Cato Event Podcast

It is 2008. Research suggests the federal Medicare program spends as much as $100 billion per year on medical care that makes seniors no healthier or happier. Its payment system continues to reward low-quality and even harmful medical care. The trustees of the Medicare program have issued yet another annual report containing dire warnings about Medicare's financial sustainability, including an unfunded liability of $86 trillion. The picture is far worse than it was when politicians were developing fundamental Medicare reforms 10 years ago. Yet politicians today seem uninterested. The president has proposed reforms that would barely slow the program's growing dependence on general revenues-a proposal that Congress has largely ignored. Leading presidential candidates advocate tweaks-such as reducing payments for private plans and prescription drugs, or tying payments to quality measures-rather than fundamental reform. Come hear leading analysts discuss whether the case for Medicare reform is any less powerful now than in the past. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Starting in the 1970s, conservatives learned that electoral victory did not easily convert into a reversal of important liberal accomplishments, especially in the law. As a result, conservatives' mobilizing efforts increasingly turned to law schools, professional networks, public interest groups, and the judiciary—areas traditionally controlled by liberals. Drawing from previously unavailable internal documents, as well as interviews with key figures, The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement examines this sometimes fitful, and still only partially successful, conservative (and libertarian) challenge to liberal domination of the law. Steven Teles explores how this mobilization was shaped by the legal profession and the difficulties in matching strategic opportunities with effective organizational responses. He explains how foundations and other groups promoting conservative ideas built a network designed to dislodge legal liberalism from American elite institutions. And he portrays the reality, not of a grand strategy masterfully pursued, but of individuals and political entrepreneurs learning from trial and error. The book provides an unprecedented look at the inner life of one of the most striking developments in American public affairs over the last several decades. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following the Rose Revolution of 2003, the former Soviet Republic of Georgia began far-reaching reforms in governance and economic policy that are turning the country into a post-socialist success story. Georgia now ranks 44th out of 141 countries on the Economic Freedom of the World index, is cited by the World Bank as one of the world's leading reformers, and is sustaining economic growth of more than 9 percent per year. Kakha Bendukidze, one of Georgia's key reformers, will explain how his country is rapidly modernizing and will share his vision for continued high growth in a sometimes hostile neighborhood. Andrei Illarionov will assess Georgia's progress and highlight its remaining challenges in consolidating democratic capitalism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Taxation was central to the evolution of government in colonial America, and complaints about taxation led directly to the Revolution in 1776. Taxation in Colonial America provides a definitive history of taxation in the colonies from Jamestown to the Revolution. In almost 1,000 pages, Rabushka’s book covers an array of fascinating subjects such as the monetary systems of the colonies, British governance and politics, tax evasion and tax revolts, the development of colonial legislatures, and differences in tax systems between the colonies. The level of interesting detail about both tax and nontax subjects in this book is astounding. This forum will be a treat for anyone interested in taxation, American history, or the development of English and American political structures. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Expanding on their widely discussed article on "libertarian paternalism," Professors Sunstein and Thaler argue that people often make bad choices on diet, retirement savings, health insurance, and contributing to climate change. In their new book they examine how human beings make decisions. Recent scientific research shows that people are susceptible to cognitive biases and blunders. Because we are human, we are fallible, and because we are fallible, we can use all the help we can get. Sunstein and Thaler argue that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society. Using colorful examples from the most important aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how thoughtful "choice architecture" can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice. Will Wilkinson and Terrence Chorvat will raise questions about the proper place of "choice architecture" in a free society and the plausibility of "libertarian paternalism." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.