Cato Upcoming Events

Bending the Productivity Curve: How Would Health Care "Reform" Affect Medical Innovation? (Policy Forum)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0500

New research by the Cato Institute shows that America generates more medical innovations than any other country, and in some cases, more than all other countries combined. Medical innovation may be more important than covering the uninsured or controlling health care spending, inasmuch as a treatment must first be invented before its costs can be reduced and its use extended to everyone. The Democrats' health care legislation focuses on expanding health insurance coverage, which should encourage innovation—yet it does so by expanding price controls, government purchasing, and health insurance regulation, which reduce innovation. What would be the net effect? What are the alternatives?

Mad About Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization (Student Forum)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0500

Politicians and pundits can rage against free trade and globalization, but much of what they convey is myth. Mad about Trade is the much-needed antidote to a rising tide of protectionist sentiment in the United States. It details the benefits of free trade and globalization for middle-class "Main Street" Americans exposed to a barrage of negative claims from politicians and commentators. Griswold shows how middle- and low-income families benefit from import competition, and how a more globalized U.S. economy has created better jobs and higher living standards for American workers through the ups and downs of the business cycle. Mad about Trade tells the under-reported story of how a more open economy has made America stronger and spread our influence in an increasingly integrated world that has become more wealthy, democratic, and peaceful. And it exposes the scandal of how politicians conspire with producers to use trade barriers to stifle competition and raise prices.

Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice (Book Forum)

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -0500

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For more than 25 years, Tom Palmer has studied the history and theory of liberty and has worked tirelessly to bring liberty to countries around the world. This book ranges from the theory of justice to foreign policy, from the economics of public goods to gay rights in Russia. Palmer addresses the nature of freedom, law, rights, and justice; the morality of markets; and the institutional frameworks of free societies. He considers and criticizes the arguments of political theorists such as John Rawls and Cass Sunstein, as well as popular "myths of individualism," which he concisely refutes. But theory doesn't stand alone. Palmer studies and explains ordered liberty and connects abstract liberal rights to their historical roots. Drawing on his activism in countries ranging from eastern Europe in the late 1980s to Russia, China, and the Arab world today, he also takes on current events and concerns, from multiculturalism to struggles for free speech to the war in Iraq. It is hard to find a contemporary scholar with more knowledge of the theory and history of liberty, and at last his major writings are collected in one place. Author, blogger, and New York Times columnist Tyler Cowen will comment.

Time to End the Travel Embargo on Cuba (Capitol Hill Briefing)

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Over the past half century, the United States has deployed sanctions and other punitive measures in an unsuccessful attempt to dislodge Fidel Castro's communist government. Now that most Americans — including most Cuban-Americans — favor ending the ban on traveling to Cuba, congressional support for changing this policy is increasing. At this briefing, Rep. Jeff Flake will explain how ending the ban would better respect the rights of Americans to travel and promote freedom in Cuba. Phil Peters and Ian Vásquez will discuss current political and economic conditions in Cuba and the impact that increased travel by Americans would likely have.

The Great Debate: Can Smart Growth Cost-Effectively Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions? (Policy Forum)

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Several recent reports have argued that we must reduce our use of automobiles to meet greenhouse-gas reduction targets, and that smart-growth policies aimed at rebuilding urban areas at higher densities are an effective way of meeting this goal. The Obama administration and leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee appear to have endorsed this policy.

In this forum, Chuck Kooshian will argue that smart growth and improved transportation choices are a cost-effective way of reducing greenhouse gases, while Randal O'Toole will argue that they are risky and expensive, and should be rejected even by those who believe that we need to reduce greenhouse emissions.

Latin Americans and the West (Book Forum)

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Latin America, though poor, is a part of the West. The institutions, pastimes, intellectual history, languages, and belief systems of the vast majority of Latin Americans are of Western origin. Renowned Cuban writer Carlos Alberto Montaner will explain why a better understanding by the region's inhabitants of their own cultural background will help Latin America relate to the United States and the rest of the world. Alvaro Vargas Llosa will discuss the relevance of Latin America's Western traditions to the ideological battle between populism and modernity currently raging in the region.

22nd Annual Benefactor Summit (Conference)

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:00:00 -0500

Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach

Biennial Dinner: The Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty (Special Event)

Thu, 13 May 2010 18:00:00 -0400

Hilton Washington, 1919 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC