Unforced Error: The Risks of Confrontation with Iran

News reports indicate that President Donald Trump next week plans to “decertify” the Iran nuclear deal, declaring the agreement not in US interests. A new paper from Cato scholars Emma Ashford and John Glaser examines the costs of four confrontational policy approaches to Iran: sanctions, regional hostilities, “regime change from within,” and direct military action. The authors argue that engagement offers a far better chance than confrontation and isolation to improve Iran’s foreign policy behavior and empower moderate groups inside Iran in the long term.

Why the United States Should Welcome China’s Economic Leadership

The Trump administration’s decision to abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) coincides with China’s interest in playing a more prominent role in advancing trade and economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region. This has raised concerns in Washington that such efforts will come at U.S. expense. In a new paper, Cato scholar Colin Grabow argues that these concerns are overwrought. “Rather than sound the alarm over China’s latest moves,” says Grabow, “policymakers should be open to the possibility that Beijing is finally becoming the responsible stakeholder that many have long urged it to be.”

Economic Freedom of the World: 2017 Annual Report

As economists from Adam Smith and Milton Friedman to Paul Samuelson and Larry Summers have stressed, freedom of exchange and market coordination provide the fuel for economic progress. In the 2017 Economic Freedom of the World report, Hong Kong and Singapore once again occupy the top two positions. The other nations in the top 10 are New Zealand, Switzerland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Mauritius, Georgia, Australia, and Estonia. The United States, for decades among the top four countries in the index, ranks 11th.

The 2018 Friedman Prize: Nomination Process Begins

The Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, named in honor of perhaps the greatest champion of liberty in the 20th century, is presented every other year to an individual who has made a significant contribution to advance human freedom. Nominations are now being accepted for the 2018 prize – which will be presented on May 17, 2018 at the Award’s biennial dinner at Cipriani 42nd Street, New York.

Cato Institute 40th Anniversary

Recent Commentary

Events

October 16

Terror, Propaganda and the Birth of the “New Man”: Experiences from Cuba, North Korea, and the Soviet Union

Featuring Andrei Lankov, Professor, Kookmin University, Republic of Korea; Yuri Pérez, Latin America expert, Freedom House; Andrei Illarionov, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute; moderated by Marian L. Tupy, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute.

11:00AM to 12:30PM EDT
Hayek Auditorium, Cato Institute

October 18

Criminal Justice at a Crossroads

Confirmed speakers include: Hon. Jed Rakoff, Senior Judge, District Court for the Southern District of New York; Chief J. Thomas Manger, Montgomery County, Maryland and president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association; Chief Ron Davis (ret.), East Palo Alto, California Police Department and principal consultant, 21st Century Policing Strategies LLC; Hon. Steven S. Alm, judge (ret.), First Circuit Court of Hawai’i, creator of HOPE Probation; Dara Lind, senior reporter, Vox.com; Scott Greenfield, criminal defense attorney and editor of Simple Justice; Sgt. Renée J. Mitchell, American Society of Evidence-Based Policing; Suja Thomas, professor of law at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Laura Donohue, professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center; Jay Ahern, principal and security services practice leader at The Chertoff Group and former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Leo Beletsky, professor, School of Law & Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University; Alyssa Rosenberg, opinion writer, Washington Post; Caroline Sarnoff, assistant director of data outreach at Measures for Justice; Mike Riggs, reporter, Reason; Zachary Bolitho, Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General; William R. Kelly, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Criminology and Criminal Justice Research at the University of Texas at Austin; and Jeffrey Miron, director of economic studies at the Cato Institute and senior lecturer on economics and director of undergraduate studies at Harvard University.

9:00AM to 5:30PM EDT
Hayek Auditorium, Cato Institute

October 19

The Impact of the Bolshevik Revolution on the Scope and Size of Government in the West

Featuring Vito Tanzi, Former Director of Fiscal Affairs, International Monetary Fund; Amity Shlaes, Author, Lecturer, and Chair of Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation; Andrei Illarionov, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute; moderated by Marian L. Tupy, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute.

11:00AM to 12:00PM EDT
Hayek Auditorium, Cato Institute

More Events

Of Special Note

Cato University: College of History and Philosophy

Cato University: College of History and Philosophy

History is indispensable to understanding and defending liberty under our constitutionally limited, representative government. And at the core of that history is philosophy: the underlying beliefs and values that guided the American Founders in their creating a constitutional order of separated powers, checks and balances, and liberty. Cato University’s College of History and Philosophy in October combines these two powerful subjects together to explore the history of liberty and justice, of wealth and poverty, of individual rights and the rule of law.

Special! 10 Copies for $10

Cato Pocket Constitution

To encourage people everywhere to better understand and appreciate the principles of government that are set forth in America’s founding documents, the Cato Institute published this pocket-size edition.

Now Available

The Libertarian Mind Audiobook

The Libertarian Mind, by David Boaz, longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute, is the best available guide to the history, ideas, and growth of libertarianism, and is the ultimate resource for the current, burgeoning libertarian movement. This acclaimed book is now available as a fully unabridged audiobook, ready for immediate downloading, on Audible.com.

35th Annual Monetary Conference

After more than nine years of unconventional monetary policy, it’s time to question the Fed’s strategy and offer new ideas for the future of monetary policy. At Cato’s 35th Annual Monetary Conference, leading scholars, policymakers, and journalists will examine the case for a rules-based international monetary system, consider steps to normalize monetary policy, debate the future of currency, and explore China’s future in the global monetary system.