How Property and Civil Rights Help Forest Tribes Modernize and Prosper: Lessons from India
Much has been written on the adverse impact of modernization on historically isolated forest tribes of India. Studies have listed the devastation of tribes’ traditional cultures and lifestyles, the duping of simple tribespeople with little understanding of markets or prices, the destruction of their habitat, and the trauma of displacement, which has been greatest in the case of dams and mining projects. In a new paper, Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar and Neeraj Kaushal show that tribes can join mainstream society and prosper if empowered with property rights and civil rights.
- “How Property and Civil Rights Help Forest Tribes Modernize and Prosper: Lessons from India,” by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar and Neeraj Kaushal
Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share
A new Cato national survey finds that self‐censorship is on the rise in the United States. Nearly two-thirds—62%—of Americans say the political climate these days prevents them from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive. The share of Americans who self‐censor has risen several points since 2017 when 58% of Americans agreed with this statement.
Civil Liberties vs. Federal Cops in Portland
In recent days the Department of Homeland Security has dispatched federal law enforcement officers to Portland, scene of more than 50 consecutive nights of protests. As genuine as the problem of violence and disorder in Portland may be, some of the practices being alleged are simply not acceptable ways for the American government to act and, if proven, should not be allowed to stand. Americans won’t, and shouldn’t, put up with anonymous, arbitrary, and unaccountable police behavior.
- “What We Know, and Don’t Know, About Portland and the DHS,” by Walter Olson
- “Civil Liberties vs. Federal Cops in Portland,” Podcast with Patrick G. Eddington and Caleb O. Brown
- “Portland and the Paramilitarization of the Border Patrol,” by Paul Matzko
- “The People of Portland: DHS’s Involuntary Human Test Subjects,” by Patrick G. Eddington
Neo‐Malthusianism and Coercive Population Control in China and India: Overpopulation Concerns Often Result in Coercion
Every family deserves the right to decide for themselves how many children, if any, they wish to have, free of government meddling. Neo‐Malthusian concerns, both historically and today, have been used to justify restricting that right, sometimes violently. In a new paper, Cato scholar Chelsea Follett documents the extent of penalties and coercion, demonstrating the grave importance of combating the resurgence of the neo‐Malthusian mentality.