•42 min
In 2009 Brian Aitken, a media consultant and web entrepreneur, ran afoul of New Jersey's draconian gun laws when he was arrested while transporting two handguns unloaded and locked in the trunk of his car. Despite the fact that Aitken owned the guns legally and had called the New Jersey State Police for advice on how to legally transport his firearms, he found himself sentenced to seven years in prison. In 2010 New Jersey governor Chris Christie commuted Aitken's sentence. But Aitken's experienc...
Dec 11, 2014•1 hr 2 min
On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, supposedly ending our nation’s failed experiment with prohibitionism. Yet, 81 years later, modern-day prohibitionists continue to deny the laws of supply and demand, attempting to control what individuals can choose to put into their own bodies.Please join the Cato Institute for a celebration of the 81st anniversary of the repeal of alcohol prohibition. Panelists will discuss modern prohibitions—from the Drug War to blue l...
Dec 05, 2014•39 min
Many people believe that science and research are public goods and thus need financial support from the government. Most economists believe that economic growth depends on innovation which in turn arises from science and research. The conventional wisdom concludes that economic growth depends on government largesse, perhaps as much as it does on markets.Economic growth and innovation are closely linked, but we might doubt that science and research are public goods. Consider the history of public...
Dec 05, 2014•42 min
The Great Recession ended over five years ago, so why does the U.S. economy remain so sluggish? Fears are mounting that growth rates well below the long-term historical trend line may now be the “new normal.” Labor-force participation has been falling, while growth in labor skills has slowed considerably. Furthermore, the main engine of innovation—the “creative destruction” of entrepreneurial dynamism—appears to be sputtering, as the rates of both gross job creation and destruction and new firm ...
Dec 04, 2014•1 hr 8 min
The Great Recession ended over five years ago, so why does the U.S. economy remain so sluggish? Fears are mounting that growth rates well below the long-term historical trend line may now be the “new normal.” Labor-force participation has been falling, while growth in labor skills has slowed considerably. Furthermore, the main engine of innovation—the “creative destruction” of entrepreneurial dynamism—appears to be sputtering, as the rates of both gross job creation and destruction and new firm ...
Dec 04, 2014•1 hr 14 min
The Great Recession ended over five years ago, so why does the U.S. economy remain so sluggish? Fears are mounting that growth rates well below the long-term historical trend line may now be the “new normal.” Labor-force participation has been falling, while growth in labor skills has slowed considerably. Furthermore, the main engine of innovation—the “creative destruction” of entrepreneurial dynamism—appears to be sputtering, as the rates of both gross job creation and destruction and new firm ...
Dec 04, 2014•1 hr 20 min
The Great Recession ended over five years ago, so why does the U.S. economy remain so sluggish? Fears are mounting that growth rates well below the long-term historical trend line may now be the “new normal.” Labor-force participation has been falling, while growth in labor skills has slowed considerably. Furthermore, the main engine of innovation—the “creative destruction” of entrepreneurial dynamism—appears to be sputtering, as the rates of both gross job creation and destruction and new firm ...
Dec 04, 2014•1 hr 13 min
The Great Recession ended over five years ago, so why does the U.S. economy remain so sluggish? Fears are mounting that growth rates well below the long-term historical trend line may now be the “new normal.” Labor-force participation has been falling, while growth in labor skills has slowed considerably. Furthermore, the main engine of innovation—the “creative destruction” of entrepreneurial dynamism—appears to be sputtering, as the rates of both gross job creation and destruction and new firm ...
Dec 04, 2014•1 hr 28 min
What happens when the biggest businesses in the world are accused of committing crimes? What should happen? Too Big to Jail peers into the hidden world of corporate prosecutions, revealing how Justice Department lawyers have used settlements, non-prosecution agreements, deferred prosecution agreements, and plea bargains to exact billions of dollars from corporate defendants—without ever going to court. This lack of judicial oversight creates a very real danger that justice is not being served: t...
Dec 04, 2014•1 hr 25 min
Luncheon Address — Restoring the Lost Constitution Randy Barnett , Author, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 03, 2014•51 min
James L. Buckley’s new book, Saving Congress from Itself , describes the damage caused by federal aid-to-state programs and proposes a full repeal. Buckley’s analysis is grounded in his distinguished career as a U.S. senator from New York, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and a high-level Reagan administration official. He argues that repealing aid-to-state programs would free the federal government to focus on truly national matters, put the government on sounder finan...
