Unintended Consequences

By Cato Institute

Unintended Consequences is the podcast of Regulation magazine, produced by the Cato Institute. Hosted by Peter Van Doren and Paul Matzko, the show explores how government interventions can ha... more

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FAQs about Unintended Consequences:

How many episodes does Unintended Consequences have?

The podcast currently has 15 episodes available.

Unintended Consequences episodes:

August 14, 2025 Inequality: American Buy, Borrow, and Die vs. Scandinavian Wage Compression
Wealthy Americans are able to avoid taxes through an accounting strategy known as “buy, borrow, and die.” It’s why Donald Trump is able to pay as little as $0 in federal income taxes some years. But, as Peter and Paul discuss, it turns out that the strategy might work differently than researchers used to think.

Then, in the second half of the show, they discuss a surprising finding about income equality in Scandanavia, which isn’t a product of any of popular progressive redistribution policies like welfare benefits or parental leave. Rather, it’s because of significant wage compression and reduced income for highly educated workers.
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36min
July 11, 2025 Is Public Funding Actually Bad for Public Media?
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which subsidizes National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, received half a billion dollars from the federal government each year. While budget battles over the amount of funding are routine, there are more fundamental questions at stake. Join Peter Van Doren and Paul Matzko as they dig into the surprising, partisan history of the origins of public media and the unintended consequences of government subsidies.

In conjunction with Regulation Magazine Summer 2025 edition.
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32min
June 12, 2025 Is YouTube Good or Bad? The Perils and Promise of ‘Free’ Information
Every minute, over 500 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube. Some of those videos likely infringe on existing intellectual property rights. In his Regulation cover article, law professor Jonathan Barnett argues that protections for intellectual property, including on platforms like YouTube, have become too weakened. That has resulted in a massive redistribution of wealth from IP holders to online platforms and users. Yet by lowering the functional costs of sharing ideas and data, the internet has generated an explosion in creativity, which is ostensibly the purpose of granting IP rights in the first place. Join Peter and Paul as they discuss whether there’s an optimal degree of strictness for intellectual property rights.

In conjunction with Regulation Magazine Spring 2025 edition.
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32min
May 08, 2025 PM2.5 and Decentralizing Pollution Standards
One of the hottest debated topics in environmental pollution policy is PM2.5, particulate matter that is so small it can bypass your respiratory system’s filters and enter your bloodstream. Everyone agrees that it’s a potential problem, but Paul and Peter discuss why a single national standard for PM2.5 might be an expensive mistake that actually hurts public health by misallocating attention and resources.

In conjunction with Regulation Magazine Spring 2025 edition.
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28min
April 17, 2025 Trade Policy as an Act of Self-Immolation
On April 2, 2025, President Trump announced the largest tariffs in more than a century, sparking a stockmarket crash and heightening fears of a potential recession. It shouldn’t be a surprise for our listeners; one of our episodes last year covered the sweeping tariffs then being proposed by candidate Trump. But now that the tariffs are actually here, tune in as Paul and Peter discuss the likely negative effects for the US economy and American consumers. Then stick around for the second half of the episode for an update on the status of the TikTok ban.
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28min
March 13, 2025 Congestion Pricing and VMT Taxes
New York City’s congestion pricing policy is meant to reduce traffic in Manhattan and to raise money for public transit. But it’s attracted the ire of many, including President Donald Trump. Join Paul Matzko and Peter Van Doren as they discuss what congestion pricing is, why it’s so controversial, and why it’s generally a good idea to more accurately price the use of roads.
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28min
February 13, 2025 Who Builds the Building Code?
Should your home have a sprinkler system installed? Well, the organization likely responsible for your local building code thinks so. But mandating sprinklers in every single family home would be expensive, and this wouldn’t be the first time that regulators failed to sufficiently account for costs and tradeoffs. Join Paul Matzko and Peter Van Doren for a closer look at an organization you’ve never heard of, the International Code Council, which has significant influence on what gets built in America today.
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27min
January 15, 2025 Jimmy Carter, the Great Deregulator
Obituaries for the late President Jimmy Carter have been filled with profuse praise for his post-presidential philanthropic work. But Carter wasn't just good once he left office; he was one of the most underrated presidents in US history. As Paul and Peter discuss, his administration enacted policies that deregulated a swath of industries from trucking to broadcasting, ultimately laying the foundation for the next several decades of American prosperity.
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27min
October 14, 2024 A Politics of Nostalgia: Economic Policy Under Biden and Trump
There is substantial overlap between the Biden and Trump administrations on economic policy. Both presidents have favored protectionist industrial policy and higher import tariffs. Yet these policies would not only fail to return America to the economy of the early 20th century; they would harm most ordinary American workers and consumers in the attempt. In this episode, Peter and Paul discuss the incredible cost of Trump’s proposed tariff increases, the retrograde nature of Biden’s approach to the steel industry, and a surprising result from the research on universal basic income.
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58min
August 12, 2024 Regulatory Expectations Get a Reality Check: Boeing, Chevron, and Antitrust
Theory is elegant, but even the most well-designed and well-intentioned theory of regulation may not survive the acid test of reality. First, Paul and Peter discuss the dilemma faced by federal regulators trying to address Boeing’s safety record and the risk that (in)action might push more passengers to drive instead. Then Peter offers a counterintuitive take on the Supreme Court ending Chevron deference, deflating some of the hot air from the decision’s most ardent supporters and critics. Finally, they are joined by Professor Thomas Hazlett to dig deeper into the surprising outcomes from the T-Mobile – Sprint megamerger in 2020.
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1h 2min

FAQs about Unintended Consequences:

How many episodes does Unintended Consequences have?

The podcast currently has 15 episodes available.

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