Sanctions Won’t Work on Iran
Yesterday morning, President Trump announced that he had directed Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to increase sanctions on Iran. In response, Cato Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies Christopher A. Preble said that "Additional pressure and pain cannot resolve the fundamental contradiction at the heart of the Trump administration’s strategy toward Tehran. More broadly, if President Trump is serious about resetting U.S. foreign policy, he must revisit his expectations – and his administration’s policies. He may claim to want to end our endless wars, but his actions are leading in the opposite direction." Cato scholars have written extensively on the risks of confrontation with Iran, including the dangers of direct military intervention.
- "Statement on President Trump’s Decision to Impose Additional Sanctions on Iran," by Chris Preble
- "The Biggest Mistake Trump Could Ever Make: Starting a War with Iran," by Doug Bandow
- "Attack in Saudi Arabia Inspires U.S. Drumbeat for War with Iran," podcast featuring Doug Bandow and John Glaser
2020 Milton Friedman Prize Award & Dinner
In 2001, the late Nobel laureate Milton Friedman agreed to lend his name to an international award for the promotion of individual liberty: The Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty. In a statement at the time he said: “Those of us who were fortunate enough to live and be raised in a reasonably free society tend to underestimate the importance of freedom. We tend to take it for granted. It has made us in the West more complacent, so having a prize emphasizing liberty is extremely important.” Presented every other year to an individual who has made a significant contribution to advance human freedom, it will be awarded at the 2020 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty Biennial Dinner on May 20, 2020 at Cipriani 42nd Street, New York. The deadline for submitting nominations is November 29, 2019. Save both dates and submit your nomination here.
Economic Freedom of the World: 2019 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 2019 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, United States, Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Mauritius. It is worth noting that the United States ranks in the top 5 in 2017 after having ranked in 12th place as recently as 2014.
Of Precedent and Persuasion: The Crucial Role of an Appeals Court in WTO Disputes
In many domestic legal systems, the highest court has a special role in interpreting the constitutional or other foundational documents of the society. In the arena of international law there is no single high court and no rule of stare decisis—no rule of precedent. However, the U.S. is alleging that the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is treating its past rulings as binding precedent, and is blocking appointments of new judges to fill vacancies until the matter is resolved. In a new brief, Cato scholars Simon Lester and James Bacchus examine the U.S. objections to the use of previous legal judgments in new disputes, and offer some suggestions for how best to move forward on this issue.
- "Of Precedent and Persuasion: The Crucial Role of an Appeals Court in WTO Disputes," by Simon Lester and James Bacchus