Cato Events Podcast

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Cato Events Podcast episodes

February 16, 2016 From "No Child" to "Every Student": How Big a Change?
The No Child Left Behind Act, with its rules about everything from teacher qualifications to school interventions, has finally been replaced. What took so long? Finally getting the left and right to agree that Washington had gone too far. But is the Every Student Succeeds Act, NCLB’s replacement, really designed to withdraw Washington from the nation’s classrooms? And is there danger that the U.S. Department of Education will write regulations maintaining federal power no matter what the statute’s intent? We hope you’ll join us for a crucial discussion about the newest federal education law.
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1 hr 31 min
February 11, 2016 Derivatives: Weapons of Mass Destruction or Tools of Stability?
Derivatives have been called “weapons of mass destruction” and have been accused of not only magnifying but also causing the recent financial crisis. In the wake of the crisis, many called for increased regulation of these products, and Dodd-Frank delivered. But what are derivatives? Do they have a beneficial role in our economy? Do they deepen financial markets and contribute to stability or are they disruptive? And are Dodd-Frank’s provisions likely to be effective? What do derivatives have to do with beer? We will address these and related issues as we delve into derivatives and their regulation. We hope you will join us.
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1 hr 26 min
February 09, 2016 Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st-Century America
In 1792 James Madison, the principal author of the Constitution, wrote that “Government is instituted to protect property of every sort.” But from the 20th century on the Supreme Court has upheld one inroad after another on the property rights of Americans, culminating in the notorious Kelo decision of 2005, which upheld the city of New London, Connecticut’s transfer of Suzette Kelo’s home to a private developer. That prompted Cato to publish, six months later, Timothy Sandefur’s Cornerstone of Liberty, a detailed account of the demise of property rights in America. Perhaps the Court was listening, because since then it has issued a number of rulings that give hope that the tide may be turning. At least, we have now a full update of Tim’s first book, coauthored this time with his wife Christina, which throws the gauntlet down again before the Court. Please join us for what should be a spirited discussion of the state of property rights in America today.
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1 hr 28 min
February 08, 2016 The Promise and Pitfalls of Economic Sanctions
Economic sanctions have become a key component of the U.S. response to any crisis. Indeed, the Obama administration has imposed sanctions on countries as diverse as Russia, Iran, and Egypt, drawing on the strength and global reach of the U.S. financial system to coerce these states. There is no denying that sanctions can be powerful tools of statecraft. Yet the evidence also suggests a more complicated picture.Not only are sanctions often ineffective, they can also carry significant costs for U.S. businesses. In the most recent case—those levied against Russia for its aggression in Ukraine—it is unclear whether sanctions have produced any political change. At the same time, other nations are learning from the American example, experimenting with their own sanctions. Join us for an in-depth discussion of the future of economic coercion, the limitations of sanctions, and the ways in which policymakers can mitigate them.
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43 min
February 04, 2016 Air Traffic Control: Bipartisan Reform in 2016?
With the Federal Aviation Administration’s authorization expiring in March, aviation experts are urging Congress to overhaul our air traffic control (ATC) system. The system suffers from uncertain funding, is bogged down by bureaucracy, and may not be able to meet growing demands for air travel.Other nations have transformed their ATC systems, creating more entrepreneurial structures. Canadian reforms, in particular, have caught the eye of U.S. policymakers. That nation privatized its ATC as a self-supporting nonprofit corporation.Join our panel of experts to discuss the advantages of restructuring America’s air traffic control system.
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39 min
January 29, 2016 The Libertarian State of the Union
In his final State of the Union address, President Obama hinted at plans for his last year in office, which included efforts to further regulate the economy as a means of addressing policy issues like climate change and income inequality, and paid only scant attention to the Constitution where executive power is concerned. What does the president’s agenda mean for free markets and personal freedom? What can liberty-minded policymakers do to address pressing issues while still working to reduce the size and scope of government?Please join us as Cato policy experts discuss the current state of the union with respect to the courts, criminal justice reform, immigration, and taxation.
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52 min
January 27, 2016 What Are the Rights of the Dying?
Five U.S. states either permit aid in dying or are poised to do so shortly. Several others are considering legislation and/or court judgments that may find in favor of it in various ways. Yet the ethical questions surrounding aid in dying run deep, as even its advocates must admit: Is the choice to hasten a terminally ill patient’s death ever an ethical one? If so, what legal safeguards may be necessary? How do proponents answer charges that aid in dying will result in elder abuse, the degradation of the value of life, and the risk of a slippery slope toward premeditated killing?
As with those of many other political persuasions, libertarians may be divided on this issue. Yet it remains important to us, as to all others. Serious questions about individual autonomy and self-ownership are involved here no matter which side is in the right.
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1 hr 30 min
January 20, 2016 GMOs and the Future of the Global Food Supply and Medical Innovations
For thousands of years, farmers used selective breeding to produce more plentiful harvests and increase the usefulness of domesticated animals. Today, genetic engineering allows businesses to do the same—but more cheaply, precisely and speedily. Unbeknownst to most people, the use of genetically modified organisms is not limited to agriculture. GMO technology is all around us, helping to produce life-enhancing products, such as synthetic insulin, and life-saving medicines, such as cancer-fighting Avastin. Still, controversy surrounding GMOs persists. Join us to hear our two distinguished speakers discuss the risks and benefits associated with GMO science.
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1 hr 27 min
January 13, 2016 Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World
The benefits from international trade have been huge. However, because of a deep flaw in global markets for natural resources like oil, consumers are forced to enrich repressive governments and armed groups overseas when paying at the pump, in stores, and online.In his book, Blood Oil, Leif Wenar shows how an antiquated, anti-market rule at the foundations of global trade can be replaced by a rule of law that will get consumers out of business with autocrats, militias, and extremists abroad. Princeton’s Angus Deaton, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Economics, calls Blood Oil “the indispensable guide, combining politics, economics, and ethics to tell us just how and why we are all involved, and what we ought to do to make the world a better place.” Harvard’s Steven Pinker praised it as “a fantastically stimulating read: analytic, informative, rationally optimistic, and written with erudition and panache.”Wenar, a professor at the King’s College London School of Law, has written a timely and provocative book. Please join us for a full discussion of his findings, and their policy implications.
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1 hr 27 min
January 07, 2016 The Assassin’s Veto
On the morning of January 7, 2015, Cherif and Said Kouachi, two brothers deeply offended by satirical drawings of the Muslim prophet Mohammad published in the French weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, exacted their own punishment for perceived blasphemy. They forced their way into a staff meeting in the newspaper’s offices and massacred 12 people. The phenomenon of killing or threatening to kill those who insult you or your way of life has come to be known as the assassin’s veto.Where should the law come down on this? Should it defend free expression at all costs no matter how inflammatory or who is offended? Or should it permit the state’s coercive power to silence those who trade in insult or invective? This conflict poses a fundamental question: how much expression must a free society tolerate?European nations have often restricted “extreme speech” while the United States has protected speech short of immediate incitement to violence. Yet Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has urged his fellow jurists to learn from the laws of other nations. Should the United States sustain its broad protections for speech or find a better, more European balance between freedom and other values?
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1 hr 30 min

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The Cato Events Podcast brings you live recordings from the Cato Institute's events, where leading scholars, policymakers, journalists, and experts come together each week to discuss the ideas and…