Cato Podcast

A new Cato Institute poll drills down on why Americans feel the way they do about immigration. Emily Ekins directed the research. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

California wants to maintain a database of the identities of donors to all manner of charities throughout the U.S. Paul Sherman of the Institute for Justice says it's an imposition on privacy and association. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The experience of Ukraine may offer lessons for public defense. Economic researcher Garrett Wood has looked into the creative but imperfect means of crowdfunding small-scale defense in Ukraine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Qualified immunity is an insult to Americans whose rights have been violated by public officials. Ben Cohen tells some of those stories in Above the Law: How 'Qualified Immunity' Protects Violent Police. We were joined by Cato’s Jay Schweikert and Clark Neily. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New Mexico has eliminated qualified immunity for almost all public officials. New Mexico House Speaker Brian Egolf (D) discusses how it happened and why it's an important reform. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Biden Administration is reportedly considering a federal mandate to lower nicotine levels in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels. Is that just back door prohibition? Tom Firey and Jeff Singer comment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The arguments from self-described libertarians on private vaccine certifications often disrespects the freedom of people to define their own associations. Sam Staley of Florida State University comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Criminal justice reformers should turn their eyes to how data is collected in myriad ways within the criminal justice system. Stuart Buck of Arnold Ventures details how credible data can drive reform efforts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Democrats prepare to roll out the end of federal cannabis prohibition, it's worth taking stock of where cannabis legality stands today. Erin Partin details how states have moved over the past decade, and how the feds ought to move forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Joe Biden lost credibility in his own party by failing to make good on campaign promises to increase the cap for refugee admissions to the United States. David Bier says Biden has no reason to back down from his immigration promises. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Defining a hate crime is a challenge and definitions vary by jurisdiction, but Congress is moving ahead with revising and expanding those laws federally. Walter Olson comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The rigidity that Democrats want in labor markets doesn't serve women well, and Republicans are far from innocent in pushing for new mandates. Rachel Greszler of the Heritage Foundation comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Defenders of certificate-of-need laws make big claims, like those laws effectively protect access to health care services. Economist James Bailey at Providence College has examined that claim. He says there’s not much evidence to support it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The housing market's normal churn has been all but absent in this pandemic. Does that make for a housing bubble? Tom Firey comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New proposed authorities to combat domestic terrorism after the attack on the Capitol again pose challenges for basic constraints on government like probable cause and particularized suspicion. Patrick Eddington comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Parents, put in a bind by a pandemic, have focused their attention on the options available to them for their kids' education. This year may be the very best for the expansion of school choice so far. Jason Bedrick explains how it happened. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The price we all would ultimately pay for a central government database of our vaccination status to regulate our public engagement could be very high. Can we get the benefits without the costs? Julian Sanchez and Jeff Singer comment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The pandemic has shown us that there is a price to be paid for failing to understand economic consequences. Ryan Bourne catalogs many of the missteps in his new book, Economics in One Virus: An Introduction to Economic Reasoning through COVID-19. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Islamic thinkers once inspired great Western thinkers. How can Islam fully embrace respect for science, reason, liberty, and other religions? Mustafa Akyol is author of Reopening Muslim Minds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Local efforts at criminal justice reform can be preempted by state-level edict. How should states and localities work to get along? Rachel Elise Barkow, author of Prisoners of Politics, comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The authorizations that have enabled two decades of American-led war across the globe should be repealed. Congress may finally agree. Gene Healy and John Glaser explain why. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Biden administration hopes to spend trillions of new dollars on public infrastructure, and while it's at it, massively subsidize private infrastructure. Cato's Chris Edwards says it's utterly unnecessary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has a new piece of would-be reform legislation, though the proposal highlights just how hard it is to do content moderation at scale. Mike Masnick of techdirt and Cato's Will Duffield comment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Understanding what systemic racism is requires an understanding of what it isn't. Jonathan Blanks of The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity details a few important distinctions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does a former cop think about qualified immunity? Sonia Pruitt is head of The Black Police Experience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pollsters got it wrong again in 2020, underestimating support for Donald Trump and Republicans more broadly. How are they going to get it right? Emily Ekins discusses the theories. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The people who set the prices for a lot of Medicare-funded services point out many of the problems that leads Michael Cannon to conclude that the behemoth of government health care provides "junk" coverage. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big players expanding telehealth offerings while a great deal of state regulation is temporarily suspended might mean a vast expansion of telehealth offerings going forward. Jeff Singer comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

