In The Need for Humility in Policymaking: Lessons from Regulatory Policy , economists Stefanie Haeffele and Anne Hobson argue that thoughtful policy analysis and policymaking require an acknowledgment of the challenges that politicians and regulators face when intervening in a complex and changing society. The book seeks to cultivate an appreciation for the complexity of human decision making and the incentives that drive human behavior. In the edited volume, 12 scholars provide case studies exa...
Dec 02, 2019•1 hr 32 min
Repugnant Laws provides a political history of how the Supreme Court has exercised the power of judicial review over federal legislation from the adoption of the Constitution to the present. The book draws on a first-of-its-kind comprehensive inventory of every case in which the court has substantively reviewed the constitutionality of a provision of federal law and either upheld the application of that statute or refused to apply it due to constitutional limits on congressional authority. The b...
Nov 21, 2019•1 hr 27 min
Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the transition experience of ex-socialist countries toward the market has been varied, with cases of successful economic and political reforms and cases of reform failure. Leszek Balcerowicz will explain how free-market economies based on the rule of law perform incomparably better than centrally planned economies, but, as he will also point out, that they can be undermined by constant pressure from illiberal interest groups, as is the case in many...
Nov 15, 2019•1 hr 8 min
Full event: 37th Annual Monetary Conference Shadowing the Fed’s strategic review, Cato’s 37th Annual Monetary Conference explores a broad array of recommendations for improving the monetary framework — and goes beyond the narrow scope of the Fed’s agenda to share a vision for a monetary system best suited for a free society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 15, 2019•1 hr 20 min
Full event: 37th Annual Monetary Conference Shadowing the Fed’s strategic review, Cato’s 37th Annual Monetary Conference explores a broad array of recommendations for improving the monetary framework — and goes beyond the narrow scope of the Fed’s agenda to share a vision for a monetary system best suited for a free society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 15, 2019•1 hr 27 min
Full event: 37th Annual Monetary Conference Shadowing the Fed’s strategic review, Cato’s 37th Annual Monetary Conference explores a broad array of recommendations for improving the monetary framework — and goes beyond the narrow scope of the Fed’s agenda to share a vision for a monetary system best suited for a free society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 15, 2019•50 min
Full event: 37th Annual Monetary Conference Shadowing the Fed’s strategic review, Cato’s 37th Annual Monetary Conference explores a broad array of recommendations for improving the monetary framework — and goes beyond the narrow scope of the Fed’s agenda to share a vision for a monetary system best suited for a free society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 15, 2019•1 hr 28 min
Full event: 37th Annual Monetary Conference Shadowing the Fed’s strategic review, Cato’s 37th Annual Monetary Conference explores a broad array of recommendations for improving the monetary framework — and goes beyond the narrow scope of the Fed’s agenda to share a vision for a monetary system best suited for a free society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 15, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Full event: 37th Annual Monetary Conference Shadowing the Fed’s strategic review, Cato’s 37th Annual Monetary Conference explores a broad array of recommendations for improving the monetary framework — and goes beyond the narrow scope of the Fed’s agenda to share a vision for a monetary system best suited for a free society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 15, 2019•23 min
In their new graphic nonfiction book Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration , authors Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith turn the heated public debate over immigration on its head by proposing a radical and controversial solution: open borders. Caplan argues that opening all borders would practically eliminate absolute poverty worldwide and usher in a booming worldwide economy―greatly benefiting all of humanity, including Americans. With a clear and conversational tone, exhaustive re...
Nov 04, 2019•1 hr 17 min
What does it take for liberty to emerge and to flourish? Daron Acemoglu will explain how, from antiquity to the modern age, the strong have tended to dominate the weak because states are too strong and despotic or because violence and lawlessness arise in their absence. Achieving liberty requires a constant struggle between the state and society that strikes a balance between the elite and citizens, and between institutions and norms. Acemoglu will draw from history to discuss how and under what...
Oct 25, 2019•1 hr 25 min
Competitive grant funds, including BUILD (formerly known as TIGER) and New Starts (also known as transit capital grants), are supposed to ensure that federal dollars are spent where they are most needed. In fact, most of them are wasted as state and local governments propose expensive and obsolete projects in order to get the most "free" federal dollars. Since these programs are up for renewal in 2020, Feigenbaum and O’Toole will show how Congress can make them work more effectively. Hosted on A...
Oct 25, 2019•53 min
Robert Zubrin tells the amazing true story of how hard-driving entrepreneurial ventures such as SpaceX and Blue Origin have accomplished what was previously thought of only as a capability of major-power governments: space exploration. He contends that private-sector competition will bring down the cost of space launches and in-space technology and shows how those trends are already underway. Zubrin’s book lays out a compelling vision for the future of humanity in space. As space exploration inc...
Oct 23, 2019•1 hr 29 min
As a candidate for the presidency, Donald Trump declared the prevailing American foreign policy consensus “a complete and total disaster.” He vowed to “shake the rust off of American foreign policy” and promised that his administration would be guided by putting American security and American interests above all other considerations. In Fuel to the Fire: How Trump Made America’s Broken Foreign Policy Even Worse (and How We Can Recover) , John Glaser, Christopher Preble, and Trevor Thrall argue t...
Oct 21, 2019•1 hr 29 min
Donald Trump’s presidency has triggered a growing debate on both sides of the Atlantic about the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and U.S. policy regarding the alliance. In NATO: The Dangerous Dinosaur , Ted Galen Carpenter outlines how NATO in its current form has outlived its purpose, and burden sharing is only part of the problem. Continuing to expand NATO eastward, encroaching on Russia, will only endanger the alliance. Join us as the author offers his insights on the ...
