Cato Event Podcast

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.

A “ruling class” has emerged in America against the hopes and designs of our Founding Fathers. Over the last hundred years, members of that class have rejected the Constitution and expanded their own power, slowly at first and now rapidly. These people believe their actions are justified because they think they are smarter than the rest of us—so smart they can run our lives better than we can.But for all the power and resources at their command, they have failed. Miserably. Society has become increasingly unequal, even as we’re promised “equality.” Our government finances are out of control, our basic infrastructure is broken, and education is unaffordable and mediocre. And yet the ruling class thinks the solution is for us to grant them ever more control.We can stop this—but to do so we must unite. In Conspiracies of the Ruling Class, Lawrence Lindsey lays out his plan for how we can use common sense to change the way our country is run. Finally, here is the truth from a Washington insider about how to reawaken the spirit upon which America was founded, with liberty for every person to pursue his or her own dreams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Overdoses from heroin and prescription painkillers have killed an alarming number of Americans in recent years. Last month, President Obama announced a $1.1 billion package to combat opiod abuse. Some analysts say the federal government is not doing enough to attack heroin production in Mexico and Afghanistan. Others argue that drug interdiction and police crackdowns have failed and call for deregulation and legalization. Please join us for a wide-ranging debate about the heroin problem and what to do about it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the economic disaster of the Great Leap Forward that claimed tens of millions of lives from 1958–1962, Mao Zedong launched an ambitious scheme to shore up his reputation and eliminate those he viewed as a threat to his legacy. The stated goal of the Cultural Revolution was to purge China of its bourgeoisie and remaining capitalists. The Cultural Revolution soon resulted in street fighting between rival factions. As China descended into chaos, the military intervened, turning the country into a garrison state marked by bloody purges that killed as many as one in 50 people. After the army itself fell victim to the Cultural Revolution, ordinary people used the political chaos to resurrect the market and hollow out the party's ideology. In short, they buried Maoism. Please join us for a discussion of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution and its unintended consequences. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a young man, David Coltart was urged by Robert Mugabe to return from South Africa to Zimbabwe, where Coltart rose to become senator and education minister. But, as Mugabe became increasingly dictatorial, Coltart became one of Mugabe’s favorite targets of vilification. Coltart was branded a traitor to the state and worthy of remaining in Zimbabwe only as a resident of one of its prisons. For three decades, Coltart has kept detailed notes and records of all his work, including a meticulous diary of cabinet meetings. Coltart’s book deals with the last 60 years of Zimbabwe’s history: from the obstinate rule of Ian Smith that provoked Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1965, to the civil war of the 1970s, the Gukurahundi genocide of the 1980s, Robert Mugabe’s war on white landowners, and the struggles waged by Coltart’s party — the Movement for Democratic Change. Coltart will also discuss one of his key concerns: the role of political extremists who have consistently subverted Zimbabwe’s chances of realizing its true potential. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.