Cato Podcast
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Cato Podcast
Each week on Cato Podcast, leading scholars and policymakers from the Cato Institute delve into the big ideas shaping our world: individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Whether unpacking current events, debating civil liberties, exploring technological innovation, or tracing...
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4815 epizod
Out to Lunch: California’s $20 Fast-Food Wage
California’s $20 fast-food minimum wage cut employment by roughly 18,000 jobs and pushed up restaurant prices. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks to UC San Dieg...
Kicking the Can to Xi's September Visit
The US-China summit produced few deliverables and no breakthroughs on Taiwan, Iran, or trade. Cato's Clark Packard and Evan Sankey break down what was...
The Immigration Crackdown You’re Not Hearing About
Asylum entries are down 99.9%. Student visas, family visas, and H-1B applications have all cratered. Ryan Bourne is joined by Cato's David Bier to exa...
Washington's Tariff Whack-a-Mole
Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 sat dormant for 50 years for good reason. Cato's Clark Packard and Alfredo Carrillo Obregon break down why courts...
The Growing Farm Subsidy Boondoggle
Federal farm subsidies have kept growing from occasional disaster relief into a sprawling system of commodity supports, crop insurance, sugar protecti...
The Cure for the WHO
The United States has left the World Health Organization, but infectious diseases remain one of the clearest cases for cross-border cooperation. Cato’...
Subsidize a Diagnosis, Get More Diagnoses
Medicaid spending on autism therapy jumped from $300 million to $2 billion in just eight states over seven years. Cato's Ryan Bourne, Jeff Singer, and...
How to Fix Washington's Affordability Crisis
Consumer prices are up 28% in six years and inflation is accelerating again. Cato's Ryan Bourne, Jai Kedia, Colin Grabow, and Stephen Slivinski unpack...
Who Actually Pays Federal Taxes?
The top 10% pays 60% of all federal taxes, the bottom 20% pays effectively nothing, and last year's tax cuts added new complexity. Cato's Chris Edward...
Orbán's Hungary: Model or Cautionary Tale?
Vice President JD Vance traveled to Hungary this week to campaign for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, hailing him as a defender of Western civilization....
Birthright Citizenship on Trial
Trump's executive order challenges 150 years of birthright citizenship law, hinging on four words in the 14th Amendment. The Cato Institute's Tommy Be...
The Great Political Realignment
Steve Davies’s new book, The Great Realignment, argues that the key political divide of the past century — markets versus state control — is being dis...
Congressional Feuding and Airport Chaos
TSA agents are staying home; airport lines are hours long, and Congress still cannot agree on a DHS funding bill. The Cato Institute's Pat Eddington a...
The Flaws of Rent Ceilings
Massachusetts is weighing a ballot initiative that would cap rent increases at the rate of inflation with no vacancy decontrol, one of the most string...
Surf, Speech, and Government Cartels
In Newport Beach and along California's state beaches, government-created monopolies have effectively banned independent surf instructors from earning...
Talkin’ ’Bout My Generation (Z)
Cato’s new media fellow, Rikki Schlott, joins Ryan Bourne to talk Gen Z: how social media shaped them, why online life has made young people both more...
Who's Watching the $170 Billion?
A 30-day DHS shutdown hasn't slowed ICE or Border Patrol, because nearly $170 billion in One Big Beautiful Bill funding keeps them running with minima...
Anthropic, Albany, and the AI Backlash
AI policy discussions increasingly hinge on control: who sets the terms for how AI can be used, what it can say, and who gets access. Cato's Ryan Bour...
Unlawful Voting Is a Tiny Problem
The push for new federal databases and legislation like the SAVE Act is often justified as necessary to stop widespread unlawful voting. But according...
War Powers and the Road to Iran
As the White House signals openness to escalation and murky and conflicting objectives, uncertainty clouds both the legal basis and strategic endgame...
Rhetoric vs. Reality in the State of the Union
President Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday was a full-throated victory lap: America is supposedly “bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever....
Who Decides When America Goes to War?
Cato’s Katherine Thompson sits down with Matt Duss of the Center for International Policy to examine the persistent conflict between Congress and the...
No Tax on Tips, New Tax on Billionaires?
Ryan Bourne sits down with Cato’s Adam Michel to unpack what the 2026 tax year will bring, including new provisions commonly described as “no tax on t...
Ed Crane and the Ideas That Changed Washington — and the World
From organizing pioneering conferences in China and the Soviet Union to insisting on rigorous scholarship and principled advocacy, Ed Crane brought cl...
Raging Against Modernity
A new ideology is gaining influence on the American right: postliberalism. In this episode, Cato Institute economist Ryan Bourne speaks with Phil Magn...
Why Globalization Wins on the Field
Cato’s Scott Lincicome sits down with Washington Post editorial writer Dominic Pino to explore what professional sports reveal about trade, immigratio...
Protest, Carry, Die: Rights in Conflict
As debates over gun rights intensify, recent shootings in Minnesota reveal how quickly constitutional protections can unravel in practice. Cato's Clar...
Reforming the Federal Reserve, Brick by Brick
For more than a century, the Federal Reserve has accumulated responsibilities far beyond monetary policy, from bank regulation to payments and emergen...
Why Propping Up Maduro’s Allies Won’t Save Venezuela
After more than two decades of socialist rule, Venezuela faces a rare opportunity for democratic transition following Maduro’s removal. Ian Vásquez an...
History Makes Clear: School Choice Is Necessary in a Diverse Society
Cato’s Neal McCluskey is joined by Cheryl Fields-Smith, Matthew Lee, and Ron Matus to discuss the new book Fighting for the Freedom to Learn and the c...
Iran on the Brink: Another Middle East War in the Making?
With aircraft carriers moving into position and calls for “new leadership” in Tehran growing louder, the risk of U.S. military action remains high des...
Fallout From the Minnesota Fraud Scandal
Cato's David Bier and Chris Edwards discuss the welfare fraud scandals in Minnesota, including the $250 million Feeding Our Future scam, to explain ho...
Free Markets for Electricity
As data centers begin demanding power at the scale of entire cities, the electricity system is running headlong into regulatory barriers built for a d...
When Presidents Decide to Go to War Alone: Venezuela Edition
The arrest of Nicolás Maduro raises hard questions about presidential power, congressional authority, and the legal boundaries of military force. Cato...
Debanked for Dissent: How Putin’s Reach Extends Abroad
A Russian dissident living in exile finds her US bank accounts closed after being labeled an extremist by the Kremlin. Nicholas Anthony interviews Ann...
Banking on Moral Hazard: The Push for $10 Million Deposit Insurance
A plan to massively expand FDIC insurance is gaining traction in Washington, despite little evidence that customers or community banks are asking for...
Australia’s Social Media Ban and the Illusion of Online Safety
From Australia’s social media ban to U.S. and UK age-verification laws, governments are increasingly treating online access as something to be license...
How Fuel Economy Rules Made Cars Bigger, Pricier, and Less Safe
Intended to save fuel and protect consumers, CAFE standards have instead penalized efficient small cars, subsidized trucks and SUVs, and created a de...
Social Security’s Popularity Problem
A new Cato survey reveals that Americans overwhelmingly support Social Security while fundamentally misunderstanding its structure, finances, and long...
The Global Freedom Slump
Cato's Ian Vásquez and the Fraser Institute's Matt Mitchell walk through the 2025 edition of the Human Freedom Index, documenting a worldwide decline...