Cato Institute

NatCons are proving libertarian Roy Childs right. They want to use government power to impose their nationalist agenda, abandoning free markets and limited government. Their interventionism threatens economic freedom and individual liberty, writes Cato's Michael Chapman. https://ow.ly/AlF15101tMo

US strikes on suspected drug boats haven’t stopped cocaine trafficking. Smugglers are shifting to the Amazon’s river network. That’s the waterbed effect: crack down on one route, and the trade resurfaces elsewhere, says Cato's Jeff Miron. https://ow.ly/MpkG5101oAZ

Wealth taxes are intended to soak the rich, but by landing on productive business capital, they impose costs on workers across the economy. Cato's Adam Michel and Chris Edwards explain why wealth taxes fail.

The Economics of It with Ryan Bourne launches October 29 on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify. Apple: https://ow.ly/9LBI5100a3a Spotify: https://ow.ly/bOIe5100a39 YouTube: https://ow.ly/wfM95100a3b

The White House Council of Economic Advisers claims illegal immigrants cost taxpayers $166,716 each. Cato's David J. Bier says those estimates aren't credible. They have actually reduced federal, state, and local deficits by $1.7 trillion over 30 years. https://ow.ly/ZPrG510160q

Innovation’s gains reach far beyond the innovator. Musk can be insufferable to some, but reusable rockets, Starlink, and electric cars benefit millions. Personal dislike is no reason to obstruct human progress, writes Cato’s Marian Tupy. https://ow.ly/R92751013ZC

The Trump administration now holds equity stakes in 40 private companies. And politicians on both sides of the aisle are planning to build on the precedent. Cato's Tad DeHaven explains why this is a bipartisan threat to free enterprise. #CatoRFE https://ow.ly/ZBNI51015Gl

People say they hate billionaires. They'll really hate it when they're gone, says Cato’s Adam Michel. California's Prop 40 is designed to drive founders out of the state.

Cato’s David Inserra warns that the FCC has no business policing political polls. Polls are core political speech. Giving government officials power to label polls “fake” risks letting them punish broadcasters for speech they dislike. https://ow.ly/A6pM51013w3

Wealth taxes don't just hit the rich. They impose costs on workers through reduced productivity, lower wages, and fewer job opportunities. Cato's Adam Michel and Chris Edwards document the failures of wealth taxation in their policy analysis: https://ow.ly/9Vlg50ZZ4hg

20.7 million barrels have moved to the West Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii under the Jones Act waiver, setting an all-time record. The numbers hint at what lasting access to foreign shipping could make possible. Cato's Colin Grabow provides the full breakdown. https://ow.ly/hgwk5100gEw

Think life was better before the Industrial Revolution? The Grim Old Days by Cato's Chelsea Follett reveals how gruesome preindustrial life actually was, from famine-induced cannibalism to streets that doubled as open sewers. Order now! https://www.cato.org/books/grim-old-days

🔴 Coming October 29. The Economics of It with Ryan Bourne brings down-to-earth economic thinking to the policy fights shaping our world. New episode every Thursday on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify. Apple: https://ow.ly/v4rW51009zR Spotify: https://ow.ly/VIKL51009A4 YouTube: https://ow.ly/fMfF51009zT

Everything about the Trump administration’s oil deal with Venezuela is troubling. In the new episode of The Cato Weekly Podcast, Ian Vasquez joins Laura Bondank-Harmon to explain why the agreement complicates Venezuela’s path to democracy. https://ow.ly/VP9t50ZZINW

The Jones Act waiver has recorded over 300 completed voyages, carrying more than 80 million barrels without idling a single Jones Act tanker. Congress should preserve the waiver’s gains and build on them, argues Cato’s Colin Grabow. https://ow.ly/U0Nx5100gpq

The DOJ's lawsuit to prevent certification of Alaska's Senate winner "is abusive in its intentions and borders on frivolous in its arguments, and it is destined for defeat in the courts should it reach the merits," says Cato's Walter Olson. https://ow.ly/KeU65100LM6

Evidence against wealth taxes is stronger than ever, explains Cato Institute’s Adam Michel. Wealth taxes promise redistribution but more often deliver high economic costs, administrative complexity, and disappointing revenue. 

Sweden’s experiment with state ownership produced mounting losses and an eventual turn to privatization, offering a cautionary tale for the United States today. Learn more from Cato’s Johan Norberg. https://ow.ly/Tk7L50ZXPKt #CatoRFE

“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” – P. J. O’Rourke. P. J. O'Rourke was a libertarian, a satirist, and once dubbed "the funniest writer in America," by the Wall Street Journal.

Guardrails on government power matter as much as guardrails on AI. Today, any president could block or pull an AI model with little justification and no appeal. That invites abuse and censorship, writes Cato’s Juan Londoño. https://ow.ly/IEhM5100zFs

The Jones Act waiver shifted Puerto Rico's propane supply from almost entirely foreign to mostly US sources: over one million barrels in seven months versus an annual average of 16,500 barrels under the Jones Act. Cato's Colin Grabow has the data. https://ow.ly/q8mv5100gbf

Switzerland succeeds despite its wealth tax, not because of it. Its government spends less, and low taxes on investment offset the wealth tax’s damage. The lesson for the United States is to spend and tax less, writes Cato’s Adam Michel. https://ow.ly/CBZx5100i4f

We want to give listeners an economic lens through which to understand the issues shaping our world. That’s why Cato’s Ryan Bourne is launching a new weekly video podcast , The Economics of It. Apple: https://ow.ly/fsRh51009gY Spotify: https://ow.ly/7Ez051009h0 YouTube: https://ow.ly/L7wJ51009h1

The best way to make childcare more affordable isn't more subsidies. It's removing the regulations that drive costs up. Learn more from Chelsea Follett in the Cato Institute Handbook on Affordability: https://ow.ly/pMkF50ZFkHI

One person's wealth is not another's loss. Wealth at the top is overwhelmingly ownership of productive businesses that employ workers, produce goods and services, and finance new investment. Cato's Adam Michel explains.