Dec 01, 2014•50 min
Sixty years ago the U.S. Supreme Court's first case on gay rights was set in motion. It has been neglected through many of the intervening years but is now recognized as a landmark in the law of free speech. In One, Inc., v. Olesen , a fledgling Los Angeles–based magazine seeking to advance the interests of homosexuals sued after the Post Office declared it obscene and banned its distribution through the mail. Against long odds, facing the full force of the federal government, and with little su...
Nov 24, 2014•1 hr 22 min
In The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels energy expert Alex Epstein argues that we are only hearing one side of a critical story. We are taught to think only of the negatives of fossil fuels, not their positives — their ability to provide cheap, reliable energy for a world of seven billion people. The moral significance of cheap, reliable energy, Epstein illustrates, is woefully underrated. Energy enables us to improve nearly every single aspect of life, whether economic or environmental, and if we lo...
Nov 21, 2014•40 min
President Obama will soon announce that he plans to use executive power to delay the deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants, among other reforms. Join us and submit your questions via Twitter as we discuss the policy and politics of the President's plan. Follow @CatoEvents and use #CatoConnects to ask questions and join the conversation on Twitter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 21, 2014•33 min
In National Security and Double Government , Michael Glennon examines the continuity in U.S. national security policy from the Bush administration to the Obama administration. Glennon explains the lack of change by pointing to the enervation of America's "Madisonian institutions," namely, the Congress, the presidency, and the courts. In Glennon's view, these institutions have been supplanted by a "Trumanite network" of bureaucrats who make up the permanent national security state. National secur...
Nov 21, 2014•1 hr 33 min
American cities, once economic and social launching pads for residents, are all too often plagued by poverty and decay. One need only look at the ruins of Detroit to see how far some once-great cities have fallen, or at Boston and San Francisco for evidence that such decline is reversible. In Boom Towns , Stephen J. K. Walters argues that commonplace explanations for urban decay are seriously incomplete. He reconceives of cities as dense accumulations of capital in all of its forms—which makes o...
Nov 20, 2014•1 hr 26 min
Evidence from academic institutions and international organizations shows dramatic improvements in human well-being. These improvements are especially striking in the developing world. Unfortunately, there is often a wide gap between reality and public perceptions, including that of many policymakers, scholars in unrelated fields, and intelligent lay persons. To make matters worse, the media emphasizes bad news, while ignoring many positive long-term trends. Please join us for a discussion of ps...
Nov 19, 2014•1 hr 29 min
What happens if you throw a depression and nobody from the government shows up? No Quantitative Easers or fiscal stimulators or financial-firm rescuers? And what would happen if, instead of lowering interest rates and spending more to spur recovery, the government did nothing? The answer, in 1921 at least, is that the economy not only recovers but is "roaring" in less than two years. Was "The Crash that Cured Itself," as the subtitle of James Grant's fascinating new book refers to it, a fluke, o...
Nov 18, 2014•55 min
Journalists face constant intimidation. Whether it takes the extreme form of beheadings, death threats, government censorship or simply political correctness—it casts a shadow over their ability to tell a story. No one knows this better than Flemming Rose, the editor at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten who, in 2006, published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, inciting a worldwide firestorm. In his new book, The Tyranny of Silence: How One Cartoon Ignited a Global Debate on the Future of Free...
Nov 13, 2014•1 hr 25 min
CATO'S 32ND ANNUAL MONETARY CONFERENCE —will bring together leading scholars and advocates for fundamental monetary reform to discuss: The bitcoin revolution and future of crypto-currencies How technology will drive further innovations so that private currencies become a reality The role of gold in a decentralized monetary regime The steps necessary to return to constitutional money based on the convertibility principle and free banking When the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, its powers we...
Nov 06, 2014•1 hr 24 min
CATO'S 32ND ANNUAL MONETARY CONFERENCE —will bring together leading scholars and advocates for fundamental monetary reform to discuss: The bitcoin revolution and future of crypto-currencies How technology will drive further innovations so that private currencies become a reality The role of gold in a decentralized monetary regime The steps necessary to return to constitutional money based on the convertibility principle and free banking When the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, its powers we...
Nov 06, 2014•48 min
CATO'S 32ND ANNUAL MONETARY CONFERENCE —will bring together leading scholars and advocates for fundamental monetary reform to discuss: The bitcoin revolution and future of crypto-currencies How technology will drive further innovations so that private currencies become a reality The role of gold in a decentralized monetary regime The steps necessary to return to constitutional money based on the convertibility principle and free banking When the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, its powers we...
Nov 06, 2014•1 hr 4 min
