Cato Event Podcast

Throughout our history, Americans have been a highly religious people. Indeed, many of the original colonists came to the New World specifically to escape religious persecution. And though somewhat less devout than we once were, the United States still leads the developed world in religiosity.Today, however, many feel that religious freedom is under serious—perhaps unprecedented—threat. With everything from health-insurance mandates, to the censoring of high school graduation speeches, to punishing vendors who refuse to work gay weddings, religious liberty seems to be increasingly curbed by powerful and intrusive government.What should we do when a law or government action, often not intended to inhibit religious exercise, nevertheless does? How much of a connection between church and state is “too much,” such that it infringes on the rights of nonbelievers? How can we maximize harmony between religious and nonreligious Americans?While these sorts of questions have arisen throughout American history, they may now be more important than ever. In this conference, we will seek to answer them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout our history, Americans have been a highly religious people. Indeed, many of the original colonists came to the New World specifically to escape religious persecution. And though somewhat less devout than we once were, the United States still leads the developed world in religiosity.Today, however, many feel that religious freedom is under serious—perhaps unprecedented—threat. With everything from health-insurance mandates, to the censoring of high school graduation speeches, to punishing vendors who refuse to work gay weddings, religious liberty seems to be increasingly curbed by powerful and intrusive government.What should we do when a law or government action, often not intended to inhibit religious exercise, nevertheless does? How much of a connection between church and state is "too much," such that it infringes on the rights of nonbelievers? How can we maximize harmony between religious and nonreligious Americans?While these sorts of questions have arisen throughout American history, they may now be more important than ever. In this conference, we will seek to answer them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ilya Somin’s Democracy and Political Ignorance has profoundly influenced libertarian thinking about voters and elections. More generally, the 2016 primary season has satisfied few and left the electorate choosing between two highly disliked presidential candidates. The appearance of the second edition of Democracy and Political Ignorance offers a chance to bring its author back to Cato for a broad discussion of his premises and conclusions in light of the 2016 voting. Does the election so far confirm the ideas in Democracy and Political Ignorance? What does the election so far tell us about the possibilities of limited government? Is populism a natural outgrowth, or a denial, of voter ignorance?Please join us to hear views of the 2016 election that go beyond the shallow and the mundane. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A whole brain emulation, or “em,” is a fully functional computational model of a specific human brain. As such, it thinks and feels much like the copied human mind would. Economist Robin Hanson predicts that the age of em is not that far off, and that copied human minds may soon be more common than biological ones. That’s a bold prediction, to be sure. Hanson’s new book, The Age of Em, explores the economic, social, and policy questions that we may face in this possible future. It also touches on the science of forecasting: What can we know about the future, using what tools, and with what degree of reliability? Even those who find farfetched his claims about brain emulation will do well to consider how sure they are of their own predictions of the future, and on what foundations they rest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Evidence from academic institutions and international organizations shows dramatic improvements in human well-being. These improvements are especially striking in the developing world.Unfortunately, there is often a wide gap between the reality and public perception, including that of many policymakers, scholars in unrelated fields, and intelligent lay persons. To make matters worse, the media emphasizes bad news, while ignoring many positive long-term trends.To help correct popular misperceptions regarding the actual state of humanity, Cato created the HumanProgress project. Through the presentation of empirical data that focuses on long-term developments, the goal of the project is to provide a useful resource for legislative staff, scholars, journalists, students, and the general public. To learn more and to meet the team behind this remarkable venture, please join us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives is pleased to announce another installment of its “live” edition of EconTalk. Join Russ Roberts as he interviews David Beckworth, the author of Boom and Bust Banking: The Causes and Cures of the Great Recession and of the widely read Market Monetarist blog, Macro and Other Market Musings, on the part that the Federal Reserve and other central banks played (and the part they ought to have played) in the Great Recession. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shatz and Shapiro are co-authors of the forthcoming, Foundations of the Islamic State: Management, Money, and Terror in Iraq, 2005-2010 (RAND).Please join us for a discussion by two experts on one of the most important and consequential issues the United States faces today. In 2014, a militant group calling itself the Islamic State, or ISIL, but more generally known as ISIS, attracted widespread attention with several military victories in Iraq and Syria — particularly the takeover of Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul. Cries of alarm escalated substantially a few months later after ISIS performed and webcast several beheadings of defenseless Western hostages. Unlike other groups designated as terrorist organizations, ISIS actually seeks to hold and govern — and then expand its control over — territory. Moreover, unlike the more wary al-Qaeda central, ISIS welcomes fighters from abroad. Some fear the potential return of people with Western passports who have joined it, as well as potential homegrown terrorists who might be inspired by ISIS’ propaganda or example.ISIS obtains finances by selling oil and antiquities and by extorting, or taxing, people under its control. Key to its success or failure is whether it will be able to fund itself through such activities and whether its social and economic viability can be undermined. In this panel, Howard Shatz and Jacob Shapiro will assess the degree to which the Islamic State is a viable economic and social entity, and the degree to which it is vulnerable. Please join us for what will be a highly informative event about a situation of significant importance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In discussions with his advisers, President Obama has been heard to worry about "leaving a loaded weapon lying around" for future presidents, Newsweek reported just before the 2012 election, in an article titled "Obama's Executive Power Grab. Yet in his second term, boasting that "I've got a pen and a phone," he's increasingly governed by unilateral directive, in areas ranging from education policy, immigration, and environmental regulation at home to military action abroad — ensuring that his successor will inherit a presidency with dangerously expansive powers.Likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has said she'll go "as far as I can, even beyond President Obama" unilaterally on immigration and use executive action to stop corporations from headquartering abroad to avoid taxes. "I won't refuse them," Republican frontrunner Donald Trump says of executive orders, "I will do a lot of right things."Is the expansion of unilateral executive power the "right thing" for our system of government or a "loaded weapon" that threatens the constitutional separation of powers? Join us for a lively presentation as we explore the recent relationship between the executive and congressional branches. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three economists with new books discuss how to revive economic growth. Mark Skousen has long advocated a new measure of the economy called Gross Output (GO) as a more comprehensive measure of the economy than GDP, a valuable tool in analyzing the business cycle, and a better picture of what drives the economy, and now the federal government has begun publishing that statistic. Steve Forbes calls for patient-centered health care, a flat tax, and sound money as the keys to reform. George Gilder proposes a completely new framework for understanding economic growth. Books will be available for purchase. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Entrepreneurship and innovation are key drivers of economic growth. For decades economic dynamism and creative destruction powered U.S. economic growth. Now, however, there is evidence that American innovation is declining. The ratio of new firms to all firms has declined from 15 percent in 1978 to 8 percent in 2011, and since 2008 the number of business failures has exceeded new business starts. Prominent economists have linked declining entrepreneurship to slower growth rates, and have argued that unless the trend in innovation reverses, the economy might continue to stagnate.Every small business requires access to capital in order to grow. Congress, concerned about these trends in entrepreneurship, passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act in 2012 with the intent to make small business funding easier. In her new paper, "A Walk through the JOBS Act of 2012," the Cato Institute's Thaya Brook Knight provides a substantive yet easy-to-follow analysis of the law and associated agency rulemaking.Join us as Knight describes how the Act changed existing securities laws and regulation, and explains what these changes mean for small business capital access. She'll also recommend ways for policymakers to continue to improve the funding climate for small business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.