Fears of AI existential risks could normalize governors’ use of emergency powers. States should act now: update emergency laws to require credible evidence, legislative approval, and strict time limits, argues Kevin Frazier. https://ow.ly/Cjsp5100feX

How does your state's governor rank? For the first time, Cato's "Freedom in the 50 States" grades every sitting governor on economic and personal freedom. Find out more at the link: https://ow.ly/mtjl5100inh

Wealth taxes sound like they only hit the super-rich. But that wealth funds innovations and breakthroughs that benefit all of us. Tax it and everyone loses. Cato's Adam Michel explains.

When you tax wealth, you're taxing the buildings we all live in, the businesses that employ us, and the research labs that create life-saving drugs, explains Cato’s Adam Michel.

Cato Institute’s "Freedom in the 50 States" ranks US states on their support for and protection of both economic freedom and personal freedom across a wide range of issues.  Learn more at the link: https://ow.ly/S6ez5100iei

The Jones Act waiver has delivered 10.1 million barrels of petroleum to Puerto Rico, which is about four times the 2004–2025 annual average, in less than 7 months. The benefits of Jones Act relief are clear. Learn more from Cato’s Colin Grabow. https://ow.ly/Anc15100fZz

Congress has broadened the Defense Production Act’s scope, enabling presidents to promote favored industries on increasingly thin national defense grounds. Cato’s Colin Grabow explains how to restore its focus on genuine national security needs. https://ow.ly/BJMX50ZXlvB #CatoRFE

Where does your state rank? The 2026 edition of "Freedom in the 50 States" measures economic and personal freedom across all 50 states. Check the rankings at the link: https://ow.ly/jTRH51007El

The 2026 "Freedom in the 50 States" is here, ranking all US states on economic and personal freedom. For the first time, it also grades governors on how well they've advanced liberty. Where does your state rank? Find out at the link.  https://ow.ly/LINj51006Qa

Even Russia’s attempt to interfere in US elections changed no votes. Investigators found Russians accessed voter rolls they should not have, but nothing in those rolls was altered, says Julia Curlee.

Wealth taxes aren't just taxes on the rich — they're taxes on entrepreneurs. “If entrepreneurs can't earn a return on what they build, they'll build less.” Cato's Adam Michel and Chris Edwards explain.

The Framers kept elections out of Washington's hands for good reason. Both parties keep ignoring that lesson. Cato's Walter Olson explains why decentralized election administration is America's best protection.

California's billionaire tax could cost the state revenue as the wealthy leave. Europe tried wealth taxes and mostly repealed them. Yet six Nobel Prize-winning economists are backing the idea. Their claims don't hold up. Cato's Adam Michel explains.

Wealth taxes will fall, in large part, on American workers in the form of lower wages and fewer job opportunities, explains Cato Institute’s Adam Michel.

The government's equity portfolio of 36 companies has a distressingly weak legal foundation, says Cato’s Scott Lincicome. None of the cited laws expressly authorize federal ownership stakes in private companies. #CatoRFE https://ow.ly/WzqO50ZZpLL

The DOJ's voter roll letter to California is "highly, highly irregular" and raises serious questions about whether it violates the NVRA and the Supreme Court's own ruling, says Cato Institute’s Stephen Richer. https://ow.ly/9SFF50ZZll3

Who should we trust with power, and what happens when too much of it ends up in too few hands? Join Cato University on Campus at the University of San Diego for a one-day program exploring the classical liberal case for dispersing power wherever it concentrates. https://ow.ly/E0uq50ZPl8M

When the law protects life, liberty, and property, free people cooperate and flourish. Market Humanism overlooks this, and the larger, more activist government it envisions would erode that freedom, writes Cato’s James A. Dorn. https://ow.ly/1szU50ZZv5N

California’s “billionaire tax” will leave the state and its residents worse off, Cato’s Adam Michel predicts.

Uncle Sam has 35 equity deals and no law expressly authorizing any of them. No clear way to undo them or to stop even more. To restore free enterprise and the rule of law, we must chart one, says Cato's Scott Lincicome. #CatoRFE https://ow.ly/RROr50ZZlAb

Six months after Australia banned social media for kids under 16, 85% still used it. Age checks impose guaranteed costs on privacy and free speech for uncertain benefits, write Cato’s David Inserra and Jennifer Huddleston in their new study. https://ow.ly/rSoM50ZZkTf

Before you romanticize the past, read The Grim Old Days by Cato’s Chelsea Follett. Unthinkable poverty. Bloodletting. Streets turned into open sewers. The preindustrial world was more gruesome than modern minds can fathom. Order now! https://ow.ly/uf6q50ZY9L1

Most billionaire wealth isn't in yachts or jewelry — that's just a few percent of it. Most is productive business capital: companies that employ people, build things, and fund research. Tax that wealth and you're taxing the businesses that employ us all. Cato's Adam Michel explains.

Sen. Maria Cantwell’s AI framework has upside but is vague in granting the government powers that could lead to censorship of the AI industry. Congress should also replace the patchwork of state AI laws, writes Cato’s Juan Londoño. https://ow.ly/cTuj50ZYYh0

Decisions about what kids see online belong to their parents. Mandatory age verification shifts those decisions to the government and puts users’ privacy and free speech at risk, write Cato’s David Inserra and Jennifer Huddleston in their new study. https://ow.ly/bRCF50ZZ3cV