Three years ago, states sprinted to adopt national curriculum standards – the Common Core – in hopes of getting a chunk of $4.35 billion in federal “stimulus.” Forty-five states ultimately adopted, but over the last few months a firestorm has spread as the standards have hit districts and previously unaware citizens have denounced a federal takeover of their schools. Common Core, which once seemed like a done deal, now seems like anything but.

• “Behind the Curtain: Assessing the Case for National Curriculum Standards,” by Neal McCluskey
• “Common Core Needs More Debate,” by Neal McCluskey
• “Common Core a Threat to the State, Districts, and Students,” by Neal McCluskey
• “Only the Little People Oppose Common Core,” by Neal McCluskey

The heavy debt burdens of Greece and other European welfare states are the result of profligate entitlement spending and a lack of fiscal discipline. The United States is facing its own debt problem, driven by the rising costs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The so-called social contract between present and future generations cannot be sustained — political promises will be broken. This special issue of the Cato Journal examines the influence of the welfare state on Europe’s economic crisis, the reforms necessary to end that crisis, and the lessons America can learn.

• Spring/Summer 2013 Issue of Cato Journal

The Senate has turned its attention to the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill. Recent criticism of the plan has focused on the potential costs to American taxpayers.  But Cato scholar Alex Nowrasteh argues that any credible analysis must employ “dynamic fiscal scoring,” which more accurately measures the total impact of legislation on the economy.  “Using dynamic scoring to predict the effects of legislation is as relevant for immigration reform as it is for tax cuts,” says Nowrasteh. “Any analysis that doesn’t must be judged as lacking.”

• “Heritage’s Flawed Immigration Analysis,” by Alex Nowrasteh
• “How to Make Guest Worker Visas Work,” by Alex Nowrasteh
• “Poor Immigrants Use Public Benefits at a Lower Rate than Poor Native-Born Citizens,” by Leighton Ku and Brian Bruen
• Cato Research on Immigration

President Obama recently warned Ohio State graduates that “you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems … that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.” Not so fast.  With the recent IRS scandal and the Justice Department peeking at AP phone records, Cato VP David Boaz points out that these abuses of federal power should fuel a healthy skepticism of government, and perhaps even a broader shift towards libertarianism.

• “Is This the Libertarian Moment?,” by David Boaz
• “Scandals Keep Eroding Our Faith in Benevolent Government,” by David Boaz
• “Nothing to Joke about in a Partisan IRS,” by Gene Healy
• “Conspiracy Not Required,” by Trevor Burrus