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.
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.
Qualified Immunity: A Legal, Practical, and Moral Failure
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