Cato Event Podcast

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has observed that “criminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials.”Although nowhere mentioned in the text of the Constitution, plea bargaining has become the default mechanism for resolving criminal charges in the United States. Indeed, some 95 percent of criminal convictions today are obtained through plea bargains, which raises a number of serious concerns, including why so few people choose to exercise their hallowed and hard-won right to a jury trial. When one considers the many tools available to prosecutors to encourage defendants to accept plea offers, together with the incentive to resolve as many cases as efficiently as possible, one cannot help but ask how many plea agreements are truly voluntary and how many are the result of irresistible coercion. Are there constitutional or ethical limits on coercive plea bargaining, and if so, are they being properly enforced? And what should we make of an institution that has practically eliminated the criminal jury trial and with it the Framers' painstaking efforts to ensure citizen participation in the administration of justice?We will discuss these and other important questions raised by the evolution of plea bargaining within our justice system. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the end of the Cold War, the United States was confident that it stood on the precipice of a new era of peace and prosperity as the world’s sole superpower. U.S. leaders adopted a strategy of primacy, aimed at discouraging others from challenging American power, and they sought to spread democracy and liberal economics within an American sphere of influence that encompassed most of the world. Today, relations with Russia and China have deteriorated, nationalist movements are on the rise, and the European Union seems unsteady at best.In his new book, The Hell of Good Intentions, Stephen Walt traces many of these problems to the flaws inherent in primacy. U.S. power has allowed policymakers to pursue ambitious foreign policy goals, even when those goals are unnecessary or doomed to fail. And yet, despite many setbacks, an entrenched foreign policy elite retains its faith in liberal hegemony. Join us at noon on Wednesday, October 17, as Walt explores these ideas and outlines the case for a fresh, new approach to American foreign policy based on realism and restraint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paid family leave has become an issue of national significance, and some policymakers think the federal policy status quo is insufficient. As a result, in 2017 congressional Democrats proposed funding leave through payroll taxes on businesses and workers, and the Trump administration suggested providing paid parental leave through state unemployment insurance. In 2018, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) proposed legislation allowing workers to dip into Social Security retirement benefits to cover paid leave.Please join us for a conversation about paid family leave and current federal proposals for paid leave. Emily Ekins, director of polling at Cato Institute, will provide a first look at new public opinion polling on paid leave. Vanessa Brown Calder, Veronique de Rugy, and Rachel Greszler will discuss their research on paid family leave, with a focus on current federal proposals like the FAMILY Act (the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act) and Social Security–paid family leave. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Like many Americans, Randal O’Toole loves passenger trains, yet he acknowledges that intercity passenger trains and — outside of the New York region — urban rail transit play little role in American life today. The replacement of passenger trains with cars, buses, and airplanes is similar to many other recent technological replacements: word processors replacing typewriters, calculators replacing slide rules, telephones replacing telegraphs, and cell phones replacing land lines. However, only for passenger trains has the government spent billions of dollars a year attempting to turn back the clock and slow that replacement. O’Toole’s book Romance of the Rails asks why this is so and whether passenger rail has a significant role to play in the future. Art Guzzetti, an advocate for urban rail transit; Jim Mathews, an advocate for intercity passenger trains; and Marc Scribner, an advocate for free-market transportation, will offer their comments on the book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the past few years. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. How did this happen?First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: (1) what doesn’t kill you makes you weaker, (2) always trust your feelings, and (3) life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths are incompatible with basic psychological principles as well as ancient wisdom from many cultures. They interfere with healthy development. Anyone who embraces these untruths—and the resulting culture of “safetyism”—is less likely to become an autonomous adult able to prosper in a free society.Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to produce these untruths. They place the conflicts on campus in the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization, including a rise in hate crimes and off-campus provocation. They explore changes in childhood, including the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the past decade.