Cato Podcast

Steve Davies’s new book, The Great Realignment, argues that the key political divide of the past century — markets versus state control — is being displaced by a new aligning issue: nationalism, sovereignty, and collective identity versus cosmopolitanism and globalism. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks with Davies about why today’s biggest political fights seem less about tax and spending and more about borders, culture, and who governs, how these non-economic conflicts still have deep economic roots, and what this new alignment persisting would mean for libertarians and economic policy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Edwards, economist and Kilt's Family Chair in Fiscal Studies, explains how tying airport screening to federal budgets creates chaos. He discusses the March 2026 DHS funding lapse and unpaid TSA staff. He compares U.S. policy to private and airport-run models abroad and argues for removing screening from federal appropriations to improve performance.

Jeff Miron, VP for Research at the Cato Institute and former Harvard economist who studies housing policy. He explains how strict rent caps can shrink rental supply, reduce maintenance, and shift units out of the market. He also discusses vacancy decontrol, conversions to condos and short-term rentals, and why targeted vouchers and more housing supply are better alternatives.

Tommy Berry, a constitutional scholar focused on First Amendment and economic liberty, and Caleb Trotter, a litigator challenging government limits on surf instruction, discuss government-created monopolies that block independent surf teachers. They explore treating instruction as protected speech, strategic advantages of speech claims, undercover enforcement stings, and wider fights against regulatory cartels.

Rikki Schlott, New York Post columnist and Cato Media Fellow who covers free speech and internet culture. She discusses how growing up online reshaped Gen Z’s attention and anxieties. They talk algorithms, polarization, short-form vs long-form attention, deplatforming and migration to niche sites, and how different movements and messaging resonate with young people.

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 minimal transparency and almost no congressional oversight. Cato's Dominik Lett and David Bier break down how the shutdown exposes a deeper dysfunction: both parties have turned spending into a ratchet, growing the government they want while refusing to review what the other side built. The appropriations process isn't just broken; Congress has quietly agreed to stop fixing it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Bourne hosts Jennifer Huddleston, Senior Fellow in Technology Policy, to discuss the federal government’s escalating dispute with Anthropic, New York’s proposal to police chatbot advice, and the public fears making restrictive AI policy more politically attractive. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beyond the immediate crisis, the conversation explores the unintended consequences of military escalation in the Middle East and the limits of U.S. policy responses once global energy flows are disrupted. Cato's Evan Sankey and Colin Grabow examine how great-power politics, alliance commitments, and domestic economic pressures will shape the administration’s next moves as the conflict unfolds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The push for new federal databases and legislation like the SAVE Act is often justified as necessary to stop widespread unlawful voting. But according to election administrators and investigators, confirmed cases are vanishingly rare. Cato's Walter Olson and Stephen Richer explore how voter roll audits actually work, why database matching can produce misleading headlines, and what the evidence reveals about the scale of the problem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the White House signals openness to escalation and murky and conflicting objectives, uncertainty clouds both the legal basis and strategic endgame of U.S. involvement in Iran. The Cato Institute's Justin Logan, Thomas Berry, and Brandan P. Buck examine the constitutional and political questions surrounding the U.S. war on Iran. They explore whether the president has legal authority to initiate hostilities without congressional approval, why President Trump launched the war and how it might end, and why Congress struggles to reclaim its war-making authority. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.