Pandemics and Policy
The third great crisis of the 21st century has already inflicted a greater toll in lives lost and economic hardship than 9/11 and the 2008 financial collapse combined. And just as the COVID-19 pandemic has upended our daily lives, it has transformed the political landscape, with governments at all levels exercising emergency powers rarely seen outside the context of total war. With so much at risk, what’s needed now is sober, realistic assessment of the choices ahead—a guide to policies that can stem the damage while avoiding permanent transformation of American life and law. The Cato Institute aims to meet that need with its new series, Pandemics and Policy.
New Cato Journal Tackles Key Issues in Monetary Policy
The Fall 2020 issue of the Cato Journal covers several key topics in monetary policy: (1) the risk to the Federal Reserve’s independence and credibility as it drifts into fiscal policy; (2) the effectiveness of negative interest rates as a tool of monetary policy; (3) the impact of financial transactions taxes; and (4) the lessons that can be learned from the classical gold standard.
Crisis: Housing and Homelessness in California
Estimates show that California needs 3.5 million housing units by 2025 just to meet current needs. At the same time, there are an estimated 130,000 homeless people in the state, including around 28,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area and 60,000 in Los Angeles County alone. At the heart of these twin crises lies a plethora of government regulations and policies that makes it harder to build affordable housing or to assist the homeless. The Cato Institute brought together academic experts, housing activists, and political leaders from across the ideological spectrum to discuss ways in which state and local officials can make housing more available and affordable.
- “Crisis: Housing and Homelessness in California,” Cato Conference, September 22–23, 2020
- Cato’s Project on Poverty and Inequality in California
New Regulation Looks at Paperwork, Public–Private Partnerships, and Financial Reporting
Unnecessary red tape erodes faith in government and democratic processes. The problems caused by duplicative, excessive, and poorly understood information collection requirements hurt constituencies that support both major parties. In the new issue of Regulation, Stuart Shapiro discussed revising and improving the Paperwork Reduction Act. Also in this issue, Eduardo Engel, Ronald Fischer, and Alexander Galetovic evaluate thirty years of public–private partnerships, and Ike Brannon and Robert Jennings consider how investors and corporations could benefit from less frequent financial reporting.