Cato Event Podcast

Trade, tariffs, and America’s role in the global economy have taken center stage in the public policy debate during the first year of Donald Trump’s tumultuous presidency. That’s not surprising to economic historian and Dartmouth economics professor Douglas A. Irwin, whose latest treatise on the subject documents in exquisite detail how “the Tariff” has sparked passionate political, economic, and constitutional debate and has been a source of bitter political conflict from the Founding of the Republic to the present. Between 1787 and the Civil War, the main purpose of the tariff was to raise revenues for the operations of a modest federal government, which had few other sources of revenue. Although arguments for using the tariff to protect domestic industry prevailed on occasion during this era, it wasn’t until after the Civil War that bald protectionism became the tariff’s primary motive. In the early 1930s, as the disastrous effects of the Tariff Act of 1930 (i.e., “Smoot-Hawley” or “the Hawley-Smoot Tariff,” as Irwin calls it) were rippling across the globe, the tariff was repurposed, again, for the nobler objective of inducing governments to agree to reciprocal reductions in their border protectionism. According to Irwin’s thesis, from the 1934 Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act to the founding of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1947, through the multiple GATT rounds culminating in the founding of the World Trade Organization in 1995, and through the Obama presidency, reciprocal trade liberalization was the main purpose of the tariff. Will Congress acquiesce in a new purpose for the tariff or will it assert its authority against a new president who considers protectionism a tool to make America great again? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For just one week every year, roughly 70,000 people from around the world come together in the Nevada desert to create Black Rock City, home to Burning Man, billed by its organizers as an “annual experiment in temporary community dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance.”Because cash exchanges and the barter system are largely banned in Black Rock City (Burning Man instead relies on something called the “gift economy”), Burning Man is often seen as an attack on conventional libertarian principles.However, as a voluntary community driven by freedom of association, self-governance, nonviolent dispute mediation, and emergent order, Burning Man is in many ways a quintessential example of the libertopian ideal.On Wednesday, January 24th, please join the Cato Institute for a robust conversation about what libertarians can learn from Burning Man — and how these lessons can be applied to policy and philosophy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Public corruption is the silent killer of our economy. We’ve spawned the thickest network of patronage and influence ever seen in any country, a crony capitalism in which business partners with government and transfers wealth from the poor to the rich. This is a betrayal of the Framers’ vision for America, and of the Constitution they saw as an anti corruption covenant. This state of affairs repels many Americans, a response that explains the otherwise improbable rises of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. But what can be done to counter corruption? Congress has passed two major campaign finance laws in recent decades and established a government office of ethics. Both have serious flaws and hardly seem equal to the task. Are there other possibilities? Join us for an insightful examination of American government today and its prospects for the future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second session of the 115th Congress is underway, and congressional leaders have to address a number of wide-ranging and contentious issues before the midterm campaign and election season begins.Among those, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program expires early in March, and whatever happens in the short term will still leave reform opportunities for policies that satisfy both the security and labor needs of the country and that ensure the just and equitable treatment of noncitizen residents. Also, by the end of September, America’s agricultural agenda will need to be codified as components of the “farm bill” are again up for reauthorization. An opportunity here involves the United States Department of Agriculture’s sugar program, which contributes to problematic effects for American consumers as well as having knotty international trade implications. Furthermore, from the White House come promises both to tackle “welfare reform”—the contours of which have not been outlined by the president or GOP agenda setters—and to pass a new infrastructure program, thus fulfilling a significant campaign promise. Divisions exist on each of these topics between the parties, within the parties, and between Congress and the Executive branch.Join us as our panel of experts explores these issues and outlines common-sense solutions to how these problems can be adjudicated while preserving principles of liberty, fiscal responsibility, and the economic well-being of the nation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since Colorado became the first state to allow for the sale of recreational marijuana, United States drug policy has been on shaky and unpredictable ground. Just this month U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has thrown out Obama-era guidance to protect businesses and individuals in states that have legalized cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. Now that federal prosecutors have additional discretion, what's next for the feds' reinvigorated war on pot?Join us for a live discussion about federalism and drug laws. Send your questions via Twitter with "#CatoConnects."This is an online only event. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Governments across the globe have begun evolving from lumbering bureaucracies into smaller, more agile special jurisdictions. Private providers increasingly deliver services that political authorities formerly monopolized, inspiring greater competition and efficiency. In Your Next Government?: From the Nation State to Stateless Nations, Tom W. Bell, professor at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law, shows how these trends suggest that new networks of special jurisdictions will soon surpass nation-states in the same way that networked computers replaced mainframes. This quiet revolution is transforming governments from the bottom up, inside out, worldwide, with the potential to bring more freedom, peace, and prosperity to people everywhere.Join us for a conversation with author Professor Bell, hosted by Aaron Powell and Trevor Burrus of Libertarianism.org’s Free Thoughts podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robin Hanson and Kevin Simler have written a book about the hidden motives in all of us: quite often, our brains get up to activities that we know little or nothing about. This isn’t just a question of regulating hormone levels or involuntary reflexes. Many of these involuntary behaviors are social signals, such as laughter or tears. Involuntary motives appear to underlie many forms of human sociability, including family formation, art, religion, and recreation. What are the implications for public policy? How can we understand politics and governance better in light of our hidden motives? Our discussion of The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life will focus on just these questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the Federal Reserve likely to raise interest rates at this week’s FOMC meeting, another step will have been taken in the Fed’s “Normalization” plan. The Fed will, however, enter 2018 facing many more issues: the continued unwinding of response measures taken during the Financial Crisis and the high levels of turnover in the Federal Reserve system. Federal Reserve Chair nominee Jerome Powell awaits a confirmation vote and searches continue for other key positions. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation on the role of the Fed and send your questions via Twitter using the hashtag #CatoConnects and via Facebook Live.This is an online only event. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From front-page news stories featuring transcripts of wiretapped campaign officials to dramatic cyberattacks using hacking tools stolen from the National Security Agency, intelligence and surveillance issues have saturated the news in 2017. Yet there were also plenty of important surveillance stories that didn't get the exposure they deserved: the ongoing debate over reauthorizing the NSA's controversial section 702 spying authority, set to expire at year's end; the Supreme Court's pending consideration of Carpenter v. United States, which could radically alter the contours of Fourth Amendment law; law enforcement's growing reliance on sophisticated data mining to attempt to identify criminals or terrorists before they act. The Cato Institute's annual surveillance conference will gather prominent experts, policymakers, technologists, and civil society advocates to explore these issues and more—and debate how much monitoring we should accept in a society that aspires to be both safe and free. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From front-page news stories featuring transcripts of wiretapped campaign officials to dramatic cyberattacks using hacking tools stolen from the National Security Agency, intelligence and surveillance issues have saturated the news in 2017. Yet there were also plenty of important surveillance stories that didn't get the exposure they deserved: the ongoing debate over reauthorizing the NSA's controversial section 702 spying authority, set to expire at year's end; the Supreme Court's pending consideration of Carpenter v. United States, which could radically alter the contours of Fourth Amendment law; law enforcement's growing reliance on sophisticated data mining to attempt to identify criminals or terrorists before they act. The Cato Institute's annual surveillance conference will gather prominent experts, policymakers, technologists, and civil society advocates to explore these issues and more—and debate how much monitoring we should accept in a society that aspires to be both safe and free. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.