California's poverty is dramatically more stark than in other states. Delivering on an inclusive economic recovery from a pandemic means addressing several underlying policy problems. Michael Tanner comments ahead of his conference in April. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Biden administration has ways to make good on pledges to treat young people crossing the border fairly. David Bier comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rick Perlstein's Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980 details a downtrodden GOP approaching irrelevance ahead of the surprising resurgence of Ronald Reagan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stupid wars go back a long time, but the idea that war is stupid is relatively new. John Mueller explores the modern idea in The Stupidity of War. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When will President Biden withdraw all support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen? Does Joe Biden own the war in Afghanistan if he doesn’t stick to the current timeline for U.S. departure? Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California discusses the Biden foreign policy so far. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fifty years ago this month, a group of anti-war activists broke into the FBI and revealed terrible crimes committed by that agency under the secrecy of COINTELPRO. Patrick Eddington details the history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do judges feel undue influence from libertarian legal scholars? Sheldon Whitehouse may believe that's the case, and he'd like to change the way groups like the Cato Institute are allowed to engage with the judiciary. Ilya Shapiro comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A year after Louisville police killed Breonna Taylor, what's changed? Peter Kraska is a policing researcher at Eastern Kentucky University who worked on the Taylor case. He comments on police reform efforts now underway. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's easy to want to throw the book at someone who's engaged in some egregious conduct, but it's harder to understand what even seemingly minor punishments entail. Author and criminal justice scholar John Pfaff discusses the incentives inherent in the way criminal justice is carried out in America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Trump administration made extensive use of national security justifications for restricting trade. It's time for the law that allows it to go. Inu Manak and Scott Lincicome comment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Should online platforms get blamed for criminal behavior that occurs online, even when police fail to act? Will Duffield comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How governments have opted to distribute COVID-19 vaccines leaves a lot to be desired. And precisely what does the end of this pandemic look like? Comedian Andrew Heaton guest hosts in a conversation with Jeff Singer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last days of the Trump Administration saw an attack on the Capitol and an historic second impeachment for a sitting President. For Republicans who voted to bring that President to trial, what now? Republican Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler offers her thoughts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The domestic politics of global supply chains are full of unfortunate incentives even now, when the stakes are historically high. Scott Lincicome comments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Texans are still dealing with the aftermath of that recent deep freeze. Peter Van Doren breaks down the relevant facts and provides some early economic analysis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America's longest war, Afghanistan, continues. Joe Biden has a unique opportunity to end it once and for all, thanks in part to Trump Administration efforts to shorten U.S. involvement. Doug Bandow and Will Ruger comment.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An amalgam of proposals from Democrats would strictly regulate online speech, and make more costly other forms of public communication on policy issues. Will Duffield comments on the proposal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Supreme Court created and has long supported a tortured reading of federal law that helps public officials escape accountability for violating your rights. That may be changing in a small way. Still, Clark Neily and Jay Schweikert argue that qualified immunity will continue to protect malicious public officials until lawmakers step in to fix it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some in the conservative legal movement view Trump's (and Mitch McConnell's) success at confirming judges as simply not worth the rest of the Trump presidency. Billy Easley, a senior policy advisor at Americans for Prosperity, is one of them. His new Libertarianism.org essay is entitled, “The Myth of Trump’s Judicial Success." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Statistics are typically meant to influence, and influence can be achieved with bad statistics. Tim Harford tries to help you discern truth from fiction in The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do so few defendants get their day in court? Kevin Ring of FAMM discusses The Vanishing Trial. You may also host a screening of the film. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

State budgets didn't suffer the fate that was so widely predicted as COVID-19 began spreading throughout the U.S. Why? Logan Kolas of the Buckeye Institute and Chris Edwards comment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.