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transit ridership is declining nationwide despite billions of dollars in federal subsidies, observes Randal O’Toole, one of the nation’s leading critics of the transit industry. He argues that the federal government should stop subsidizing a dying industry. Jarrett Walker — one of the most innovative thinkers in the transit community — disagrees, arguing that public transit has a vital role to play in urban transportation and urban growth. Join us to hear these two experts debate the appropriate role of federal funding in urban transportation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The internet and social media were supposed to radically democratize news and information — yet many observers now worry that they are undermining the preconditions for healthy democracies. Misinformation peddled by conspiracy theorists, unscrupulous clickbaiters, and even intelligence agencies spreads around the globe at the speed of light, while in the United States, citizens increasingly retreat into distinct media ecosystems so divergent as to be mutually unrecognizable. Can liberal democracy function in a world in which voters no longer inhabit the same universe of facts?We’ll take up these questions with renowned scholar Yochai Benkler, coauthor of the important new book-length study Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics. We’ll take a close look at the dynamics of how propaganda, misinformation, and “fake news” propagate across modern information networks. Rebecca MacKinnon, author of Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom, and Cato senior fellow Julian Sanchez provide commentary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Trump administration has taken a hardline approach toward Pakistan, cutting military and security aid throughout 2018 and accusing Pakistan of not doing enough to combat militants operating on its soil. Pakistan, however, maintains that it has eliminated all safe havens and that the United States is unfairly targeting the country.Washington’s conventional wisdom on Pakistan correctly links militant sponsorship with the state’s military and intelligence agencies. As such, U.S. policies to combat Pakistan’s militant sponsorship have primarily focused on pressuring the military. In a new report, Sahar Khan analyzes Pakistan’s anti-terrorism legal regime, judiciary, and police and finds that in the context of counterterrorism, civil institutions have developed policies and bureaucratic routines that reinforce the military’s policy of sponsoring militant groups. And this is one of the primary reasons why U.S. attempts to change Pakistan’s policy of militant sponsorship have failed.Please join us for a lively discussion, with lunch to follow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In early May 2013, an online open-source organization called Defense Distributed released design files for the Liberator, the world’s first completely 3D-printable single-shot handgun. In just two days, the plans were downloaded more than 100,000 times.Within days, the United States Department of State demanded that Defense Distributed take down the files, kicking off a long legal battle that culminated in a settlement allowing the sale of plans for 3D-printed firearms online beginning August 1, 2018. However, that win was quickly undermined by an order—issued by Robert S. Lasnik, Senior District Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington—demanding a stop on the spread of the design files. States and Defense Distributed have filed multiple lawsuits, and the legal drama continues.What are 3D-printed guns, exactly—and are they more dangerous than other legally available weapons? Is the right to distribute 3D-printed gun blueprints a free speech issue? Are gun control policies viable in a world where people can make guns at home?On Thursday, September 27, please join the Cato Institute for a robust discussion of the complex legal and practical issues surrounding 3D-printed guns. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recent political tumult and the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency have driven anxious commentators to lament the collapse of a post-1945 liberal world order. Invoking the supposed institution building and multilateralism of the last 70 years, the order’s defenders urge U.S. leaders to restore a battered tradition, uphold economic and security commitments, and promote liberal values. Others caution that nostalgia has obscured our understanding of the old order’s hard edges and its shortcomings, and has forestalled a serious assessment of the changes that will be needed going forward.Panelists will discuss the core principles of the liberal international order — both as those principles have been professed by its defenders and as they have been practiced by U.S. and world leaders. They will also consider the present and future of the liberal order. What revisions, if any, are necessary? Should U.S. leaders embrace the old liberal international order and reaffirm American leadership within that order? Or is it time to reassess U.S. grand strategy and bring U.S. goals in line with modern-day realities? Join us for an important and timely discussion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Passed in 1978, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was intended to stop abusive practices by state and federal officials, who often removed Native American children from their families without sufficient justification. But today, ICWA is the subject of litigation in federal and state courts by challengers who argue that it imposes race-based restrictions on adoption and makes it harder for state officials to protect Native American children against abuse and neglect. Join us for a discussion of recent developments and upcoming challenges to ICWA, presented by Timothy Sandefur, Vice President for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute and author of Escaping the ICWA Penalty Box; Matthew McGill, attorney for plaintiffs in Brackeen v. Zinke, a major ICWA lawsuit under way in Texas; and Charles Rothfeld, who represented the birth father in the important ICWA case Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Innovations