Cato Events Podcast

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Cato Events Podcast episodes

October 07, 2013 The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey into How the World's Poorest People Are Educating Themselves

Purchase BookAfter its release in 2009, The Beautiful Tree drew widespread praise. The book tells the remarkable story of author James Tooley's travels from Africa to China, and of the children, parents, teachers, and others who showed him how the poor are building their own schools and learning to save themselves. Publishers Weekly declared it "a moving account of how poor parents struggle against great odds to provide a rich educational experience to their children." Writing in The Claremont Review of Books, John Blundell called it "a masterpiece."

In conjunction with the release of the book's paperback edition, James Tooley will discuss the extraordinary changes in educating the poor that have occurred since The Beautiful Tree was published, as well as his experiences as a cofounder of both Omega Schools, a chain of low-cost private schools in Ghana, and Empathy Learning Systems, an educational service company that runs a chain of inexpensive private schools in Hyderabad, India.

We hope that you will join us to hear James Tooley discuss what's going right in some of the world's poorest nations and communities. The entrepreneurial spirit, Tooley makes clear, and the love of parents for their children, can be found in every corner of the globe.
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1 hr 26 min
October 03, 2013 Common Core: The Great Debate
What is the Common Core? Supporters assert that it is a high-quality, voluntarily adopted set of national mathematics and language arts standards that will help transform American education by aiming all students at uniform, lofty goals. Opponents argue that adoption of the Core was federally coerced, the standards are of dubious quality, and one size simply cannot fit all. Meanwhile, polling shows that the large majority of Americans know nothing about the standards, despite the fact that they are being implemented in 46 states. We hope you'll join us for a freewheeling debate that promises to be not only highly engaging, but highly informative.
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1 hr 31 min
October 02, 2013 Crisis in Syria: Can U.S. Intervention Solve Anything?
Only a few weeks ago, President Obama seemed set on intervening militarily in Syria. He asked Congress for a vote authorizing the use of force, despite polls showing Americans were overwhelmingly against intervention in Syria. He then made his case in a primetime address. That, too, fell flat. Luckily for Obama, something strange happened leading up to the speech: diplomacy. Assad agreed to give up his chemical weapons. But will this U.S.-Russia accord work? How long before the calls for the United States to “do something” begin again? And did the president respect Congress’s war powers? Cato scholar Christopher Preble has followed developments closely since the Syrian Civil War broke out in 2011. He’ll provide a much needed update on the situation and take your questions.
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55 min
October 02, 2013The WTO and the Uncertain Future of Multilateralism
The World Trade Organization has been a pillar of the global trading system since its inception in 1995, serving an especially important role in the adjudication of trade disputes and, ultimately, helping to subdue protectionism. But the failure of multilateral negotiations to achieve broader and deeper reductions in global trade barriers, while bilateral and regional agreements have flourished, raises important questions about the WTO and its future. Will large agreements that establish new rules in new areas, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, relegate the WTO to insignificance, merely lower its profile, or provide a much-needed jolt by suggesting best practices that will ultimately strengthen the multilateral system?
Additional Resources

Speaker Biographies

Washington Trade Report, Volume XXIX, Number 37, September 30, 2013.

"Saving Multilateralism: Renovating the House of Global Economic Governance for the 21st Century," by Jennifer Hillman, Brussels Forum Paper Series, March 2010.

"An Emerging International Rule of Law? The WTO Dispute Settlement System's Role in its Evolution," by Jennifer Hillman, Ottawa Law Review, Vol. 42, No. 2, 2010-2011.

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1 hr 36 min
October 01, 2013 A SAFE Way Out of State and Local Pension Woes? - Panel 2: Experiences from the States: Successes, Failures, and What Comes Next
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54 min
October 01, 2013 A SAFE Way Out of State and Local Pension Woes? - Panel 1: State and Local Pensions: The Problem and the Scope for a SAFE Solution
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59 min
September 27, 2013 Liberalism and Cronyism: Two Rival Political and Economic Systems

Purchase Book A leading justification for the growth of government is the supposed need to control the power of big business and to spread the benefits of the liberal economic order to the greatest possible number of beneficiaries. However, according to Randall Holcombe and Andrea Castillo, the expansion of government results in a different concentration of power: cronyism, in which some people — typically the wealthy and the politically well-connected — have access to privileges that are denied to the rest of the population. Please join us for a discussion of real-world manifestations of big-government cronyism, ranging from central planning to environmentalism and industrial policy, and an exploration of how they invariably enable small groups of individuals — the cronies — to gain at the expense of everyone else.
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1 hr 25 min
September 20, 2013 The Trans Pacific Partnership: Race to the Finish, or Long Slog Ahead?
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations have just completed their 19th round, and there is talk now that they are nearing the "end game" and a deal might be reached by the end of the year. However, there are reportedly still many unresolved issues and a fair amount of work ahead. Is a 2013 completion date realistic? If not, when will the TPP countries reach agreement? And if they do, what will the U.S. Congress think about the deal? Please join us for a discussion of these and other issues related to the TPP.
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1 hr 26 min
September 19, 2013 America's Longest War
America's Longest War is a new documentary from the Reason Foundation about the federal government's 40-year war on drugs. It chronicles the history of drug prohibition from President Nixon's declaration of war in 1971 through President Obama's broken promises on medical marijuana. After more than $1 trillion taxpayer dollars and thousands of paramilitary raids on American homes and drug arrests each year, the prisons are overflowing with drug offenders.

Is the drug war working? According to the documentary, drug usage rates have not declined and illegal drugs are more available — and cheaper — than ever before. America's Longest War examines how a policy escalated from a relatively small domestic program that focused on treatment to the multi-billion dollar international war it is today.
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42 min
September 19, 2013 America's Way Back: Reclaiming Freedom, Tradition, and Constitution

Purchase bookHow can America find its way back from economic stagnation, fiscal calamity, and national "malaise"? In his new book, American Conservative Union vice chairman Donald J. Devine argues: the same way it has before, through "a restoration of the constitutional synthesis of freedom and tradition" at the heart of the American experiment.

In America's Way Back, Devine makes "the case for 21st century 'fusionism'" — a reinvigoration of the Cold War–era conservative-libertarian alliance that employed "libertarian means for traditionalist ends."

But the politics of the new century have strained that alliance significantly. In the gay marriage and immigration debates, conservatives decry libertarians' rejection of "traditionalist ends," while libertarians point to the Bush years as depressing evidence of conservatives' lack of commitment to "libertarian means."

Have the differences become too vast to bridge, or can libertarian-leaning Republicans like Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Justin Amash breathe new life into post–Cold War fusionism? Join us for what promises to be a lively discussion of these issues.
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1 hr 27 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…