Cato Podcast

Cato Podcast

Each week on Cato Podcast, leading scholars and policymakers from the Cato Institute delve into the big ideas shaping our world: individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Whether unpacking current events, debating civil liberties, exploring technological innovation, or tracing the history of classical liberal thought, we promise insightful analysis grounded in rigorous research and Cato’s signature libertarian perspective. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Affordability?

August 20, 2026 • 30 mins
Rep. Kevin Fitzpatrick (R) and Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D) lead one of Washington's only bipartisan caucuses, the Problem Solvers Caucus, and they've teamed up on an affordability agenda that touches housing, energy, health care, and immigration. Ryan Bourne walks through where their plan overlaps with Cato's own affordability handbook, and where free market and interventionist solutions still diverge.

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 Can Government Run a Grocery Store?

August 18, 2026 • 28 mins
New York City Mayor Mamdani wants five city owned grocery stores selling staples 30% below cost, at $70 million to build and $100 million a year to run. Cato's Rikki Schlott talks with Don Boudreaux about why private supermarkets survive on 2% profit margins, and what actually happens when government tries to run a store.

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Bad Ways To Improve Housing Affordability

August 13, 2026 • 42 mins
Nearly 60% of housing markets in the United States have been characterized as “unaffordable.” Cato's Ryan Bourne talks with Howard Husock of the American Enterprise Institute about why rent freezes, vouchers, and government run housing tend to make the problem worse, using New York City as a cautionary case study. They lay out what actually works instead: zoning reform, faster permitting, and more small multifamily hous...

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The Eternal Quest for More Tariffs

August 11, 2026 • 27 mins

Earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled that the president could not use the "International Emergency Economic Powers Act" (IEEPA) to impose tariffs and the administration immediately turned to other legal mechanisms to assert that power.


Laura Bondank-Harmon interviews Clark Neily and Ilya Somin to unpack the legal battles over Trump’s tariffs, the statutes the administration is now invoking, and the constitutional limi...

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Wealth Taxes Failed Abroad. Why Try Them Here?

August 6, 2026 • 38 mins
Most rich countries that tried annual wealth taxes eventually scrapped them, but now California and Elizabeth Warren want to run the experiment in the United States. Ryan Bourne talks with Adam Michel about how a “modest” 3 percent levy can swallow 60 percent of an asset’s 5 percent return—and leave workers footing much of the bill.

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Iran: Schrodinger's War

August 4, 2026 • 26 mins
The conflict with Iran is simultaneously ending and escalating, and Justin Logan says that's no accident. He tells the Cato Institute's Laura Bondank-Harmon why the strategic case never existed, even as the death toll, price tag, and oil prices keep climbing.

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AI: Must We Act Now?

July 30, 2026 • 41 mins
Artificial intelligence could transform productivity, employment, and living standards. But does that mean governments should “act now” to “steer” the technology? Economist John Cochrane joins Cato’s Ryan Bourne to explain why he thinks a prominent economists’ letter gets the problem wrong, whether fears of mass job loss are justified, and how speculation about AI’s potential is already sha...

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Happy 60th Birthday, Now Pay the Bill

July 28, 2026 • 26 mins
Medicare spent $1.2 trillion in 2025 and still can't show it's saving lives. The Cato Institute's Laura Bondank-Harmon is joined by Michael Cannon and David Hyman to mark the program's 60th anniversary, explaining how it broke health care pricing and why "Medicare for All" would only make it worse.

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The Wisdom of Crowds: An Intro to Prediction Markets

July 23, 2026 • 42 mins
Prediction-market pioneer Robin Hanson joins Cato's Ryan Bourne to explain this new industry's promise, how betting can improve decision-making, and whether we should worry about insider trading, manipulation, and sabotage as these markets proliferate.

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The Fight Against Financial Surveillance

July 21, 2026 • 29 mins

Financial surveillance in America is expanding. 


In this episode, host Nicholas Anthony sits down with Representative Warren Davidson to discuss the growing reach of the Bank Secrecy Act, and why it’s time to scale back the surveillance of law-abiding Americans.

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Why Is Childcare So Expensive?

July 16, 2026 • 40 mins
Parents in many parts of the country face eye-watering childcare bills, yet providers often operate on thin margins and workers remain modestly paid. Cato's Chelsea Follett joins Ryan Bourne to discuss the economics behind America’s childcare crunch, the regressive regulations that make care scarcer, and the supply-side reforms that could give families more affordable options.

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The Amendment That Wouldn't Bend

July 14, 2026 • 30 mins
Trump's executive order tested the limits of the 14th Amendment and lost, 6-3. Cato's Laura Bondank-Harmon is joined by David Bier and Tommy Berry to understand why, and how the ruling fits into an immigration agenda that's closing legal pathways even as it loses in court.

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Injuries and Usurpations, 250 Years Later

July 9, 2026 • 38 mins
Americans know the Declaration’s soaring opening case for natural rights and government by consent. Fewer remember its long list of “injuries and usurpations” against King George III. Cato’s Tommy Berry joins Ryan Bourne to discuss Cato's new book - A History of Repeated Injuries—and whether modern governments have revived threats to liberty that the Declaration denounces, from taxes and...

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Data Centers Turn Electricity into Breakthroughs

July 7, 2026 • 35 mins
Golf courses and factories use just as much water and electricity as data centers, yet only the latter draws local protests and construction bans. Cato's Rikki Schlott sits down with Travis Fisher and Jennifer Huddleston to make the case for energy abundance and technological advancement over fearmongering and warn that moratoriums could hand China the AI edge.

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Proud to Be American, Worried About What's Next

July 2, 2026 • 27 mins
60% of Americans say their rights and freedoms are at risk. Yet nearly two thirds still call America the land of opportunity and three quarters believe the American dream is personally achievable. Cato's Stephen Rowe and Emily Ekins dig into Cato's new survey on what Americans really think at 250 years.

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The Dangerous Push to Tax AI

June 30, 2026 • 32 mins
Republicans and Democrats are finding rare common ground: taxing AI. But should they? Cato's Adam Michel and Daniel Bunn of the Tax Foundation dismantle the three biggest arguments around the idea: showing why the data doesn't support the claims that AI is replacing workers, labor is losing out to capital, or the tax code unfairly favors automation.

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The Abundance Alliance?

June 25, 2026 • 45 mins

Abundance liberals want a politics focused on delivering more homes, energy projects, infrastructure, and innovation, and will even countenance deregulation to achieve it. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks to Ilya Somin and Jeremiah Johnson about whether libertarians should ally with this movement—or whether shared ground on housing, permitting, trade, and immigration masks irreconcilable disagreements over the role and size of ...

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What the Declaration Still Has to Say in 2026

June 23, 2026 • 28 mins
Before 1776, the world was largely run by monarchies and despots. The Declaration changed that. Cato's Paul Meany and Tommy Berry explore why its principles remain relevant, why 53% of Americans can't explain it, and why it’s still the best tool we have for checking concentrated power

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The Degrowth Temptation

June 18, 2026 • 47 mins
A new Global Justice Report associated with Thomas Piketty urges near-zero growth for rich countries, sweeping redistribution, global wealth taxes, shorter working hours, and rapid decarbonization. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks to Marian Tupy about what degrowth gets wrong—and why its promise of justice masks a dangerous agenda of government control.

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The Retirement System That Works Against You

June 16, 2026 • 27 mins
Social Security crowds out private savings, the tax code penalizes investment, and Trump accounts can leave families worse off than a plain brokerage account. Cato's Romina Boccia and Adam Michel break down what's wrong with Trump accounts and why universal savings accounts are the fix.

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