in aerial technology present regulators, lawmakers, and entrepreneurs with numerous challenges and opportunities.Although there have been advances in supersonic engine technology, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 1970s ban on overland supersonic flights remains in place. Flytenow, an online flight-sharing company seeking to establish an “Uber of the sky,” has been grounded thanks to the FAA regulations. Restrictions on unmanned aerial vehicle flights have hampered the growth of the commercial drone sector, with American companies such as Amazon.com testing delivery drones abroad. Meanwhile, police departments are increasingly interested in pursuing drone technology as well as counterdrone technology, which raises significant civil liberty and safety concerns.Our panelists will discuss these and other issues and consider how lawmakers and regulators can best foster innovation while protecting our safety and privacy.For: Of Rockets and Robotics: The Regulation of Emerging Aerial Technology Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Innovations in aerial technology present regulators, lawmakers, and entrepreneurs with numerous challenges and opportunities.Although there have been advances in supersonic engine technology, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 1970s ban on overland supersonic flights remains in place. Flytenow, an online flight-sharing company seeking to establish an “Uber of the sky,” has been grounded thanks to the FAA regulations. Restrictions on unmanned aerial vehicle flights have hampered the growth of the commercial drone sector, with American companies such as Amazon.com testing delivery drones abroad. Meanwhile, police departments are increasingly interested in pursuing drone technology as well as counterdrone technology, which raises significant civil liberty and safety concerns.Our panelists will discuss these and other issues and consider how lawmakers and regulators can best foster innovation while protecting our safety and privacy.For: Of Rockets and Robotics: The Regulation of Emerging Aerial Technology Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Innovations in aerial technology present regulators, lawmakers, and entrepreneurs with numerous challenges and opportunities.Although there have been advances in supersonic engine technology, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 1970s ban on overland supersonic flights remains in place. Flytenow, an online flight-sharing company seeking to establish an “Uber of the sky,” has been grounded thanks to the FAA regulations. Restrictions on unmanned aerial vehicle flights have hampered the growth of the commercial drone sector, with American companies such as Amazon.com testing delivery drones abroad. Meanwhile, police departments are increasingly interested in pursuing drone technology as well as counterdrone technology, which raises significant civil liberty and safety concerns.Our panelists will discuss these and other issues and consider how lawmakers and regulators can best foster innovation while protecting our safety and privacy.For: Of Rockets and Robotics: The Regulation of Emerging Aerial Technology Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Innovations in aerial technology present regulators, lawmakers, and entrepreneurs with numerous challenges and opportunities.Although there have been advances in supersonic engine technology, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 1970s ban on overland supersonic flights remains in place. Flytenow, an online flight-sharing company seeking to establish an “Uber of the sky,” has been grounded thanks to the FAA regulations. Restrictions on unmanned aerial vehicle flights have hampered the growth of the commercial drone sector, with American companies such as Amazon.com testing delivery drones abroad. Meanwhile, police departments are increasingly interested in pursuing drone technology as well as counterdrone technology, which raises significant civil liberty and safety concerns.Our panelists will discuss these and other issues and consider how lawmakers and regulators can best foster innovation while protecting our safety and privacy.For: Of Rockets and Robotics: The Regulation of Emerging Aerial Technology Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Borrowed Time: Two Centuries of Booms, Busts, and Bailouts at Citi explores the alarming, untold story of Citigroup, one of the largest financial institutions in the world. The book follows Citi from its founding as the City Bank of New York in 1812 to its role in the 2008 financial crisis — and its many near-death experiences and government bailouts in between. Join us for a roundtable discussion with the authors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his sweeping 1996 Cato book, Oil, Gas and Government: The U.S. Experience, Rob Bradley described a century of political capitalism in the energy industry. In recent  years, leading energy entrepreneurs such as Ken Lay (Enron), John Browne (BP), Jeffrey Immelt (GE) and, most recently, Elon Musk (Tesla) continue the clammy pursuit of wealth via government subsidies and regulations, often perfumed with trendy environmentalism.Now, in Enron Ascending: The Forgotten Years (1984–1996), Bradley identifies a broader context for political capitalism—“contra-capitalism,” a repeating syndrome that links rent-seeking with corporate deceit and personal violation of bourgeois virtues.From this new perspective, Bradley rebuts both the charge that corporate scandals reflect badly on capitalism and the apologia that they are merely committed by capitalism’s “bad apples.” As an alternative, Bradley lays out a well-developed mirror image of contra-capitalism—a suite of behaviors consistent with classical-liberal teachings for business management. