Cato Event Podcast

There has been an explosion of partnerships, exchanges, and programs between U.S. institutions of higher education and those in China. While made in the spirit of intellectual and scholarly collaboration, these relationships have proceeded without serious consideration of the practical and moral/ethical issues posed by dealing with authoritarian regimes. This presentation focuses on the case of Wellesley College's relationship with Peking University as it unfolded in light of the persecution and dismissal of Chinese economist and dissident Xia Yeliang. This case illustrates the pressure that authoritarian-controlled universities can exert on universities in a free society to overlook human rights violations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Purchase bookNobody likes to fail, yet failure is a ubiquitous element of our lives. According to Megan McArdle, failing often — and well — is an important source of learning for individuals, organizations, and governments. Although failure is critical in coping with complex environments, our cognitive biases often keep us from drawing the correct lessons and adjusting our behavior. Our psychological aversion to failure can compound its undesirable effects, McArdle argues, and transform failures into catastrophes. Please join us for a discussion of how “failing up” allows us to reinvent ourselves and our institutions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this sequel to Gold: the Once and Future Money, Nathan Lewis describes the theoretical basis of gold-standard monetary systems. Lewis argues that the pre-1913 world gold standard system was perhaps the most successful monetary system the world has ever seen, enabling high levels of economic growth. Descriptions of both Britain’s economic rise under the gold standard and the United States’ rise to economic prominence under gold are also discussed. Lewis offers the technical details necessary to implement and maintain a gold-standard system. Join us for a lively discussion of monetary history and a glance into one possible monetary future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More than three years after the departure of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, a determined insurgency rages against the government led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Violence has claimed thousands of lives. Some question whether the Iraqi government can maintain control of several major cities, including Fallujah, the scene of some of the toughest fighting during the eight-year-long U.S. war in Iraq. Some of Maliki’s critics accuse him of stoking the unrest by refusing to make concessions to minority groups in Iraq, in particular Iraq’s Sunni Arab community. Others say that the prime minister should firmly reassert his authority by going after violent extremism and deterring others from supporting the insurgency. The panelists will consider several questions, including: What explains the continuing violence in Iraq? Can Iraq’s disparate communities unite behind a strong central government? And what role, if any, should the United States play? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A once-in-a-generation supply shock is transforming global energy markets, lowering crude oil and natural gas prices, and quickly making the United States the world's largest producer of oil and gas. But energy politics threatens to short-circuit this American economic boom. Of immediate concern are federal regulations — in particular, discretionary export-licensing systems for natural gas and crude oil — that were implemented during the 1970s, an era of energy scarcity. By restricting exports and subjecting approvals to the whims of politicians, the current licensing systems distort energy prices and deter investment and employment in these promising sectors of the U.S. economy. They also irritate global trading partners, likely violate U.S. trade treaty obligations, and undermine other U.S. policy objectives. Ernest Moniz, President Obama's energy secretary, recently stated that these export restrictions are deserving of "some new analysis and examination in the context of... an energy world that is no longer like the 1970s." Please join us at the Cato Institute for our examination of these issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Purchase BookStumbling Giant: The Threats to China's Future addresses the challenges China will face during the coming decades and why it is unlikely to overtake the United States this century. The book provides an in-depth analysis of the threats to China's continuing rise, offers bold policy prescriptions addressing those challenges, and explains why — without substantial reform — China is unlikely to replace America as the next superpower. Yale nominated the book for the prestigious Samuel Johnson Prize for nonfiction. Timothy Beardson founded, majority-owned, and ran Crosby Financial Holdings, which became the largest independent investment bank in the Far East. He is a permanent resident of Hong Kong. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his latest Cato book, Tim Sandefur addresses one of the most neglected topics in modern American constitutional law, the philosophical foundations of the Constitution. He argues that for that we should look to the “conscience” of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, as Abraham Lincoln did. And if we do, we discover that the Constitution was written not to empower democratic majorities to rule widely, as happens today, but to secure our natural rights to liberty through limited government. In his penetrating analysis of those issues, Sandefur examines the origins of “substantive due process” and “judicial activism and restraint” to argue that only through an engaged judiciary will the promise of the Declaration be realized. Hadley Arkes, one of America’s leading scholars on these issues, will offer comments for what should be an enlightening and timely discussion of a subject of enduring importance. Please join us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Glamour promises to carry us out of quotidian life into a world more beautiful and fulfilling. But what is glamour? A mere daydream distracting us from our true duties and long-term well-being? An illusion created to stimulate commerce in a capitalist economy? How does glamour relate to envy, to art, to self-improvement, to personal charisma? In her new book, Virginia Postrel builds on her path-breaking work in The Substance of Style to show that beauty and luxury are far from the only touchstones of glamour: the glamour of military life, of the church, of exploration and discovery, have been driving forces throughout human history, unleashing a dazzling form of persuasion that operates by rousing aspiration and longing in the individual. Please join us for a sparkling discussion of these ideas with three leading public intellectuals. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are we harming public health in the name of environmental protection? Is the theoretical model that drives the regulation of carcinogens and radiation not only flawed, but fundamentally wrong? For over a half-century, this regulation has been based largely on a linear response to pollutants, often with a threshold of a single molecule or a single photon. Voluminous research now shows this paradigm is often wrong.Rather than being harmed by small doses of many regulated compounds, health is often enhanced by low doses. Two obvious examples of this are sunlight and the entire pharmacotherapeutic model. Calabrese’s research has documented hundreds of compounds for which low doses are beneficial while larger ones are detrimental. His presentation will show how the erroneous regulatory paradigm was established and why it now must be abandoned. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Harford, a Senior columnist for the Financial Times and author of 'The Undercover Economist Strikes Back,' teams up with Alex Tabarrok, Professor of economics at George Mason University. They dive into intriguing economic concepts, contrasting the complexities of macroeconomics with accessible storytelling. Harford discusses the impact of financial crises, the importance of income inequality, and critiques traditional economic models. Their conversation highlights the challenges of public policy shaped by misunderstandings in economic theory and advocates for innovative, evidence-based approaches.