Oct 18, 2019•1 hr 30 min
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, “left” and “right” have been used routinely to describe conflicting political ideologies, notwithstanding their notorious ambiguity and—a fact too often forgotten—a shared utopian root. The dream of a perfect world has inspired each generation; that hope is universal. The vision of a demigod-superman who destroys all evil, thereby inaugurating a utopia of perfection and bliss, is at least as old as the book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible. But behind that ap...
Oct 16, 2019•1 hr 20 min
Public discussions about vaping nicotine products have changed dramatically in the last few months. Vaping, an activity generally regarded as safer than smoking, is now viewed by many lawmakers and health officials as a serious threat. People who vape have begun to face restrictions similar to those placed on cigarettes. While there’s no question that cigarette smoking is one of the biggest causes of mortality in the world, the failure to differentiate among many possible sources of nicotine is ...
Oct 15, 2019•44 min
We live in an age of unprecedented prosperity. Yet a recent psychological study found that anxiety “is significantly more prevalent and impairing in high-income countries than in low- or middle-income countries.” Clay Routledge argues that these and related research findings are a warning that prosperous societies such as the United States are facing a crisis of meaning that may ultimately undermine liberty and prosperity. Affluence and liberalism, he claims, benefit humanity by reducing materia...
Oct 14, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. These statewide electronic databases of prescriptions dispensed for controlled substances were established in response to the opioid overdose crisis. Their purpose is to facilitate drug diversion investigations by law enforcement, change prescribing behavior, and reduce “doctor shopping” by patients who seek drugs for nonmedical use. In 28 states it is mandatory for providers to access the databa...
Oct 03, 2019•1 hr 31 min
Daniel Ellsberg. Edward Snowden. Elin Baklid-Kunz. Lynn Stout. Diane Roark. Franz Gayl. They and others like them come from all across the country. Some worked for the federal government; others worked in the private sector. All have one thing in common: in the organizations for which they worked, they saw things they knew were morally and legally wrong. Each made a life-altering decision to do something about it. In his new book, Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud , journal...
Oct 02, 2019•1 hr 34 min
Naloxone—an opioid antagonist that reverses overdoses—is a safe, effective, critical tool for preventing opioid-overdose deaths. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration nevertheless continues to require a prescription for each naloxone purchase, an unnecessary requirement that limits access to this life-saving drug. On October 2, the Cato Institute will hold a two-part Capitol Hill Briefing to discuss how naloxone can save even more lives. First, Cato senior fellow Jeffrey A. Singer and Cato adjun...
Oct 02, 2019•1 hr 36 min
In his forthcoming book How to Be a Dictator , Frank Dikötter examines the cults and propaganda surrounding twentieth-century dictators, from Hitler and Stalin to Mao Zedong and Kim II Sung. These men were the founders of modern dictatorships, and they learned from each other and from history to build their regimes and maintain their public images. Their dictatorships, in turn, have influenced leaders in the 21st century, including Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Hosted on ...
Sep 30, 2019•57 min
Data are the lifeblood of public policy analysis. In criminal justice policy, crime data can be used to determine whether crime victimization is trending up or down in a given area or whether an innovative type of policing is effective. But how data are analyzed can have extraordinary effects on policy outcomes and future recommendations. In his re-released award-winning book, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America (Harvard University Press, 2019), Kha...
Sep 26, 2019•3 hr 16 min
American higher education is in a bad place: public confidence is dropping, prices are daunting, and presidential candidates are clamoring to fundamentally change how it’s funded. Join us to hear U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) discuss his interest in finding solutions to the many problems with higher education policy. Attendees will then hear from the authors and editors of three new books tackling higher education’s myriad ailments and how to fix them. Many things must change in the ivory tower...
Sep 24, 2019•1 hr 25 min
James Grant’s new book, Bagehot: The Life and Times of the Greatest Victorian , tells the story of Walter Bagehot — a 19th century banker, an essayist, and a former editor of The Economist . Born in a small town in late-Georgian England, Bagehot became one of the most influential figures in Victorian-era finance and politics. Indeed, thanks to his celebrated 1873 treatise, Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market , Bagehot remains influential today, not just in England but in financial ...
Sep 24, 2019•1 hr 23 min
An Introduction to Constitutional Law will teach you the narrative of constitutional law as it has developed over the past two centuries. All readers — even those unfamiliar with American history — will learn the essential background for grasping how this body of law has come to be what it is today. The accompanying online video library brings to life the Supreme Court’s 100 most important decisions; the videos are enriched by photographs, maps, and even audio from Supreme Court arguments. More ...
Sep 24, 2019•1 hr 32 min
Has the spread of capitalism been a net positive or a net negative for women around the world? Is capitalism an inherently exploitative, oppressive, and patriarchal economic system entwined with the subjugation of women? Or has it helped to empower women, enhancing their material well-being and fostering gender parity? Advocates of women’s welfare disagree on these important questions. As a result, they seek to advance very different economic policies despite a shared goal of promoting female em...
Sep 16, 2019•1 hr 32 min
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 operations associated with the War on Terror. Many Americans still recall the trauma of 9/11 and are aware ...
Sep 11, 2019•1 hr 26 min
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 available choices for themselves. She also shows that many widely held views and official government r...
Sep 09, 2019•1 hr 24 min
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 libertarian-conservative alliance as being both natural and politically useful. However, the differences betwe...
Aug 08, 2019•1 hr 27 min