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please join us for an address from the Right Honourable Liz Truss, MP, the United Kingdom’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In her remarks, Truss will discuss economic policy on both sides of the Atlantic and will explain how attempts to insulate industries from changing demands and innovations make us poorer. Truss will issue a rallying cry to economic liberals to engage in a new supply-side revolution, reforming regulations to work with market trends, rather than against them, to deliver prosperity and opportunity for younger generations. Truss was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury in June 2017 by Prime Minister Theresa May. Her role gives her responsibility for overseeing U.K. public expenditure, including public sector pay and spending reviews, as well as a broader purview on supply-side issues, including childcare policy, labor market policy, and welfare reform. A member of the Conservative Party, she was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 2010 for the constituency of South West Norfolk. She has held several important ministerial roles, including Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for education and childcare; Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor. Truss is a longtime friend of the liberty movement, having worked at the think tank Reform and having founded the Free Enterprise Group (an association of free market–oriented Conservative Members of Parliament) in 2011. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cato's annual Constitution Day symposium marks the day in 1787 that the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the U.S. Constitution. We celebrate that event each year with the release of the new issue of the Cato Supreme Court Review and with a day-long symposium featuring noted scholars discussing the recently concluded Supreme Court term and the important cases coming up. Past speakers have included Judges Alex Kozinski, Diane Sykes, and Douglas Ginsburg, Professors Richard Epstein, Michael McConnell, and Nadine Strossen, and Supreme Court litigators Paul Clement, Neal Katyal, and Walter Dellinger. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cato's annual Constitution Day symposium marks the day in 1787 that the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the U.S. Constitution. We celebrate that event each year with the release of the new issue of the Cato Supreme Court Review and with a day-long symposium featuring noted scholars discussing the recently concluded Supreme Court term and the important cases coming up. Past speakers have included Judges Alex Kozinski, Diane Sykes, and Douglas Ginsburg, Professors Richard Epstein, Michael McConnell, and Nadine Strossen, and Supreme Court litigators Paul Clement, Neal Katyal, and Walter Dellinger. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cato's annual Constitution Day symposium marks the day in 1787 that the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the U.S. Constitution. We celebrate that event each year with the release of the new issue of the Cato Supreme Court Review and with a day-long symposium featuring noted scholars discussing the recently concluded Supreme Court term and the important cases coming up. Past speakers have included Judges Alex Kozinski, Diane Sykes, and Douglas Ginsburg, Professors Richard Epstein, Michael McConnell, and Nadine Strossen, and Supreme Court litigators Paul Clement, Neal Katyal, and Walter Dellinger. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cato's annual Constitution Day symposium marks the day in 1787 that the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the U.S. Constitution. We celebrate that event each year with the release of the new issue of the Cato Supreme Court Review and with a day-long symposium featuring noted scholars discussing the recently concluded Supreme Court term and the important cases coming up. Past speakers have included Judges Alex Kozinski, Diane Sykes, and Douglas Ginsburg, Professors Richard Epstein, Michael McConnell, and Nadine Strossen, and Supreme Court litigators Paul Clement, Neal Katyal, and Walter Dellinger. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cato's annual Constitution Day symposium marks the day in 1787 that the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the U.S. Constitution. We celebrate that event each year with the release of the new issue of the Cato Supreme Court Review and with a day-long symposium featuring noted scholars discussing the recently concluded Supreme Court term and the important cases coming up. Past speakers have included Judges Alex Kozinski, Diane Sykes, and Douglas Ginsburg, Professors Richard Epstein, Michael McConnell, and Nadine Strossen, and Supreme Court litigators Paul Clement, Neal Katyal, and Walter Dellinger. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sweden is a remarkably successful country. A poor peasant nation in the 1850s, it became one of the world’s richest countries a century later. It ranks among the world’s freest developed nations. Should the United States be more like Sweden? The documentary Sweden: Lessons for America? delves into aspects of Swedish politics and society that may surprise many Americans. Join us to see a segment of the documentary from the Free to Choose Network. Swedish film host and scholar Johan Norberg will describe how his country has changed over time, highlight policy successes, and explain why Sweden’s economic policies are often misunderstood by outsiders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

P. J. O’Rourke, America’s leading political satirist and Cato H. L. Mencken Research Fellow, has been dubbed “the funniest writer in America” by the Wall Street Journal. In his new book, None of My Business: P. J. Explains Money, Banking, Debt, Equity, Assets, Liabilities, and Why He’s Not Rich and Neither Are You, the best-selling author delves into the world of business, offering his humorous, incisive musings on everything from banking and investments to China and the future of Bitcoin—and, of course, how the “crazy things” that government does to money manage to make the financial world even more mind-boggling.Whether explaining what cleaning his chicken coop taught him about investing, how covering war zones for Rolling Stone taught him economics, or what his teenage daughter revealed to him about the digital economy, O’Rourke is always sure to deliver pithy insights with a healthy dose of humor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A key question in debates over Obamacare is whether its community rating provisions are necessary to provide complete risk protection to consumers. A new study of one insurer by Anthony LoSasso and colleagues finds that the insurer did increase premiums for small employers whose expected claims were above average, but the increase in premiums only ranged from 5 percent to 43 percent of the increase in expected costs. These findings suggest that even before Obamacare, the market for small-employer coverage did a lot to protect high-cost employees from having to pay premiums that reflect their higher health risk. Come hear leading scholars on the economics of health insurance, Mark Pauly and Anthony LoSasso, discuss these findings and their implications. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The financial services industry is undergoing a transformation: technology is enabling financial institutions and startups to reach underserved communities, lower the cost of banking and investing, and increase access to capital. As fintech fosters financial inclusion and access, how can regulation accommodate innovation while protecting consumers? Cato’s Fourth Annual Summit on Financial Regulation will bring together leading practitioners, policy experts, and regulators to grapple with key policy questions at the intersection of technology and financial services—and to discuss the positive role that policy change can play in reaping the benefits from the ongoing revolution in banking, capital markets, and the emerging crypto economy.From: Fintech Unbound: The Cato Summit on Financial Regulation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The financial services industry is undergoing a transformation: technology is enabling financial institutions and startups to reach underserved communities, lower the cost of banking and investing, and increase access to capital. As fintech fosters financial inclusion and access, how can regulation accommodate innovation while protecting consumers? Cato’s Fourth Annual Summit on Financial Regulation will bring together leading practitioners, policy experts, and regulators to grapple with key policy questions at the intersection of technology and financial services—and to discuss the positive role that policy change can play in reaping the benefits from the ongoing revolution in banking, capital markets, and the emerging crypto economy.From: Fintech Unbound: The Cato Summit on Financial Regulation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The financial services industry is undergoing a transformation: technology is enabling financial institutions and startups to reach underserved communities, lower the cost of banking and investing, and increase access to capital. As fintech fosters financial inclusion and access, how can regulation accommodate innovation while protecting consumers? Cato’s Fourth Annual Summit on Financial Regulation will bring together leading practitioners, policy experts, and regulators to grapple with key policy questions at the intersection of technology and financial services—and to discuss the positive role that policy change can play in reaping the benefits from the ongoing revolution in banking, capital markets, and the emerging crypto economy.From: Fintech Unbound: The Cato Summit on Financial Regulation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The financial services industry is undergoing a transformation: technology is enabling financial institutions and startups to reach underserved communities, lower the cost of banking and investing, and increase access to capital. As fintech fosters financial inclusion and access, how can regulation accommodate innovation while protecting consumers? Cato’s Fourth Annual Summit on Financial Regulation will bring together leading practitioners, policy experts, and regulators to grapple with key policy questions at the intersection of technology and financial services—and to discuss the positive role that policy change can play in reaping the benefits from the ongoing revolution in banking, capital markets, and the emerging crypto economy.From: Fintech Unbound: The Cato Summit on Financial Regulation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The financial services industry is undergoing a transformation: technology is enabling financial institutions and startups to reach underserved communities, lower the cost of banking and investing, and increase access to capital. As fintech fosters financial inclusion and access, how can regulation accommodate innovation while protecting consumers? Cato’s Fourth Annual Summit on Financial Regulation will bring together leading practitioners, policy experts, and regulators to grapple with key policy questions at the intersection of technology and financial services—and to discuss the positive role that policy change can play in reaping the benefits from the ongoing revolution in banking, capital markets, and the emerging crypto economy.From: Fintech Unbound: The Cato Summit on Financial Regulation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For much of the 21st century, those who identified themselves as left of center were the strongest proponents of freedom of speech. They believed in the principle, and they thought that free speech benefited civil rights and labor activists—not to mention radicals seeking fundamental change. Conservatives, they thought, would always oppose free speech because of its threat to the status quo. Beginning in the late 1960s, some spoke of free speech as “repressive tolerance” that precluded radical changes. Later, as courts connected free speech to campaign finance, some on the left argued that the First Amendment served corporate interests, not emancipation of the oppressed. Professor Michael Seidman has renewed this debate with a provocative paper denying that free speech in the American context can be progressive. Please join us for an intriguing debate about the future of free speech, a debate that matters for everyone at all points on the political spectrum. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ne of the nation’s leading experts on infrastructure policy, Robert Poole, will discuss his new book, Rethinking America’s Highways: A 21st-Century Vision for Better Infrastructure. The book examines our current structure of highway ownership and financing and describes why major reforms are needed. Poole argues for a new model that treats highways in a more commercial manner, akin to public utilities. Motorists, the economy, and the environment would all gain if highway investments were driven more by market signals than by politics, he finds.With increased highway congestion and large financing gaps on the horizon, Poole provides critical input to America’s debate over infrastructure. Poole is an MIT-trained engineer who has advised numerous administrations, the Federal Highway Administration, and various state highway agencies on infrastructure issues.Dr. Jonathan Gifford will provide comments on Poole’s book. Gifford has a PhD in civil engineering, specializing in transportation, and he is an expert on the Interstate Highway System and infrastructure finance. He is director of the George Mason University (GMU) Center for Transportation Public-Private Partnership Policy, as well as a professor in GMU’s Schar School of Policy and Government. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Which state is the freest, and what does it mean to be free? Which state has the most heavily taxed and regulated economy? Which state has the best protections for personal freedom? Where does your state rank? Is it among the freest or most coercive? Such questions have occurred to many people who care about limited government.The 2018 edition of Freedom in the 50 States presents an updated ranking of the American states based on how their policies promote fiscal, regulatory, and personal freedom. The authors have gathered data on more than 230 variables to measure freedom now and in the past. They go beyond describing policies and analyze why some states have smaller and better governments.Freedom in the 50 States is an essential work for anyone interested in state policies and in advancing a better understanding of a free society. Join us to meet the authors, learn about the development of this research, and hear an overview of the 2018 rankings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Which state is the freest, and what does it mean to be free? Which state has the most heavily taxed and regulated economy? Which state has the best protections for personal freedom? Where does your state rank? Is it among the freest or most coercive?In this special Cato Connects, Freedom in the 50 States authors William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens discuss the data on more than 230 variables to measure freedom now and in the past. They go beyond describing policies and analyze why some states have smaller and better governments.The 2018 edition of Freedom in the 50 States presents an updated ranking of the American states based on how their policies promote fiscal, regulatory, and personal freedom. Freedom in the 50 States is an essential work for anyone interested in state policies and in advancing a better understanding of a free society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The economic revolutions of the past have brought vast wealth to average people. So what does the "sharing economy" have to offer? Michael Munger argues in his new book, Tomorrow 3.0, that when we understand how transaction costs function, the implications of the sharing economy become more clear. Join us for a discussion of the implications of this economic shift and how it will change how we work, what we own, and the wealth we can access. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Trump administration has reversed an Obama-era rule that exposed consumers with short-term health insurance plans to medical underwriting after they got sick. The Trump rule restores consumer protections in short-term plans, which are exempt from ObamaCare’s costly benefit mandates and hidden taxes. Does the new short-term plans rule create a “freedom option” for those who have had enough of Obamacare? Does if free religious conservatives from having to purchase coverage they find morally objectionable? Will it usher in a new era of innovation that will make access to care more secure for the sick? Does the new rule sabotage or threaten the stability of Obamacare? Come listen to one of the nation’s leading scholars discuss short-term health plans and the potential of innovation to revolutionize health insurance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Cato University: College of History and PhilosophyHistory is indispensable to understanding and defending liberty under our constitutionally limited, representative government. And at the core of that history are the philosophical beliefs and values on which the American republic was founded. Cato University's College of History and Philosophy brings these two powerful subjects