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Pandemics and Policy

Surgical mask with American flag print

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.

  • Read the Pandemics and Policy essays

New Cato Journal Tackles Key Issues in Monetary Policy

Cato - Fall 2020 - Cover

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.

  • Fall 2020 issue of the Cato Journal
  • Subscribe to the Cato Journal

New Regulation Looks at Paperwork, Public–Private Partnerships, and Financial Reporting

Regulation - v43n3 - Cover

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.

  • Fall 2020 issue of Regulation

Qualified Immunity: A Legal, Practical, and Moral Failure

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Accountability is an absolute necessity for meaningful criminal justice reform, and any attempt to provide greater accountability must confront the doctrine of qualified immunity. This judicial doctrine, invented by the Supreme Court in the 1960s, protects state and local officials from liability, even when they act unlawfully. In a new paper, Cato scholar Jay Schweikert argues that the time has come to abolish qualified immunity.

  • “Qualified Immunity: A Legal, Practical, and Moral Failure,” by Jay Schweikert

Featured

Commentary

Just Accept It: The Supreme Court Has Always Been Political

By Ilya Shapiro. New York Daily News.

Even in the earliest days, it was rare for someone to be on the Supreme Court short list of presidents from different parties.

Blog

Breonna Taylor Is Another Victim of the War on Drugs

By Jeffrey Miron and Erin Partin.

Breonna Taylor would still be alive if policymakers had already fixed laws involving no‐​knock warrants that all too often result in death. The War on Drugs killed Breonna Taylor. How many more innocent people and low level offenders have to die before the government gives up this fruitless venture?

Blog

Federal Spending and Deficits

By Chris Edwards.

Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

Blog

Quench the Fire of Partisan Judicial Politics

By Trevor Burrus.

At a time when inter‐​party animosity is uncomfortably high, it’s time to call upon the better angels of our nature to determine the future of our most precarious branch of government.

Blog

“The Economic Impact of America’s Failure to Contain the Coronavirus”

By Jeffrey A. Singer.

The Joint Economic Commitee sought opinions on pandemic policy.

Commentary

Term Limits Won’t Fix the Court

By Ilya Shapiro. The Atlantic.

But they could help restore confidence in the confirmation process and eliminate public concerns about aging justices.

Blog

WeChat or We Don’t Chat? A Total Ban on WeChat Goes Too Far

By Huan Zhu.

The Chinese‐​made app WeChat has the potential to cause problems in the United States, but President Trump’s total ban of the app fails to address the scope of those issues while creating a host of its own.

Multimedia

  • Podcasts
  • Cato Audio
  • Videos
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Walter Olson discusses mail‐​in voting on Hearst TV

Featuring Walter Olson. October 2, 2020.

William Yeatman discusses the first presidential debate and the Michael Flynn case on The Bob Harden Show

Featuring William Yeatman. October 2, 2020.

Revisiting the ‘Friedman Doctrine’ on Business

Featuring Diego Zuluaga. October 1, 2020.

Welfare for the Rich: How Your Tax Dollars End Up in Millionaires’ Pockets—and What You Can Do about It

Featuring Phil Harvey, Lisa Conyers, Tim Carney, & Michael D. Tanner. October 1, 2020.
More Multimedia

Research Areas

  • Constitution, the Law, and the Courts
  • COVID-19
  • Criminal Law and Civil Liberties
  • Education and Child Policy
  • Energy and Environment
  • Finance, Banking & Monetary Policy
  • Foreign Policy and National Security
  • Government and Politics
  • Health Care
  • International Economics, Development & Immigration
  • Political Philosophy
  • Poverty & Social Welfare
  • Regulatory Studies
  • Social Security
  • Tax and Budget Policy
  • Telecom, Internet & Information Policy
  • Trade Policy

Upcoming Events

  • Past Events
Live Online Policy Forum

Focus on Fiscal Leadership: Release of the 2020 Fiscal Report Card on America’s Governors

October 5, 2020 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT
Live Online

With New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (@GovChrisSununu); featuring Chris Edwards (@CatoEdwards), Director of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute; and Peter Goettler, President and CEO, Cato Institute.

Live Online Book Forum

Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In‐​Laws

October 6, 2020 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT
Live Online
Featuring William Eskridge (@EskridgeBill), Coauthor and John A. Garver Professor of Jurisprudence, Yale Law School; Steven Calabresi, Clayton J. and Henry R. Barber Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law; Maggie Gallagher (@maggiegallaghe), Former Chairman, National Organization for Marriage; moderated by Ilya Shapiro (@ishapiro), Director, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute.
Live Online Book Forum

School Choice Myths: Setting the Record Straight on Education Freedom

October 7, 2020 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT
Live Online

Featuring Patrick Wolf (@P_Diddy_Wolf), Contributor, Professor, and 21st Century Chair in School Choice, Department of Education Reform, University of Arkansas; Tim Keller, Contributor and Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice; Inez Feltscher Stepman, (@InezFeltscher) Contributor and Senior Policy Analyst, Independent Women’s Forum; Ben Scafidi, Contributor, Professor of Economics, and Director of the Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University; and Corey DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey), Co‐​editor and Director of School Choice, Reason Foundation; moderated by Neal McCluskey (@NealMcCluskey), Co‐​editor and Director, Center for Educational Freedom, Cato Institute.

Live Online Policy Forum

Pernicious Infusion: How Racism Pervades the Drug War, Both Foreign and Domestic

October 8, 2020 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM EDT
Live Online

Featuring Deborah Small (@oshun125), Executive Director and Founder, Break the Chains; Radley Balko (@radleybalko), Media Fellow, Cato Institute; opinion writer, Washington Post; and author, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces; Ted Galen Carpenter, Senior Fellow, Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute, and author, Bad Neighbor Policy: Washington’s Futile War on Drugs in Latin America; moderated by Jeffrey A. Singer (@dr4liberty), Senior Fellow, Cato Institute.

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