Cato Events Podcast

By Cato InstituteNews Government News Commentary Politics

Cato Events Podcast episodes

June 05, 2019 The Imagery of Freedom
Using eagles and flags to rainbows and abstract art, many people have expressed ideas about freedom in art. Are there commonalities among these representations? Do these representations reflect competing values? When do images make a stronger impression than words? What makes some images clichés and some unique and attention-getting successes? Join us to hear a discussion of these questions and more.
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58 min
June 04, 2019Keeping Up with the Jones Act
The Jones Act is back in the news, with legislation introduced this year to repeal the law and the White House said to be considering a limited waiver of the law for the transport of liquefied natural gas. It’s about time. For nearly 100 years, the Jones Act has served as a burden on the U.S. economy and has raised transportation costs, damaged the environment, and even harmed U.S. exports. In the course of doing so, it has also manifestly failed to achieve its stated policy goals, with U.S. shipbuilding and the Jones Act fleet itself in a decades-long decline. Questions also abound about the law’s contribution to national security, as illustrated by the shortage of merchant mariners to crew the government-owned vessels in times of war and the Navy unable to afford ships from vastly uncompetitive U.S. shipyards to meet its sealift needs.
Learn more about the Jones Act
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24 min
June 03, 2019 When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice
When is it appropriate to resist the agents of the state? For many, the answer may be (all too) easy: never. But the United States itself was founded on one such act of resistance, and libertarians have always been deeply skeptical that the agents of the state enjoy any special status in moral philosophy. May an individual legitimately resist state agents? In what cases is such resistance allowed? What methods may be used, and to what ends? Philosopher Jason Brennan argues that sometimes, individuals have not only a right to resist unjust state actions but even an obligation to do so.
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1 hr 30 min
May 30, 2019 Free Trade and Prosperity: How Openness Helps Developing Countries Grow Richer and Combat Poverty
Free trade provides enormous benefits to developing countries. Arvind Panagariya will describe its impressive record in promoting growth and reducing poverty at a time when some policymakers in rich and poor countries are turning toward protectionism. He will explain how openness was key to the economic success of countries like South Korea and Taiwan and will refute claims that industrial policy, infant industry protection, or measures that erected barriers to trade have worked better than free trade itself. Anne Krueger will comment on Panagariya’s full-scale defense of free trade and warn about threats to the liberal, global trade regime.
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1 hr 22 min
May 29, 2019 Why Is College So Pricey? Theories Compete!
Depending on the type of institution, inflation-adjusted college prices have as much as tripled over the past 30 years. This cost increase has launched vociferous arguments about its underlying causes. Perhaps no theories loom larger than that cuts in direct state funding have forced schools to raise revenue from their students or that federal student aid has enabled colleges to inflate their prices no matter what is happening with their other funding streams. Join a panel of experts as they debate which theory is right, which is wrong, whether even more important factors are at work, and what to do about it all.
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1 hr 35 min
May 23, 2019 The Wealth Explosion: The Nature and Origins of Modernity
How did the modern dynamic economy, filled with wealth and opportunity, come about?In his new book, The Wealth Explosion: The Nature and Origins of Modernity, Stephen Davies examines the surprising, fundamental, and continuing processes of innovation and transformation that have produced the world we live in today.Exploring the academic literature and competing theories, he seeks to answer three questions of fundamental importance to any economist or historian: How and why is the world different today than that faced by our ancestors? What explains why this transformation began in northwestern Europe about 240 years ago? And, given this, can the modern dynamic economy endure?
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1 hr 31 min
May 22, 2019 “I Am Offended”: Art & Free Expression
Should art offend? Does it matter if people are offended? Should offensive art be displayed? Should it be censored? Who decides what is offensive or appropriate? Join us to hear a discussion of these questions and more.
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1 hr 17 min
May 09, 2019 Cyber Warfare, Coercion, and Restraint
International security in the 21st century is increasingly characterized by the use of cyber operations. Concern over this still-developing domain of competition has led to inflated assessments of its dangers and greater support for a more aggressive U.S. posture on cyber security and cyber warfare. How do great powers like the United States, Russia, and China employ cyber capabilities? What threats does the United States currently face in this realm, and what is the most effective method of defense? What are the vulnerabilities of complacency, and, conversely, the risks of escalation?
Join us to discuss these issues and more with experts in the field.
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1 hr 23 min
May 07, 2019 Punishment without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal
At any given time, the United States holds almost two million people in prison for felony convictions. Often overlooked, however, are more than 11 million people who cycle in and out of American jails every year for misdemeanor offenses.
Despite composing the largest part of our criminal system, misdemeanors don’t usually garner the same policy attention as more overtly draconian features of the system — such as decades-long mandatory minimum prison sentences — because they are viewed as “minor offenses.” However, the overall punitive effect of misdemeanors, particularly on poor people and people of color, far exceeds what should be imposed for supposedly minor crimes.
In her recent book, Punishment without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal, Professor Alexandra Natapoff explains how our police, courts, and jails create a machinery of injustice that doles out unfair punishments and extracts wealth from those who can least afford it. She writes that the American criminal system “moonlight[s] as a regressive tax system and anti-welfare machine” that criminalizes the impoverished and further adds to their burdens. Natapoff’s research shows that the American petty crimes enforcement apparatus undermines the most important functions of criminal law by corroding the constitutional processes meant to provide justice to all.
Join us Tuesday, May 7, as Professor Natapoff discusses her important and revealing book with the Cato Institute’s Jonathan Blanks.
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1 hr 30 min
April 30, 2019 Unnatural Disaster: Assessing the Jones Act's Impact on Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico's recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria has reinvigorated debate about a relatively unknown law that has hampered its recovery efforts and bogged down its economy. Since 1920, maritime commerce between Puerto Rico and the rest of the United States has been governed by the Jones Act, a law that mandates that vessels transporting goods domestically be U.S.-crewed, U.S.-flagged, U.S.-owned, and U.S.-built. While defenders of the law have argued that the Jones Act provides reliable shipping services from the mainland to Puerto Rico, critics have pointed out that such restrictions significantly raise the cost of domestic imports, placing an added burden on the already economically struggling island. In addition, the law has also been accused of complicating efforts to transition the island's power generation away from its current heavy reliance on oil and coal.
At this event, panelists will assess the law's impact on Puerto Rico, highlighting the findings of two recent reports that evaluate the law's economic cost, and will discuss the implications of Puerto Rico's recent application for a temporary Jones Act waiver to allow liquefied natural gas to be imported aboard foreign-flagged ships.
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1 hr 21 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…