together to explore the foundations of liberty and justice, of wealth and poverty, of individual rights and the rule of law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Cato University: College of History and PhilosophyHistory is indispensable to understanding and defending liberty under our constitutionally limited, representative government. And at the core of that history are the philosophical beliefs and values on which the American republic was founded. Cato University's College of History and Philosophy brings these two powerful subjects together to explore the foundations of liberty and justice, of wealth and poverty, of individual rights and the rule of law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Cato University: College of History and PhilosophyHistory is indispensable to understanding and defending liberty under our constitutionally limited, representative government. And at the core of that history are the philosophical beliefs and values on which the American republic was founded. Cato University's College of History and Philosophy brings these two powerful subjects together to explore the foundations of liberty and justice, of wealth and poverty, of individual rights and the rule of law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Cato University: College of History and PhilosophyHistory is indispensable to understanding and defending liberty under our constitutionally limited, representative government. And at the core of that history are the philosophical beliefs and values on which the American republic was founded. Cato University's College of History and Philosophy brings these two powerful subjects together to explore the foundations of liberty and justice, of wealth and poverty, of individual rights and the rule of law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cryptocurrencies are now a $270 billion market, and initial coin offerings (ICOs) raised more than $8 billion in the first five months of 2018. What is the appropriate regulatory framework for this emerging financial technology? In this Capitol Hill briefing, Cato’s Diego Zuluaga and Mercatus’ Brian Knight will address whether and how cryptocurrencies might be determined to be securities, the role of cryptocurrencies in value creation, and the use of ICOs as fundraising vehicles. Zuluaga will outline a regulatory framework for securing innovation while ensuring protection against fraud and crime. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America has developed its own decentralized and pluralist approach to adoption, with a wide variety of both private and public actors helping match children with the families they need along several paths: adoption of older children in public care, including the foster-to-adopt path; adoption of newborns; and international adoption. But services for children in public care have been swept up in controversy over what if any role is appropriate for religious and other agencies that decline to work with gay parents or that give preference to cobelievers. The rate of international adoption, once hailed as a success, has plunged in recent years. Meanwhile, the domestic foster care system has long been beset by policy challenges.How can government policy best avoid placing obstacles in the way of finding permanent homes for children? Are there ways to respond to legitimate concerns about international adoption, such as official corruption, that do not simply close down that process? What is the role of pluralism, and can groups with differing objectives and fundamental premises work side by side?Cato’s half-day conference, featuring keynote speaker Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor and noted adoption expert, will air a variety of informed views. Topics will include the conflict between LGBT advocates and some conservative religious agencies over the latter’s participation in state child placement systems; sources and possible solutions of the crisis in international adoption; and the proper role and practical effect of birth mother choice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America has developed its own decentralized and pluralist approach to adoption, with a wide variety of both private and public actors helping match children with the families they need along several paths: adoption of older children in public care, including the foster-to-adopt path; adoption of newborns; and international adoption. But services for children in public care have been swept up in controversy over what if any role is appropriate for religious and other agencies that decline to work with gay parents or that give preference to cobelievers. The rate of international adoption, once hailed as a success, has plunged in recent years. Meanwhile, the domestic foster care system has long been beset by policy challenges.How can government policy best avoid placing obstacles in the way of finding permanent homes for children? Are there ways to respond to legitimate concerns about international adoption, such as official corruption, that do not simply close down that process? What is the role of pluralism, and can groups with differing objectives and fundamental premises work side by side?Cato’s half-day conference, featuring keynote speaker Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor and noted adoption expert, will air a variety of informed views. Topics will include the conflict between LGBT advocates and some conservative religious agencies over the latter’s participation in state child placement systems; sources and possible solutions of the crisis in international adoption; and the proper role and practical effect of birth mother choice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America has developed its own decentralized and pluralist approach to adoption, with a wide variety of both private and public actors helping match children with the families they need along several paths: adoption of older children in public care, including the foster-to-adopt path; adoption of newborns; and international adoption. But services for children in public care have been swept up in controversy over what if any role is appropriate for religious and other agencies that decline to work with gay parents or that give preference to cobelievers. The rate of international adoption, once hailed as a success, has plunged in recent years. Meanwhile, the domestic foster care system has long been beset by policy challenges.How can government policy best avoid placing obstacles in the way of finding permanent homes for children? Are there ways to respond to legitimate concerns about international adoption, such as official corruption, that do not simply close down that process? What is the role of pluralism, and can groups with differing objectives and fundamental premises work side by side?Cato’s half-day conference, featuring keynote speaker Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor and noted adoption expert, will air a variety of informed views. Topics will include the conflict between LGBT advocates and some conservative religious agencies over the latter’s participation in state child placement systems; sources and possible solutions of the crisis in international adoption; and the proper role and practical effect of birth mother choice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, more than 95 percent of criminal convictions in the United States are obtained through plea bargains. As the Supreme Court observed in 2012, “criminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials.” Compared with jury trials, plea bargains are efficient and inexpensive, and they free up resources that might otherwise be devoted to securing convictions in cases where the defendant’s guilt is not seriously in doubt.But plea bargaining has a dark side as well. Given the imbalance of resources between prosecutors and most defendants, together with the array of tools that prosecutors can bring to bear in any given case, such as mandatory minimum sentences, charge-stacking, and witness inducements, it is fair to ask how many guilty pleas are truly voluntary. A growing body of evidence suggests that false confessions may not be nearly as rare as we would hope, and indeed the specter of coercion casts a shadow over the entire plea-bargaining process. Finally, there is the question of citizen participation in the criminal justice system, which Judge Joseph Goodwin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia cited repeatedly in a trio of decisions, culminating in the announcement that he will no longer accept plea agreements except when there are truly extenuating, case-specific circumstances. Our panelists will discuss the pros and cons of that policy and consider what the effect might be on America’s criminal justice system—and the fate of individual defendants—if other judges began adopting it as well. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To Err Is Human is an in-depth documentary about medical mistakes and those working behind the scenes to create a new age of patient safety. Through interviews with leaders in health care, footage of real-world efforts leading to safer care, and one individual's compelling journey from victim to empowered patient advocate, the film provides a unique look at our health care system's ongoing fight against preventable harm. Join us for a special private screening of the documentary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sixty years ago, the United States Supreme Court decided the landmark case of NAACP v. Alabama. In 1956, as part of the civil rights struggle, the state of Alabama sought the membership lists of the NAACP chapter in that state. The Court ruled against the state and discerned a “vital relationship between freedom to associate and privacy in one’s associations.” The decision remains a high point from the civil rights era. However, many now deny the Court’s assertion that a broad right to privacy offers a vital protection for the freedom to associate and to speak.Since the decision, the Court has placed few limits on government’s power to mandate disclosure of political activities and associations. As the new online era of speech dawns, the principles at stake in NAACP v. Alabama remain at the center of public debates. Is the right to associational privacy recognized in NAACP v. Alabama still good law? Or should the Court reconsider the tie between privacy and association? Please join us for a vigorous debate that takes this important anniversary as a starting point for our common future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since World War II, the United States has maintained an active foreign policy agenda, deeply engaged in both the economic and military domains. Many observers over the past few years, however, have voiced doubts about public support for the critical pillars of American internationalism. Many have worried, in particular, about whether younger Americans will believe it worthwhile to take up the mantle of global leadership. A new report from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Charles Koch Institute, and Cato scholars Trevor Thrall and Erik Goepner analyzes a wide range of survey data collected by the Chicago Council since 1974. The report finds that each generation from the silent generation onward entered adulthood less supportive of expansive American internationalism. More recent generations also express lower support for militarized approaches to achieve foreign policy goals. In this special Cato policy forum, the authors will present their findings and will participate in a lively discussion on the impact that generational differences may have on U.S. foreign policy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.